Canadian COVID-19 News

[sv_pelagia]

British Columbia COVID-19 Epidemiology November 4th snippet:
- Case & Hospitalization rate by vaccination status






- Compared to fully vaccinated, Unvaccinated have 10x rate of infection, 50x rate of hospitalization, and 46x death rate



For complete presentation:
https://news.gov.bc.ca/files/04.11.2...9Modelling.pdf

[Midnight Son]

Yep, yet another Darwin Award.
I agree with sympathy for the family.
May God rest his soul.

[desodave]

Sounds like BC is definitely not backing down on its vaccine mandate for healthcare workers. The article notes the resource shifting and surgery cancellation/postponements that have gone into adapting to the mandate. It also notes the number of unvaccinated workers on announcement date and the large number of them (approx 40%) that subsequently chose to get vaccinated. The BC gov't has obviously planned this action better than some of our other provincial counterparts.

I also note that almost one third of the holdouts are in one region ... Interior Health. This is an area that had significant high covid case counts this past summer, and also consistently high turnouts at regular anti-vaxx demos in Kelowna ... the biggest city in the region.



https://www.vicnews.com/news/more-b-...9-vaccination/

[Stu Jackson]

Originally Posted by desodave

....................


I also note that almost one third of the holdouts are in one region ... Interior Health. This is an area that had significant high covid case counts this past summer, and also consistently high turnouts at regular anti-vaxx demos in Kelowna ... the biggest city in the region.

Kelowna, "Party Central" No wonder they still have all these cases. They ignored it for two summers and partied like it was 2019 and then wondered why they got/get infected.

[CatNewBee]

Originally Posted by Mike OReilly

G&M:

Ontario won’t mandate COVID-19 vaccines for health care workers, as province releases booster shot plan



and



Quebec backtracks on mandatory COVID-19 vaccination for health-care workers

[emoji106] Finally human rights are respected even in Canada.

[sv_pelagia]

Originally Posted by CatNewBee

[emoji106] Finally human rights are respected even in Canada.

Decisions were NOTHING to do with consideration of what you call human rights.

You'd know this if you actually paid attention to what's happening in Canada.

[Scorpius]

Originally Posted by CatNewBee

[emoji106] Finally human rights are respected even in Canada.

Sorry, but your rights end where mine, and those of the rest of the general population start. You have no more right to walk around unprotected (by the vaccine) possibly spreading the virus everywhere you go, than you do taking an automatic weapon into a food court and randomly opening fire. The only difference with Covid is the bullets are smaller - but no less deadly.

Note the item above where a young, healthy, fit, prominent anti-vaxxer just died - and his symptoms in his final few days were entirely consistent with Covid - although the autopsy results aren't in yet.

[danstanford]

Originally Posted by Scorpius

Sorry, but your rights end where mine, and those of the rest of the general population start. You have no more right to walk around unprotected (by the vaccine) possibly spreading the virus everywhere you go, than you do taking an automatic weapon into a food court and randomly opening fire. The only difference with Covid is the bullets are smaller - but no less deadly.

Note the item above where a young, healthy, fit, prominent anti-vaxxer just died - and his symptoms in his final few days were entirely consistent with Covid - although the autopsy results aren't in yet.

Currently, according to this chart, your chances (assuming you are vaccinated)of getting Covid in BC is .146%, your chance of getting sick enough to be hospitalized is about .006% and your chance of dying from Covid is about .001%. We disregard risk factors of this magnitude every day in this country.
To be clear, I don't want Covid either and I therefore got vaccinated to lower my risks.

[mjscottinnc]

Originally Posted by danstanford

Currently, according to this chart, your chances (assuming you are vaccinated)of getting Covid in BC is .146%, your chance of getting sick enough to be hospitalized is about .006% and your chance of dying from Covid is about .001%. We disregard risk factors of this magnitude every day in this country.

To be clear, I don't want Covid either and I therefore got vaccinated to lower my risks.

Well said!

[Scorpius]

Originally Posted by danstanford

Currently, according to this chart, your chances (assuming you are vaccinated)of getting Covid in BC is .146%, your chance of getting sick enough to be hospitalized is about .006% and your chance of dying from Covid is about .001%. We disregard risk factors of this magnitude every day in this country.
To be clear, I don't want Covid either and I therefore got vaccinated to lower my risks.

In 2018 (the latest year for which StatsCan figures are available) 249 people were murdered by gunfire in all of Canada. Since Covid began (less than two years ago so let's say 500 firearm deaths) 29,149 people have died of Covid. I would say the odds of dying from Covid are FAR higher than they are from some random guy with an automatic weapon in a food court - and I really can't see why someone shown to have recklessly not been vaccinated and who then spread Covid to someone who subsequently died of it, should not be charged with murder or, at the very least, manslaughter. (The contact tracers should have the necessary evidence). There have been precedents with the Aids epidemic.

[desodave]

Originally Posted by Scorpius

In 2018 (the latest year for which StatsCan figures are available) 249 people were murdered by gunfire in all of Canada. Since Covid began (less than two years ago so let's say 500 firearm deaths) 29,149 people have died of Covid. I would say the odds of dying from Covid are FAR higher than they are from some random guy with an automatic weapon in a food court - and I really can't see why someone shown to have recklessly not been vaccinated and who then spread Covid to someone who subsequently died of it, should not be charged with murder or, at the very least, manslaughter. (The contact tracers should have the necessary evidence). There have been precedents with the Aids epidemic.

