Coronavirus COVID-19 - Global Health Pandemic #51

[momrids6]

Teachers are union, and many are tenured. Will not see pay cuts. Their jobs could be cut, but that's based on student population.

Teachers here are NOT union. And it is not hard to fire anyone here either. Many here are not coming back in August- as they have found much better paying jobs with better health insurance in the private sector.

 

[Lilibet]

If people behind bars don't count as humans, I guess I'm questioning the values of this culture. If we treat them in a knowingly harmful way, how are we different than criminals who treated their victims in a harmful way?

jmo

Amen and thank you. Perfectly said.

 

[Sundog]

California doesn't have Quebec. It has less than 1/4 of the population of Canada, but well over half of both cases and deaths. I really don't know what happened there. The government has focused on private nursing homes, but it's more than the nursing homes.

As an expat Quebecoise, I have been following Quebec's news closely and it saddens me deeply. I grew up in Montreal and have many close friends who still live there with their families.

Quebec is the epicenter of the pandemic for Canada, and Montreal is the epicenter of the pandemic for the province of Quebec. Montreal is a densely populated island. And they had spring break in Quebec that was 2 weeks earlier than Ontario. A lot of Quebecois travelled to New York, the U.S. (think Florida for the retirees), and to France. Also, seniors are a higher percentage of the population in Quebec, which has hit long-term care facilities hard. And this article mentions the French cultural greeting of kissing on the cheek, as they do in France, which has stopped now. Prayers for Quebec.
Analysis: Why is Quebec the COVID-19 epicentre of Canada?

Edited to add: Montreal has a large Hassid Jewish community that travels back and forth to New York City, and that is part of the travel issue and infectivity rate that Quebec has been dealing with, as well as travel to France and Europe during spring break.

 

[Sundog]

That's not true. Belgium has the highest at 597 per million. How weird is that? What is going on there?

Well if Belgium rate is so high, then that also explains Quebec's high rate, because emigration from Belgium to Quebec starting in the 1980's has been extremely high, and lots of back and forth travel. The federal government, Canada, gave the Quebec government the right to determine its own immigration policies as part of the negotiations related to Quebec's desire to separate from Canada, and Quebec chose policies that favored immigration from French-speaking countries like Belgium, Haiti, and others.

 

[Sundog]

We lived in rural area where wildfire country was a huge risk for years. After the Hayman fire, I reorganized the garage so our go-bags were right by the cars. The order of evacuation was companion animals into the cars, go-bags and important documents bag second. I also kept the boxes with photos and albums there, so IF, and ONLY IF, there was time, I could load them into the cars. We also had horses at the time, but I always evacuated them to a friend's where I could board them where they would be safe. If I didn't have time to evacuate the horses, I kept spray paint handy so I could paint my cell phone number on them, then open the fence gates and send them down the road. At least that way, the horses would have a chance.

Thank you for posting these details. A priorities' list seems to be key, and organizing materials so they are ready and at-hand in case of an emergency. I have taped an envelope to the inside of our front door, with information on next of kin, medications we take, physician contact information, etc. in case one or both of us had to leave in a health emergency situation, we can just grab the envelope on the way out. But other thoughts on how to organize for this kind of emergency are welcomed by me. What are others doing?

 

[Satchie]

Well if Belgium rate is so high, then that also explains Quebec's high rate, because emigration from Belgium to Quebec starting in the 1980's has been extremely high, and lots of back and forth travel. The federal government, Canada, gave the Quebec government the right to determine its own immigration policies as part of the negotiations related to Quebec's desire to separate from Canada, and Quebec chose policies that favored immigration from French-speaking countries like Belgium, Haiti, and others.

Thanks, Sundog. It is terrible what's happening in Quebec, and odd to me that it's not discussed more.

Here in BC, Vancouver of course has a huge connection to China with lots of back and forth. And yet, the pandemic hasn't hit anything like as hard as other places. In early days, I noticed most of the reports of infection were in people coming from Italy, Iran, Egypt, I don't recall any from China, perhaps because it was known as a hot spot and shut down early.

Not that many people here travel to Europe in late winter. For eg, where I live, large numbers go to Mexico or Thailand, where the virus wasn't yet circulating.

So, perhaps, as you say, Montreal is more connected to Europe and the US than the rest of Canada is.

 

[Sundog]

Another reason to care about the prison population....
_________________________________

MARION — The county's top health official is urging the Marion community to be vigilant, as an outbreak of the novel coronavirus at a Marion prison spills into the general public.

More than 80% of Marion Correctional Institution's prison population has tested positive for COVID-19, the illness caused by the coronavirus, along with more than 160 corrections officers and other staff who live in Marion and surrounding counties, according to the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction.

