Canadian COVID-19 News

[Macblaze]

Originally Posted by deblen

Glad to hear AB is on the way to recovery Mac!
It's nearly time for a transfer payment. / Len

No no no haven't you been keeping up? According to Kenney we are totally have not and are currently awaiting our transfer shipment of cod from Nfld. Of course we all know NB produces nothing but language confusion so you are of course exempt from the tribute... I mean retransfer payment.

[deblen]

Originally Posted by Macblaze

No no no haven't you been keeping up? According to Kenney we are totally have not and are currently awaiting our transfer shipment of cod from Nfld. Of course we all know NB produces nothing but language confusion so you are of course exempt from the tribute... I mean retransfer payment.

Damn-you have caught on!
Well,my homards are boiled. Gotta go eat my daily ration.

[deblen]

Tough times

[Macblaze]

Originally Posted by deblen

Tough times


Attachment 241332

Oh, that homard. Wait'll I tell Mr Kenney what he's having for dinner!

[desodave]

Yes I had an ocean to cool down in ... well actually ... on, and did for the worst of the heat wave. Many of our residents weren't so fortunate. BC's coroner is suggesting over 300 people died because of the excessive heat. Unlike other areas used to high summer temperatures, we don't all install air conditioning. We didn't ... we have a sailboat, or so our thinking went. That thinking may change.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/briti...-b-c-1.6086770

[deblen]

https://subscriptions.cbc.ca/newslet...ef/2021-07-02/

[GordMay]

Originally Posted by desodave

Yes I had an ocean to cool down in ... well actually ... on, and did for the worst of the heat wave. Many of our residents weren't so fortunate. BC's coroner is suggesting over 300 people died because of the excessive heat. Unlike other areas used to high summer temperatures, we don't all install air conditioning. We didn't ... we have a sailboat, or so our thinking went. That thinking may change.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/briti...-b-c-1.6086770

How hot is too hot for humans? Understanding wet-bulb temperatures
“... At theoretical wet-bulb temperatures, evaporation and cooling can no longer take place because the atmosphere is fully saturated with water. And when the wet-bulb temperature reaches 35°C [95°F], it crosses a threshold at which humans can no longer lose internal body heat and cool themselves ...”
More ➥ https://www.cbc.ca/news/science/how-...ures-1.6088415

[Mike OReilly]

Globe&Mail:
First-dose COVID-19 vaccinations plateau across Canada, threatening path to variant resilience

The number of people getting their first COVID-19 vaccine doses is plateauing across the country, heightening the need to target harder-to-reach groups if Canada is going to achieve the vaccination levels needed to control the spread of infection.

As of Monday, 78 per cent of those eligible to be vaccinated in Canada have received at least one dose, and 41 per cent were fully vaccinated, making the country one of the most immunized in the world. Among the Group of Seven nations, Canada ranks second next to Britain with the highest number of doses administered per 100 people.

However, within provinces and territories, there are pockets with low vaccination rates across the country.

[Lake-Effect]

Originally Posted by Mike OReilly

Globe&Mail:
First-dose COVID-19 vaccinations plateau across Canada, threatening path to variant resilience

This analysis expresses concern that there might be enough unvaccinated around that there could be another COVID wave in Canada, but with fewer people overall susceptable, the medical infrastructure is probably no longer at risk of being overwhelmed:

Raywat Deonandan, an epidemiologist and professor at the University of Ottawa, said it's unlikely that hospital networks would become overwhelmed at this point in the pandemic.

This is possibly the new normal for the remainder of 2021, and 2022 - a lower but steady load of hospitalized COVID cases. It remains to be seen whether normal medical activity can also resume, to attack the non-COVID backlog from 2020/21.

[Scorpius]

Originally Posted by Lake-Effect

This analysis expresses concern that there might be enough unvaccinated around that there could be another COVID wave in Canada, but with fewer people overall susceptable, the medical infrastructure is probably no longer at risk of being overwhelmed:

Raywat Deonandan, an epidemiologist and professor at the University of Ottawa, said it's unlikely that hospital networks would become overwhelmed at this point in the pandemic.

