Canadian COVID-19 News

[Scorpius]

Originally Posted by Mike OReilly

That's my fear as well Dave. Clearly, there are some people who cannot receive the vaccine. Specific allergies, or various immune conditions can preclude vaccination. But these are few in our society. By not accommodating these people, it gives the anti-crowd a means of legal attack.

It would be great if, as you suggest Scorpius, BC Health is simply working quietly behind the scenes to set up the necessary accommodations for these folks.

I'm sure BC Health has, or is working on, a mechanism to accomodate those who legitimately cannot receive the shots. There are are a lot of smart people there - including my sister - a long-time community care RN and now NDP MLA for Burnaby-Seymour and a member of several government health committees. I was the Operations Manager for her campaign last fall. First time an NDP Member has been elected in that riding since the Baratt government in the early 19 70's!

[Scorpius]

Originally Posted by bcboomer

One of my dock neighbours and his wife will not get the shot because he had an allergic reaction to a bee or wasp sting! And they still entertain others on their boat!

What nonsense!

[Scorpius]

Originally Posted by danstanford

For what it is worth, some hope is present. All of my employees now have been vaccinated save for one who has a philosophical problem with being mandated to take a product without anyone taking the liability if it blows up. The hope is in the fact that he will get vaccinated if mandated by me, his employer as a condition of employment.

Perhaps inaccurately, I am interpreting this decision as acquiescence in the face of multiple inputs of encouragement and the promise of more freedom in his future. In the end it really doesn't matter why, it is just the fact that we will be doing the right and responsible things.

Wow! That's a very different process than what we went through to get the "passport". We just had to provide (on-line) our names, BC health numbers, birth dates, and date of one of our Covid shots and we got the QR codes immediately in response.

[Mike OReilly]

Originally Posted by Scorpius

I'm sure BC Health has, or is working on, a mechanism to accomodate those who legitimately cannot receive the shots. There are are a lot of smart people there - including my sister - a long-time community care RN and now NDP MLA for Burnaby-Seymour and a member of several government health committees. I was the Operations Manager for her campaign last fall. First time an NDP Member has been elected in that riding since the Baratt government in the early 19 70's!

Awesome .

[jbinbi]

Originally Posted by GordMay

COVID-19 hospital stays cost 3 times more than a stay for heart attack

The estimated average cost of a hospital stay for COVID-19 is more than $23,000. This includes both intensive care unit (ICU), and non-ICU admissions.

The average cost of treating a COVID-19 patient, who needs intensive care, in Canada, is estimated at more than $50,000, compared with $8,400, for someone who's had a heart attack [> six times higher] , a new report says. [1]

Data, from the Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI) [1], shows the average cost for patients being treated for the virus, is more than $23,000, which is four times higher than a patient with influenza, and nearly three times higher than a heart attack patient..

The report reinforces the economic consequences of a serious illness, though it does not include the cost for doctors.

The report says those with COVID-19 remain in hospital for about 15 days, twice as long as the typical pneumonia patient, whose treatment cost is about $8,000, and that more of those sick with COVID-19 are admitted to ICU, and ventilated [ICU patients stay in hospital for 21 days average]. One out of every five of them dies in intensive care.

However, hospital costs for those with COVID-19, who later recover, may be lower in the end [for instance, compared to the estimated $80,000 of care over a decade, for patients with cardiovascular diseases based on years of poor eating habits].

[1] About CIHI Report ➥ https://www.cihi.ca/en/covid-19-hosp...r-heart-attack

Hospital spending ➥ https://www.cihi.ca/en/hospital-spending

COVID-19 hospitalization and emergency department statistics
➥ https://www.cihi.ca/en/covid-19-hosp...ent-statistics

➥ https://www.cihi.ca/en/covid-19-and-...hospital-costs

I am not Canadian, US, and very libertarian. But I believe 1, choices have consequences, 2, if you want to live in society, then you have to subjugate some of your liberties.

We don't have nationalised health. But I think at this point a proclamation should be made that if your aren't vaccinated and your have to be hospitalized, then insurance doesn't party. You pay for it yourself. This might get more people to get vaccinated?¡

Why should I have to pay (yes my insurance rates go up to cover your hospital stay) when you can reduce the cost by getting a vaccine.

Or is this idea too severe?

[Stu Jackson]

Originally Posted by jbinbi

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Or is this idea too severe?

Nope, just too logical for the wingnuts.

[Mike OReilly]

Originally Posted by jbinbi

IWe don't have nationalised health. But I think at this point a proclamation should be made that if your aren't vaccinated and your have to be hospitalized, then insurance doesn't party. You pay for it yourself. This might get more people to get vaccinated?¡

I'm surprised private health insurance companies haven't already made this a stipulation, or at least factored it into their premium calculations.