The fear is that one of the corrections workers' close contacts — a spouse or another family member — could become infected with the virus and then spread it to people where they work and cause an outbreak.

"Do they have a spouse that works at a nursing home, at Whirlpool or at Silver Line ... and could that trigger something else?" Kinsler said.

There may be even more MCI prisoners who have the virus. Though a prison spokesperson previously said the mass testing of the prison population was completed more than a week ago, on Friday spokesperson JoEllen Smith said only 2,300 tests had been administered at the Marion prison.

She did not clarify whether that included staff, as well as inmates. There are about 2,500 inmates at the Marion prison.

Marion prison coronavirus outbreak seeping into larger community

Eric Topol on Twitter

Ohio Governor Mike DeWine and Ohio's director of public health, Dr. Acton, are trying very hard to stay on top of the situation at the Marion prison. Marion is a small Ohio town but this prison outbreak is one of the worse in the country. Marion also has a regional campus of The Ohio State University at Ohio State Marion, and also Whirlpool manufacturing facility, and not sure what else. Marion is now a critical hot spot in Ohio, and I know that DeWine and Action are working hard to get that under control and contained.

 

[10ofRods]

I agree.

@Inthedetails and @CSIDreamer : thank you so much for posting about prisoner welfare. I got into a huge tiff with a cousin over this issue. IMO, most states are handling prisoner welfare in the best way they can. I think our jails and prisons in California had better planning for contagion than many other places, but bottom line is that no one should be sentenced to a terrible illness or death by CoVid if it can be prevented.

It feels so good to get to my computer on a Sunday and immediately encounter two such compassionate people, and I know much of the community here feels the same way.

 

[Ragnarok]

BBM. Where did everyone go?

Hopefully staying indoors or left for safer areas. We have a lot of NYC commuters including NYFD and NYPD personnel.

 

[Henry2326]

Ohio Governor Mike DeWine and Ohio's director of public health, Dr. Acton, are trying very hard to stay on top of the situation at the Marion prison. Marion is a small Ohio town but this prison outbreak is one of the worse in the country. Marion also has a regional campus of The Ohio State University at Ohio State Marion, and also Whirlpool manufacturing facility, and not sure what else. Marion is now a critical hot spot in Ohio, and I know that DeWine and Action are working hard to get that under control and contained.

Yep...they have been doing a super job.....

 

[dotr]

April 2 2020 rbbm
''OTTAWA – With over 2,600 confirmed cases of COVID-19, Montreal has become Canada’s infection hot spot.''
''This year, Quebec’s March break was on the first week of the month, as opposed to the second or third for most Canadians provinces.

Thus, “all the travel happened before the World Health Organization ever declared the pandemic and the travel restrictions came in. For us, the damage was already done. Travellers going back to school or work on the 9th did so unknowingly. What you see happening in Montreal now is partly due to that,” said Dr Nathalie Auger, an epidemiologist at the University of Montreal’s School of Public Health.

Quebec has also outpaced all other provinces in COVID-19 testing, leading to higher number of confirmed cases. The province also includes presumptive cases in its daily tally, which further boosts its numbers.

But community transmission has also been a significant driving force behind the virus’s rapid spread, public health authorities have warned.

For example, the Montreal Gazette reported that on March 12, one wedding in Westmount attracted hundreds of people who were apparently oblivious to the COVID-19 threat.

On the same day, another smaller wedding in Côte St-Luc attracted some guests from New York City, which would later become the American epicentre of the virus, the newspaper stated.

Among the hardest hit is Montreal’s Hasidic Jewish community, which pushed police to ensure religious events in the city’s Outremont and Mile End were cancelled in the last week. Leaders of another Hasidic group located in Boisbrand, just north of Montreal, put the community into self-quarantine in the hopes of slowing the virus’ spread.''

 

[Sundog]

I also have wondered about Vancouver, British Columbia, and the back and forth to China among Chinese Canadians. Chinese New Year was early this year, on January 25th, so travel to China would have been in mid-January. Chinese New Year is like American Thanksgiving, with high amount of international travel. I am guessing that people knew in early to mid-January that something serious was going on, and chose not to travel. This is the first year in the past 20 years or so that we have not traveled to Beijing for Chinese New Year. We were waiting and watching how things developed and hoped we could go later in February, but by then, of course, the world knew and plans were changed.
Like you, I am curious about B.C. and the low numbers, and also happy for B.C. Something worked.

 

[Satchie]

@Inthedetails and @CSIDreamer : thank you so much for posting about prisoner welfare. I got into a huge tiff with a cousin over this issue. IMO, most states are handling prisoner welfare in the best way they can. I think our jails and prisons in California had better planning for contagion than many other places, but bottom line is that no one should be sentenced to a terrible illness or death by CoVid if it can be prevented.