This is possibly the new normal for the remainder of 2021, and 2022 - a lower but steady load of hospitalized COVID cases. It remains to be seen whether normal medical activity can also resume, to attack the non-COVID backlog from 2020/21.

True, but the medical system will not be back to "normal" until the HUGE backlog of overtime is settled - with large numbers of doctors, nurses, care aides, etc. wanting extended vacations. Also I suspect quite a few in the industry will quit and look for jobs elsewhere - if they haven't already. I think it will be a long, long time before things are back to normal - and meanwhile the backlog of delayable surgeries, etc. will continue to grow. And us baby-boomers are just getting started!

[Mike OReilly]

Originally Posted by Scorpius

True, but the medical system will not be back to "normal" until the HUGE backlog of overtime is settled - with large numbers of doctors, nurses, care aides, etc. wanting extended vacations. Also I suspect quite a few in the industry will quit and look for jobs elsewhere - if they haven't already. I think it will be a long, long time before things are back to normal - and meanwhile the backlog of delayable surgeries, etc. will continue to grow. And us baby-boomers are just getting started!

So true... When we do the final death-tally of this pandemic we'll have to include all those who died due to delayed treatments and diagnostics. How many people will have fallen through the cracks as we divert all our healthcare resources to fighting this disease.

Originally Posted by Lake-Effect

This is possibly the new normal for the remainder of 2021, and 2022 - a lower but steady load of hospitalized COVID cases. It remains to be seen whether normal medical activity can also resume, to attack the non-COVID backlog from 2020/21.

My slightly-informed view on this has been that SARS-CoV-2 will become endemic to our species, just like other coronaviruses and influenza. I bet we'll be living with this for a long time.

But as we're seeing elsewhere, the burden of this disease is increasingly falling on the under and unvaccinated areas. Wherever there is a dense enough pocket of unvaccinated we're going to increasingly see outbreaks.

[Scorpius]

Originally Posted by Mike OReilly

My slightly-informed view on this has been that SARS-CoV-2 will become endemic to our species, just like other coronaviruses and influenza. I bet we'll be living with this for a long time.

But as we're seeing elsewhere, the burden of this disease is increasingly falling on the under and unvaccinated areas. Wherever there is a dense enough pocket of unvaccinated we're going to increasingly see outbreaks.

Yup. But I'm thinking this new MRNA technology, when applied to other diseases (such as the flu, tuberculosis, ebola, etc.) could be a real game changer.

[chris mac]

Just to give real experience to the new rule change regarding quarantine. As of July 5 11:59 PM, if you have double Vaccine, there is no longer a mandated quarantine in the government hotel for returning canadians.
We flew(air canada) from Washington DC to Montreal on the afternoon of the 6th. Then a connector flight to Edmonton. We did our pre flight pcr test 71 hours prior(4th of July weekend added problems) the flights went smoothly, Canadian Customs too. Customs also made it very clear that we did not have to quarantine, we were free to move about as desired.
Since we had a connector flight we did not have to take our entry to Canada covid test at the airport. The line was quite long. We were issued a take home test which we did the next morning on a video call with a nurse. It is then picked up by puralator.
Our flight into Edmonton was essentially like the old days except a mask is required for the duration of the flight.
There were minor hiccups as this was day one of a new procedure, but overall was quite easy.

[Mike OReilly]

Good to hear things are working reasonably well at the border Chris, and that you got back with few issues.

I agree with you Scorpius, mRNA vaccines could be game changers. The speed at which we can now produce a vaccine is magnitudes faster. But those pesky viruses can evolve fast, especially given pockets of unvaccinated.

Unless we can get vaccination rates up over 95%, the unvaccinated will continue to provide plenty of space for the virus to evolve. My bet is we'll be lining up for our vaccine boosters pretty soon.

[Mike OReilly]

CBC: Unvaccinated tourists won't be allowed into Canada 'for quite a while,' Trudeau says

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said today that Canada has no plans to open its borders to unvaccinated tourists in the foreseeable future because the pandemic isn't over yet.

"That's not going to happen for quite a while," Trudeau told a news conference in Coquitlam, B.C. "We're not quite out of this pandemic yet. We still have to be careful, we still have to be vigilant."