News   GLOBAL  |  Apr 02, 2020
 8.9K     0 
News   GLOBAL  |  Apr 01, 2020
 40K     0 
News   GLOBAL  |  Apr 01, 2020
 5.1K     0 

Lessons from a place going through their second wave:

Coronavirus lockdown: Lessons from Hokkaido's second wave of infections

By Rupert Wingfield-Hayes BBC News, Tokyo
16 April 2020

It was once seen as something of a success story - a region that worked to contain, trace and isolate the virus - leading to a huge drop in numbers. But Hokkaido is in the spotlight again as it struggles to deal with a second wave of infections.

 
I don't want them in Ontario,' Doug Ford says of Americans

Will say Doug Ford straight talk during the pandemic has really increased his popularity a lot.

Shall see if this pandemic has changed him though for the rest of his politics.
 
Shady dealings happening in the US:

The Trump administration paid a bankrupt company with zero employees $55 million for N95 masks, which it's never manufactured

Apr 16, 2020, 12:43 PM

The coronavirus pandemic has created a desperate clamber for vital medical supplies, like N95 masks, that has led the federal government to award massive contracts to third-party vendors to help fill the gaps.

In this chaotic effort to obtain supplies, the Trump administration awarded a $55 million contract to Panthera Worldwide LLC, a company with no expertise in the world of medical equipment, for N95 masks, The Washington Post reported on Wednesday.

Panthera's parent company filed for bankruptcy protection last fall, and one of its owners last year said it'd had no employees since May 2018, The Post reported, citing sworn testimony. It's no longer listed as an LLC in Virginia, where its main office is, after fees went unpaid, the newspaper said.

Panthera, which describes itself as a tactical training company for the US military and other government agencies, has no record of producing medical supplies or equipment, The Post said.

 
Vulnerable seniors in assisted living will not receive COVID-19 testing

From link.

lisa_levin.jpg

Assisted living continues to fly under the radar, said Lisa Levin, CEO of Advantage Ontario, which represents not-for-profit, municipal and charitable seniors’ housing.

Premier Doug Ford is promising to ramp up COVID-19 testing for residents of long-term care, homeless shelters, group homes for people with disabilities, and for pregnant women and patients undergoing dialysis or chemotherapy.

But vulnerable seniors in assisted living are on their own.

There has been no mention of assisted housing, a small subset of homes funded by Local Health Integrated Networks, (LHINs), where seniors in apartments rely on personal support workers to help with daily needs such as bathing, dressing and eating.

Advocates want the government to give assisted-living homes the same COVID directives as those given to nursing homes.

Recent protections aimed at long-term care include expanded COVID-19 testing, surgical masks for all workers, and, starting next week, a 14-day rule requiring the mostly part-time workforce report to one home only, to stop the spread of the virus.

British Columbia recently imposed a similar one-site order, but unlike Ontario, it did not add an expiry date, saying the rule will continue “until further notice.”

Leaders in the assisted living sector, such as Patrick O’Neill, CEO of the Niagara Ina Grafton Gage Village in St. Catharines, said his residents are just as fragile as those living in long-term care but are being overlooked.

“The issue is the government has not recognized that these areas are as risky as (long-term care),” O’Neill said.

Last month, a man in his 80s, who lived in assisted living at Niagara Ina Grafton Gage Village, tested positive for COVID-19 and died in hospital.

There are 200 residents in assisted living at the seniors housing complex, with 40 living separately in long-term care. They share the dining room and public spaces at the home.

Even though there was no government directive telling him to do so, O’Neill told staff to work in one home only and locked down the entire complex.

“We changed all the exterior door locks, so no one could get in and out and funneled everyone into the main entrance for screening,” he said.

O’Neill said he sent more than a dozen staff home to isolate for two weeks, paying their wages “because it’s not their fault” and hired new workers as replacements.

He is paying summer students to screen visitors at the front door, for travel history and symptoms of COVID and is paying to have all the hard surfaces in the building cleaned four times a day.

O’Neill said he has spent $75,000 on protections for the assisted living building, with no promise of reimbursement from the government, although nursing and retirement homes will get extra money.

So far, no other residents have tested positive for the virus, he said.

Out of all the “congregate” living homes in Ontario, assisted living continues to fly under the radar, said Lisa Levin, CEO of Advantage Ontario, which represents not-for-profit, municipal and charitable seniors’ housing. Most are independently operated, some by charities or churches, making it hard to track the number of people they serve, she said.

“It’s because they are so eclectic that it is hard to put something in place or identify them,” Levin said.

