Novel Coronavirus

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Well they shut Ontario down on Boxing Day. So any changes should be starting to take effect coming up. I expect we are still seeing all the people who gathered and spread disease over Christmas. My little neck of the woods is doing well. Many fewer people around this week than last as the Toronto folks have left mostly. Our neighbors rent out their house, those folks are still here. One school age kid not going to school, so I guess they like the quiet and the opportunity to hike.
But restrictions were put in the fall as well right? I'm thinking back to those. Alberta was slower.
 
Well they shut Ontario down on Boxing Day. So any changes should be starting to take effect coming up. I expect we are still seeing all the people who gathered and spread disease over Christmas.
Actually, many of us in the GTA have been in lockdown since the end of November. Numbers are alarmingly continuing to escalate exponentially in the GTA & surrounding regions. It's impossible really to know if the restrictions have had an effect - what would numbers be if there were no restrictions is unknown really. Ford says "new restrictions are coming". Schools are remaining closed - online only. Some GTA hospitals are transferring people out of region and/or redirecting pediatric pts to Sick Kids to make space for COVID patients.

But the sun still comes up every day, and vaccinations are being given apparently as fast as they can be received now. Another difficult winter looms.
 
Actually, many of us in the GTA have been in lockdown since the end of November. Numbers are alarmingly continuing to escalate exponentially in the GTA & surrounding regions. It's impossible really to know if the restrictions have had an effect - what would numbers be if there were no restrictions is unknown really. Ford says "new restrictions are coming". Schools are remaining closed - online only. Some GTA hospitals are transferring people out of region and/or redirecting pediatric pts to Sick Kids to make space for COVID patients.

But the sun still comes up every day, and vaccinations are being given apparently as fast as they can be received now. Another difficult winter looms.
True, I meant in terms of going down to linear growth if not actually decreasing. We did see that here with the restrictions that were added prior to the no gatherings one, when we finally got a provincial mask law. Schools were open then, so fingers crossed the numbers will keep going down.
 
I think that a lot of people are taking things less seriously. Despite the huge numbers

i think back to March. We were in Florida. Raced home , worried about the border closing on March 14. Every car w saw was from Ontario racing home. You would see the same people at stops for food and gas. Everyone worried

we arrived in Toronto , stopped to pick up coats before we headed to our farm. Last time we were in Toronto until we sold the house in June

there were no cars anywhere. We were quite stunned. Highways empty, hardly passed a car on our two hour drive to the farm. Not a car on the Gardner

but not now. People are out, they aren’t frightened any more. They feel inconvenienced but most are out and about. aftrer we got home, my niece provided us with groceries on our front porch. Two weeks later hen I went to the grocery store for the first time, I didn’t pass a single car on the ten minute drive. It was so stunning I called my husband from the car.

but not any more

so cases are way up, but people are less worried. Hard to figure

our kids have been in Toronto lock down since Nov 21. They are all worried. Son and daughter in law have asthma so being extra cautious. But cases climb. Where are they coming from ? Who is not being careful?

and then we have people who should know better, who ar setting the rules, who are responsible for the decisions making stupid choices to travel

now in the midst of a crisis, Hamilton’s st Joseph’s hospital has no CEO due to his stupid moves. So they are without a leader, and looking for a new CEO, all while hospitals are verging on disaster.
it is hard to understand.
 
I did hear that Albertans were the best at following the rules and not seeing family at Christmas - it also fueled the anger with politicians who vacationed even though international travel is only supposed to be allowed for essential reasons.
I know people aren't great at following all the rules but would be interesting to get data on what and where is being followed vs. isn't.
 


interesting position. Of course it requres everyone to cooperate. Interesting story about one person at a conference in Boston that could be linked to 250,000 cases
 
International is a cranked up sense of extreme white-washed nationalism ... never fitz in this domain!

How can I say such a thing? I just don't know ... abstraction!
 


interesting position. Of course it requres everyone to cooperate. Interesting story about one person at a conference in Boston that could be linked to 250,000 cases
Interesting article. I do remember when people were repatriated from cruise ships (I think) in the spring that they were all quarantined at military facilities for the requisite time period.

A friend who works for Toronto District Catholic school board told me (over the Xmas holidays) that they are expecting arrival of approx 200 students from China in mid-January - previously registered (and big money makers for the board) who would now be able to attend classes in person. I was astonished - horrified actually - that this would be approved. Don't know if that's still going ahead ... I sure hope not. I must look into it a bit more now that I think of it.
 
Interesting article. I do remember when people were repatriated from cruise ships (I think) in the spring that they were all quarantined at military facilities for the requisite time period.