Countries like Canada with publicly controlled health insurance are limited by all those laws around fairness and treating people equitably, no matter how self-inflicted the wound is. But private health insurance doesn't have any such guard rails.

[GordMay]

The latest Canadian data [1], released on Friday, shows that: from late July to late August, while the more-contagious delta variant was circulating widely, unvaccinated individuals were 36 times more likely to be hospitalized for COVID-19, than those who were fully vaccinated.

South of the border, a new report from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [2], featuring data from early April to mid-July, showed that people who were not fully vaccinated were at least 10 times more likely to be hospitalized or die of COVID-19, than those who were fully vaccinated.

[1] “Statement from the Chief Public Health Officer of Canada on September 10, 2021"

...
Nationally, the highly contagious Delta Variant of Concern (VOC), accounts for the majority of recently reported cases, is associated with increased severity, and may reduce the effectiveness of vaccines
Most reported cases, hospitalisations and deaths are occurring among unvaccinated people
Virus spread in areas with low vaccination coverage presents an ongoing risk for emergence of and replacement by new VOCs, including a risk of VOCs with the ability to evade vaccine protection.
Regardless of which SARS-CoV-2 variant is predominating in an area, we know that vaccination, in combination with public health and individual measures, continue to work to reduce disease spread and severe outcomes ...

Here ➥ https://www.canada.ca/en/public-heal...r-10-2021.html

[2] “Monitoring Incidence of COVID-19 Cases, Hospitalizations, and Deaths, by Vaccination Status — 13 U.S. Jurisdictions, April 4–July 17, 2021"

... The incidence of SARS-CoV-2 infection, hospitalization, and death is higher in unvaccinated than vaccinated persons, and the incidence rate ratios are related to vaccine effectiveness ...
After Delta became the most common variant, fully vaccinated people had reduced risk of:
Infection 5 times, hospitalization > 10x , death >10x ...

Here ➥ https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/70/...cid=mm7037e1_w

[Greg K]

Originally Posted by bcboomer

I'm sick and tied of the excuses and justifications I get from those who refuse the vaccine.

You should talk to your doctor about it... maybe there's a shot for that, too.

[LittleWing77]

Originally Posted by Mike OReilly

I'm surprised private health insurance companies haven't already made this a stipulation, or at least factored it into their premium calculations.

Don't you worry, Mike. I expect they soon will.

Equivalent trend, perhaps to Geico, is it (?) in the US who is no longer insuring cruising sailboats. That market was cutting into their profits so they severed it.

Although insurance companies' party line is that they are providing a form of protection and safety for us, the brass-tacks truth is that insurance companies are for-profit corporations who are constantly assessing their bottom line and profitability.

LittleWing77

[TrentePieds]

Quote: "I was the Operations Manager for her campaign last fall."

BRAVO, Scorpius!! We should have more MLAs like your Sis - and more CMs like you!

It tickles me that she, like Auntie Bonnie, is ex-RCN. I fancy she came up through RCSCC Lonsdale :-)

TP

[Scorpius]

Originally Posted by TrentePieds

Quote: "I was the Operations Manager for her campaign last fall."

BRAVO, Scorpius!! We should have more MLAs like your Sis - and more CMs like you!

It tickles me that she, like Auntie Bonnie, is ex-RCN. I fancy she came up through RCSCC Lonsdale :-)

TP

Thank you!

Actually she got involved in the Naval Reserve (unlike Dr. Bonnie Henry she's never been regular forces) via Katimavic when she was a kid and has been in ever since. By choice she's stayed an NCO. She prefers the NCO mess at Discovery to the officers' mess.

But I believe she knows, and has worked with, the good doctor.

[Mike OReilly]

Originally Posted by LittleWing77

Don't you worry, Mike. I expect they soon will.

Although insurance companies' party line is that they are providing a form of protection and safety for us, the brass-tacks truth is that insurance companies are for-profit corporations who are constantly assessing their bottom line and profitability.

Completely agree, which is why it is inevitable that private health insurance companies will either raise rates, or reduce coverage, for those who choose to put themselves at unnecessary risk around Covid-19.

With a publicly funded health insurance system as in Canada, it is more difficult to single out these folks, even though we know they are costing all of us a lot of wasted money through their negligent behaviour. But with private insurance companies, their ultimate responsibility is to maximize profit for their owners. So it would be shocking if they don't react appropriately to this clear elevated risk unvaccinated people are choosing to take.

[TrentePieds]

Katimavic... As you will have deduced, I carry no brief for the ranking members of "Canada's Natural Ruling Party", but for Barney Danson I'll make an exception :-)

Cheers

TP

[LesCheneaux]

I haven't seen much from the candidates on US-Canada border policy going forward. Have I missed it?