Sorry ... that's a bit too far for me. Vaccinated people can spread it too albeit at a much lower rate. If memory serves me, the AIDs precedents involved involved person to person consensual contact but with one person withholding their infected status from the other to get that consent.

[Mike OReilly]

Originally Posted by danstanford

Currently, according to this chart, your chances (assuming you are vaccinated)of getting Covid in BC is .146%, your chance of getting sick enough to be hospitalized is about .006% and your chance of dying from Covid is about .001%. We disregard risk factors of this magnitude every day in this country.
To be clear, I don't want Covid either and I therefore got vaccinated to lower my risks.

I agree with you Dan. At some point we will have to accept a certain level of risk with the SARS-CoV-2 virus. It's very unlikely to disappear. But we are still in the midst of a global pandemic. We are still learning how this disease behaves, mutates, and what the longer-term impacts of infection are.

We've seen the impact of premature easing of public health strictures (aka Alberta & Saskatchewan). Given the steep price society has already paid, it seems prudent to remain vigilant and cautious in our approach, especially when most of the rest of the world hasn't even seen a first dose of a vaccine, while we in the rich countries are doling out third doses.

[desodave]

This is an interesting article regarding where we are going with covid ... an ultimate transition of the pandemic to it becoming endemic like the flu. It is a policy discussion about the importance of setting your goals and how you read the statistics in relation to those goals. It is about the USA but is equally relevant to Canada as well. As more people get vaccinated (especially us older ones) overall case numbers get less indicative of pressures on the healthcare system.

In the longer term, Çevik says, we also need less focus on policies that work by “reducing small risks among many” and more on policies targeted at the people most affected by COVID-19. During the pandemic, the virus has disproportionately sickened people who are poor, who are less likely to be able to work from home, and who are less likely to have space to isolate from their family at home. When COVID-19 becomes endemic, it will likely, as many diseases are, continue to be correlated with poverty.

https://www.theatlantic.com/health/a...=pocket-newtab

[Scorpius]

I am unrepentant. Look at it another way: In Canada Covid has caused approximately 10 times the deaths of 9/11 (29,000 vs. 2,977). Considering the population of Canada is approximately 1/10 of that of the US, that means the impact of this tragedy is about 100 times as great as 9/11 was on the US - and look at the response it got: several trillian dollars spent and more lives lost. I don't mean to trivialize 9/11 (it was a heinous crime) but let's put things in perspective.

Another view: the Canadian Centre for Disease Control reports that 676 FULLY VACCINATED people have died from Covid 19 - not counting the 700 who were partially vaccinated and the 737 who died within three weeks of receiving their shot and were therefore not considered to be fully vaccinated. Considering only those 676 fully vaccinated individuals, and considering NO ONE in the country has been fully vaccinated for more than about six months (I'm in the 75 and up cohort and I got my second shot as soon as possible: mid-June), that works out to over 1300 deaths per year - about five times the murder rate by gunfire.

I stand by my guns (interesting expression in this context): unvaccinated people who infect others who subsequently die should be prosecuted.

And don't get me started on the opioid crisis.

[danstanford]

Originally Posted by Scorpius

I am unrepentant. Look at it another way: In Canada Covid has caused approximately 10 times the deaths of 9/11 (29,000 vs. 2,977). Considering the population of Canada is approximately 1/10 of that of the US, that means the impact of this tragedy is about 100 times as great as 9/11 was on the US - and look at the response it got: several trillian dollars spent and more lives lost. I don't mean to trivialize 9/11 (it was a heinous crime) but let's put things in perspective.

Another view: the Canadian Centre for Disease Control reports that 676 FULLY VACCINATED people have died from Covid 19 - not counting the 700 who were partially vaccinated and the 737 who died within three weeks of receiving their shot and were therefore not considered to be fully vaccinated. Considering only those 676 fully vaccinated individuals, and considering NO ONE in the country has been fully vaccinated for more than about six months (I'm in the 75 and up cohort and I got my second shot as soon as possible: mid-June), that works out to over 1300 deaths per year - about five times the murder rate by gunfire.

I stand by my guns (interesting expression in this context): unvaccinated people who infect others who subsequently die should be prosecuted.

And don't get me started on the opioid crisis.

With respect to your core point, too many people have died from Covid19.

Conflating your risks of dying from Covid to the risk of dying if someone shows up firing a gun is way over the top. Frankly, I could get behind the spirit of your point if we were talking about someone who knew they were contagious but continued to deliberately expose others.

You reference opiods and could have listed smoking and alcohol as similar risks in society today but somehow we seem to have found a way to look over these risks and are actively selling them to our fellow citizens every day.

My point was that you, and I, engage in risky behaviours every day without thinking about it but we seem to have made this potential Covid risk binary. Wear your mask and stay home, good and you will be safe. Go to work, don't wear a mask, congregate in groups and you are going to die and kill others.

Don't get me wrong, I have done every thing I could do mitigate the risks of getting and spreading Covid from the beginning of Covid and would support anyone in doing the things they think are wise. However, we are still paying people to stay home and feeling the effects of that from an employment perspective. Many people are unwilling to go to work due to the risks of Covid but indulging in similar risks without thought every day as they drive to the liquor store....