A friend who works for Toronto District Catholic school board told me (over the Xmas holidays) that they are expecting arrival of approx 200 students from China in mid-January - previously registered (and big money makers for the board) who would now be able to attend classes in person. I was astonished - horrified actually - that this would be approved. Don't know if that's still going ahead ... I sure hope not. I must look into it a bit more now that I think of it.
China is one of the safest countries right now. Unlike us, they don't wait for the virus to get out of control to act. As soon as they start getting positive tests, quarantines are imposed and infection control protocols enacted. As a result, many parts of China are living near normal. Frankly, I wouldn't be shocked if the Chinese decide to put a stop to this. And there's a good chance that these Chinese kids will be better about masking and such than Canadian adults.
 
My guess is the spike from Christmas contacts is starting up. I know lots of families who felt like they deserved to treat themselves to a big family meal after being careful for so long!

The UK are having plenty of cases and claim that hospital admissions are starting to crowd the wards. My niece (health care worker) says her hospital is running out of scrubs and asking for donations.
 
It was shocking and hard to understand, pretty scary in the beginning when China first went under lock down. Partly due to the polical climate nearly everywhere feeling scary and unstable, partly because people here are a bit distrusting of the Chinese' authoritarian tendencies and known human rights abuses. But, they were efficient. We'd, here, only ever seen modern pandemics that are airborne and kill people quickly, of this speed and scale, in movies, and it looked a bit too much like those movies.
 
The rules were, most places, that those who lived alone could join one other bubble for a holiday dinner, I think? That should not have created a lot of extra visiting. But I also know of people who self-quarantined, very carefully, in order to have a holiday dinner with one other family.
 
China is one of the safest countries right now. Unlike us, they don't wait for the virus to get out of control to act. As soon as they start getting positive tests, quarantines are imposed and infection control protocols enacted. As a result, many parts of China are living near normal. Frankly, I wouldn't be shocked if the Chinese decide to put a stop to this. And there's a good chance that these Chinese kids will be better about masking and such than Canadian adults.
I wasn't intending any disrespect to the people of China. I agree - it's not a time if I was a parent overseas that I would be embracing an opportunity to send my kid to Toronto. My astonishment was related to the board bringing in foreign students at a time when our government is advising against any foreign travel, and at a time when the board is challenged to provide for students already in the area. These students provide to the board full year tuition is $16,000. I did e-mail the board to simply ask if this is happening as usual this year - awaiting reply.
 


interesting position. Of course it requres everyone to cooperate. Interesting story about one person at a conference in Boston that could be linked to 250,000 cases
This ignores the fact that Covid is already here in the community. Also ignores the traffic between provinces. I would imagine that Ontario has a 14 day quarantine rule? Are they (still) calling to check if people are following it? Or did they never do that? How is the contact tracing in the province working? How are truck drivers who do essential deliveries handled? Once covid cases are wide spread, the contact tracing is most likely no longer effective.
 
I think the articles point was that if we stopped all new cases arriving into the province, and if everyone followed all the rules , cases would diminish as it is spread through contact

of course the issue is that people do spread it and don’t follow the rules.

you Are asked to quarantine for 14 days. No one really checks though. Friends son returned from living in Japan. Family doesn’t have a land line phone. He gave his cell phone number. He was called ( this was in the summer when cases were much much lower). called to check he was at home. Sure. Except that cell phone can be anywhere so it doesn’t confirm you are at home.

we obviously live in a free society where we ask people to follow rules and ask people to do what is required. Also obviously that doesn’t work

in ontario, because so many cases and deaths stem from long term care homes, I think there is a lot of casualness about it. People don’t think they can get it or pass it on.
 
And now they are transferring patients between hospitals. As an old NICU nurse I understand that. We occasionally moved mothers or babies to other hospitals when we had no ventilators left. But with this virus, not only are long term elderly catching, health care workers are. S o as they send patients with Covid to smaller centers to be able to use space and ventilators , they are also sending the virus into the communities. I get why they need beds, but it also makes more no Sense to put all the relatively unaffected communities at risk either
 
Is the pandemic showing us how social we are even though antisocial in appearances ... if just to create enemies?

We do need an adversary ... but often do not recognize it as a book that we do not understand ... strange eh folks! That's the word ...
 
And now they are transferring patients between hospitals. As an old NICU nurse I understand that. We occasionally moved mothers or babies to other hospitals when we had no ventilators left. But with this virus, not only are long term elderly catching, health care workers are. S o as they send patients with Covid to smaller centers to be able to use space and ventilators , they are also sending the virus into the communities. I get why they need beds, but it also makes more no Sense to put all the relatively unaffected communities at risk either
Agreed - not sure if COVID +ve pts are being transferred - or those who have tested -ve? Hopefully the latter - but still, that's not foolproof.

Re transfers out - I was a high risk mom who got transferred out of area to access potential need for NICU. And many long weeks after delivery and infant being stabilized was fortunately transferred back to the local NICU - have to say I was stunned at the time by the difference between units! Local seemed a wilderness compared to WCH and MUMC. But that aside - I was also remembering the time when cancer patient were transferred out of region, and even out of country, to obtain treatment that was lacking here in the GTA - friends went to Sudbury and to Buffalo for breast cancer treatments back then.
 
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