Canadian COVID-19 News

[Lake-Effect]

Ontario is open for boating starting Saturday May 22

Announcement from Ontario Sailing

[deblen]

Second Opinion: Canada is finally reopening — let's hope it's for good this time

[sv_pelagia]

Canada's percentage of people with 1 COVID-19 vaccine dose now higher than U.S.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/canad...037063?cmp=rss

[Mike OReilly]

Originally Posted by sv_pelagia

Canada's percentage of people with 1 COVID-19 vaccine dose now higher than U.S.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/canad...037063?cmp=rss

Attachment 238965

Now all we have to do is get our infection rates back down below our southern neighbours so we can regain bragging rights .

[fugue137]

Originally Posted by EarlWer

Hmmm. I don't know if I would drink a beer called 'Damned' or 'The End of the World'...

Murphys is more to my taste...

Which brings me to: Why to British people drink warm beer?
... because they keep it in Lucas refrigerators...

RateBeer puts both of those in the top 1% of all the beers in the world. I've had both, and I agree with the hivemind---I think they're great. But can someone explain to me why, whereas they and other tasties from Unibroue are easy to find from Boston to San Francisco, they're nigh impossible to get in Nova Scotia?

[sv_pelagia]

Originally Posted by Mike OReilly

Now all we have to do is get our infection rates back down below our southern neighbours so we can regain bragging rights .

Absolutely yes!

Not so much bragging rights; more to add clarity to questions regarding vaccine progress.

On another metric, a USA/Canada difference remains: Canada's 7-day-average COVID-19 death rate is currently running about one-half to two-thirds of that of the USA. Could be many explanations.

[cyan]

Originally Posted by Mike OReilly

In case anyone missed it, Manitoba is now #1 in Canada/USA comparison.

The good news is Alberta's rates are declining rapidly, and Ontario is following a consistent downward trend.

https://www.ctvnews.ca/health/corona...ates-1.5051033

While that is certainly good news for the provinces, you might be interested to know that this chart is quite incorrect comparing with states down south.

Alabama does NOT look like that, as the #1 new-cases state. Recently they simply added several thousand backlog cases from last year, causing everyone's 7 day average graphs to suddenly show a nasty increase. That state is actually in the middle of the pack at a very good steady low level, and slowly declining further.

Delaware is NOT the #2 state with with that graph. That state also corrected numbers from long ago. For instance, the (raw) CDC/JHU data shows that New Castle county DE suddenly spiked 900% with an alarming 579 cases on May 19. Uh, no. They had 64 cases that day, as the official county numbers have been properly curated, spreading this "spike" across several weeks in the past.

Unfortunately, many chart-makers fall victim to these technical adjustments to the RAW data, as "new cases" numbers can include thousands of old cases in a single day... in an honest attempt to suddenly provide more accurate totals. The makers of that colorful but erroneous chart were not alone in their display of false information.

More on topic, man I do hope the border opens this summer. I would be happy simply to paddle a canoe northward into the beautiful Quetico Provincial Park. I did illegally invade Canada in that area as part of an armada of 15-foot canoes in my youth, but I can assure you that we simply had trouble finding the ranger station to check in. An international incident was avoided the next day, when a better compass was paired with the soggy map.

[Mike OReilly]

Originally Posted by fugue137

RateBeer puts both of those in the top 1% of all the beers in the world. I've had both, and I agree with the hivemind---I think they're great. But can someone explain to me why, whereas they and other tasties from Unibroue are easy to find from Boston to San Francisco, they're nigh impossible to get in Nova Scotia?

Probably because while we can achieve free trade with our national trading partners, we still have some pretty anachronistic trading barriers between provinces.

Originally Posted by sv_pelagia

Absolutely yes!

Not so much bragging rights; more to add clarity to questions regarding vaccine progress.

On another metric, a USA/Canada difference remains: Canada's 7-day-average COVID-19 death rate is currently running about one-half to two-thirds of that of the USA. Could be many explanations.

Very true. Our death rates remain significantly lower.

[Montanan]

Ontario, Canada’s most populous province is resuming use of the Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine, but only as a second dose for those who'd received it initially. Ontario and several other provinces stopped giving out first doses of Oxford-AstraZeneca earlier this month on concerns over reported links to rare blood clots, which previously led some European countries to restrict its use.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/ontario-r...162908123.html
The Ontario government said that decision was also based on the increased supply of alternative vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna and a downward trend in cases. The province also has delayed giving second vaccine doses in order to get as many people covered by a first shot as possible. While protocols initially called for a three-week interval, studies found a longer gap often was more effective.

Ontario’s chief medical officer for health, Dr. David Williams, said “informed consent” is needed to get the second dose of AstraZeneca. Those who got the first dose between March 10 and March 19 will be eligible as soon as next week for the second shot. The government said data from the U.K. strongly suggests a much-reduced risk of the rare blood cots in second doses of AstraZeneca. Williams said it is one in 600,000.