It feels so good to get to my computer on a Sunday and immediately encounter two such compassionate people, and I know much of the community here feels the same way.

Gotta say tho, it's not just compassion for the prisoners, it's also probably at the insistence of the guards, who don't want to catch it, nor do prison officials want all their guards calling in sick...

 

[cody22]

Washington sheriff says he won't enforce Inslee's stay-at-home order, calling it unconstitutional

More Virus controversy.........moo

 

[10ofRods]

I agree but here's the other side of the coin. IMO this man should not have been released.

NYC man released from Rikers Island over coronavirus arrested on new rape charge: report

A Brooklyn man was arrested Saturday for allegedly sexually assaulting a woman just 10 days after he was released from Rikers Island over concerns about the spread of the coronavirus behind bars, according to a report.

Robert Pondexter, 57, was being held at the notorious New York City prison on a separate rape charge when he was released.

He was charged Saturday with attempted rape and sexual assault among other offenses, the New York Post reported, citing anonymous police sources.

NYPD responded to a 911 call at about 5:45 a.m. in Brooklyn’s Flatbush neighborhood.

The caller told police a man had been walking across the street from a supportive housing development when he allegedly grabbed a 58-year-old woman whom he did not know by the collar and pulled her into a school parking lot.

The woman told officers he forced her to perform oral sex and demanded that she remove her pants before she was able to kick away from him. She was transported to a local hospital.

I agree with you, of course. I know that the situation in New York has been beyond belief, and so of course, panic plays a factor here. You'd think that since it's well known that sexual predators have the highest rate of re-offending, they'd stay inside.

Domestic violence offenders tend not to reoffend if they are banned from contacting family. IOW, they don't continue to act out when put into halfway houses or community homes and supervised. Unfortunately, their families often take them back.

Here in California, someone with such charges pending would have stayed inside. We're releasing people who've served 90% of their terms first. Of course, we haven't had to do much of that, since we don't have as many cases. In my county, we released some people OOR for things like public drunkenness, petty theft, shoplifting, disturbing the peace, in order to make room for more violent offenders. Many DV offenders were released OOR as well. So far, crime overall is half what it usually is in the community.

We do have a jail hospital ward though I'm not sure it has separate ventilation (pretty sure it doesn't).

I am certainly not saying that prisoners should expect zero rates of CoVid (or any virus), but the situation is one where if CoVid gets started inside jails and prisons, both the staff and the prisoners will have dire consequences.

 

[dotr]

I also have wondered about Vancouver, British Columbia, and the back and forth to China among Chinese Canadians. Chinese New Year was early this year, on January 25th, so travel to China would have been in mid-January. Chinese New Year is like American Thanksgiving, with high amount of international travel. I am guessing that people knew in early to mid-January that something serious was going on, and chose not to travel. This is the first year in the past 20 years or so that we have not traveled to Beijing for Chinese New Year. We were waiting and watching how things developed and hoped we could go later in February, but by then, of course, the world knew and plans were changed.
Like you, I am curious about B.C. and the low numbers, and also happy for B.C. Something worked.

Excellent doc..
Last Train Home | POV | PBS

 

[10ofRods]

I just learned about this:

1968 Pandemic (H3N2 virus) | Pandemic Influenza (Flu) | CDC

100,000 Americans died. Out of 200,000,000. So, would be the equivalent of 150,000 of us dying from CoVid. It was a terrible pandemic, with more than 1 million deaths all around the world. It was a novel H2N2 virus that came from birds, possibly originating in Hong Kong, although some researchers think it went epidemic first in the US. It's technically called H3H2, since it was a novel form of H2N2. While it was reported on, nearly no one remembers it, because life went on as usual.

As with this pandemic, about half of the dead were very elderly (76+). Another 25% were 65-75.

I was surprised to hear about it, I don't remember it at all (I was 13). No one I know died from viral infections that year, so I'm guessing it was a big city thing.

So we've faced worse things in the past, but without social media and with a very, very different public reaction and a very different governmental reaction.

 

[Bravo]

Tonight
https://www.cbc.ca/news/entertainme...banks-celebrity-fundraiser-covid-19-1.5545452

 

[katydid23]

I agree. I think it best to wait till all the studies are complete and have been peer reviewed. Which won't be for months.

We need to find out how China and Hong Kong kept their deaths so low. Can someone please ask them?

I know how China kept their 'death totals' so low. ....All they had to do was fill out the form with less numbers than the actual ones...no problem at all...

 

[Bravo]

I hope this finds everyone doing well health wise. All good here. Have not been here for a bit. I was on the thread for Nova Scotia's horrific tragedy. It's just too much to keep up with 2 threads.