Ontario has more than 50,000 doses of the vaccine set to expire at the end of the month and officials don't want to waste them.

[AK_sailor]

Vaccine Passports by a different name?
Alaskans could soon have access to vaccination records via app

The state health department is working to adopt technology that would give residents easy access to immunization records, which could also provide proof of COVID-19 vaccinations, Alaska’s News Source reported.
The state plans to use the consumer access portal MyIR Mobile....
------snip------
Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy, a Republican, opposes any so-called vaccine passports and said the state will not require anyone to show proof of vaccination.
However, businesses, nonprofits and employers with certain limitations can require people to be vaccinated.

So the governor still gives lip service to opposing "so-called vaccine passports", but the state may offer a app showing one's vaccination records. I think our governor is doing what politicians do, by trying to please everyone. Give lip service to opposing vaccine passports to please the covidiots on the right, but still offer a means for people to demonstrate that they have been vaccinated.

In a perhaps related bit of news, we may yet have large cruise ships in Alaska this summer:
US House passes bill allowing large cruise ships to visit Alaska this summer; Biden expected to sign

The bill temporarily relaxes provisions of the Passenger Vessel Services Act of 1886, which prohibits foreign flagged vessels from carrying passengers directly between US ports. In the past, non-US flagged ships got around this by either stopping in Canada between the lower 48 and Alaska, or else originating their voyage in Vancouver. The Canadian ban on cruise ships has effectively stopped the cruise industry from sailing to Alaska, which has had a severe impact on the Alaska tourism industry. For obvious reasons, cruise ships have a strong incentive to require proof of vaccination for passengers.

Larger ships — those carrying more than 250 passengers and crew — must pass a program approved by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. All of the major cruise lines sailing to Alaska have imposed vaccine mandates for passengers and crew.

Just call it an "app" rather than a "vaccine passport". I suspect we will see more of this sort of thing going forward.

[Midnight Son]

Originally Posted by Mike OReilly

Probably because while we can achieve free trade with our national trading partners, we still have some pretty anachronistic trading barriers between provinces.



Very true. Our death rates remain significantly lower.

Medicare.If you can't pay????

[Montanan]

Originally Posted by AK_sailor

Vaccine Passports by a different name?

. . .

Just call it an "app" rather than a "vaccine passport". I suspect we will see more of this sort of thing going forward.

Or we could just have the vaccine administered via tatoo artists such that when one gets vaccinated they also get a tatoo displaying the date and the manufacturer so that one boldly displays their Covid Vaccination.

[NaClyDog]

Originally Posted by AK_sailor

Vaccine Passports by a different name?
Alaskans could soon have access to vaccination records via app


So the governor still gives lip service to opposing "so-called vaccine passports", but the state may offer a app showing one's vaccination records. I think our governor is doing what politicians do, by trying to please everyone. Give lip service to opposing vaccine passports to please the covidiots on the right, but still offer a means for people to demonstrate that they have been vaccinated.

In a perhaps related bit of news, we may yet have large cruise ships in Alaska this summer:
US House passes bill allowing large cruise ships to visit Alaska this summer; Biden expected to sign

The bill temporarily relaxes provisions of the Passenger Vessel Services Act of 1886, which prohibits foreign flagged vessels from carrying passengers directly between US ports. In the past, non-US flagged ships got around this by either stopping in Canada between the lower 48 and Alaska, or else originating their voyage in Vancouver. The Canadian ban on cruise ships has effectively stopped the cruise industry from sailing to Alaska, which has had a severe impact on the Alaska tourism industry. For obvious reasons, cruise ships have a strong incentive to require proof of vaccination for passengers.

Just call it an "app" rather than a "vaccine passport". I suspect we will see more of this sort of thing going forward.

Please, this thread is about Canadian COVID-19 news...

[desodave]

No cruise ships are big issues in both Vancouver and Victoria. There are significant numbers of jobs and businesses that come from that sector, so it is a Canadian issue too.

[redhead]

Originally Posted by Montanan

Or we could just have the vaccine administered via tatoo artists such that when one gets vaccinated they also get a tatoo displaying the date and the manufacturer so that one boldly displays their Covid Vaccination.

Please forgive in advance the following hijack of this thread:

Once upon a time, a long long time ago I lived on a Caribbean Island. When a hurricane threatened many of the non-native-second-homeowner-entitled persons refused to evacuate the coast and head inland. After all, they had paid a pretty penny for their villa rental or ownership, why should they leave?

The authorities threatened and cajoled to no avail. Finally (and I witnessed this myself) the local gendarmes visited every household that refused to leave and very simply requested that....

They take a indelible magic marker and on their torso write their name, their citizenship and the name and phone number of next of kin. Then they shook hands gravely and left.

Only one elderly lady remained after that.

I know it's not on topic but your post reminded me of this week of my life.

I now return your thread to you.... sorry for the drift.