It’s also difficult to know how these homes are faring during the pandemic. Other than the COVID-related death of the man from Ina Grafton Gage, there have been few reports of outbreaks in assisted living homes.

“That’s my concern. Why are we not hearing anything?” she said. “Is it because there is no COVID in those homes? Which is great. Or, is it because something is slowly brewing? I don’t know.”

Earlier this week, Advantage Ontario’s daily bulletin for its members included a copy of a letter sent to Premier Ford and Health Minister Christine Elliott, asking for equal protections and funding for assisted living.

Levin refused to comment on the letter. A copy obtained by the Star warned that the risk of COVID in group settings such as assisted living and supportive housing for people with disabilities is “extremely high.” The Ontario Community Support Association also signed the letter.

It cited the privately run Residence Herron in Dorval, Quebec, where at least 31 residents have died.

“These situations will continue here in Ontario if we continue to neglect these facilities,” the letter said. “We cannot allow this to continue.”
 
A "good" side-effect of COVID-19.

From link.

March 29 to April 4, 2020 (week 14)
  • In week 14, the percentage of tests positive for influenza remained below 5%. This suggests that the end of the influenza season at the national level occurred in week 12 (mid-March).
  • Overall, very low levels of influenza acitivity are being reported across Canada.
  • The percentage of tests positive for influenza this week (0.75%) is at the lowest level ever recorded for week 14 (end of March) for the past nine seasons. This level is usually not seen until mid to late summer.
  • Laboratory detections and syndromic indicators may be influenced by the COVID-19 pandemic. These data should be interpreted with caution.
  • This is the last weekly FluWatch report for the 2019-2020 season. Monthly reports will be published over the spring and summer on the following dates: May 15, June 19, July 24 and August 28. Weekly reporting of laboratory detections of respiratory viruses will continue via our Respiratory Virus Detections Surveillance System.
 
You guys are levelheaded and rational...

So today I was having a group chat with friends and some of my friends said "China is to blame for Corona" while others said that is racist.

Now My opinion is that there is no excuse to be racist against a country however if a plane crashes you do want to know why it crashed as well?

Like cant two things be true at once?
1. The world responded badly to the pandemic and should have done a better job?
2. Safety, health and cultural practises in China allow an environment for viruses to transmit easily between animals and humans?

I find today there is a great lack of nuance in debate and it seems we want to assume the worst in people (I think I am guilty of that sometimes)
 
I just had this discussion with a family member. There are a lot of nuances.

The Chinese government has been less than forthcoming with information. I don't think we can believe their numbers. That said, it would seem that a lot of governments ignored early reporting. There is plenty of blame to go around.

Health crises have originated from other countries. H1N1 in 2009 came from the US, as did a strain of swine flu in 1998.

What is racist are the repercussions and attacks that Chinese Canadians are experiencing.
 
So today I was having a group chat with friends and some of my friends said "China is to blame for Corona"
China as a state is not to blame, unless rumours of Covid19 originating at a government lab are true.... and not a WMD lab, just a regular virology research facility, same as we have here. Yes, the wet markets where this may have originated were by their existence state-approved, it's not all monkeys, pangolins and bats, but the wet markets are also the nation's regular seafood market. You can't shutdown the nation's food supply.

As for the number of deaths, while it may seem like an all seeing, all knowing dictatorship, China is beset with governmental incompetence, corruption and inefficiencies. They probably have no idea how many people died, and even those well-informed apparatchiks running the local health regions don't want to give accurate numbers as they'll be scapegoated. China is wackamole country, you don't want to be the one to stick your head out, as Dr. Li Wenliang found out.
 
I just had this discussion with a family member. There are a lot of nuances.

The Chinese government has been less than forthcoming with information. I don't think we can believe their numbers. That said, it would seem that a lot of governments ignored early reporting. There is plenty of blame to go around.

Health crises have originated from other countries. H1N1 in 2009 came from the US, as did a strain of swine flu in 1998.

What is racist are the repercussions and attacks that Chinese Canadians are experiencing.
True I think the issue this is the 2nd time from a supposed wet market.

One time is just chance ...2nd time is different
 
Farmers worry delay in arrival of temporary foreign workers will impact food production

Published Thursday, April 16, 2020 11:27PM EDT

TORONTO -- Temporary foreign workers who travel to Canadian farms for harvesting and planting seasons are some of the lesser-acknowledged essential workers, but a delay in their arrival this year due to COVID-19 could impact food production, farmers worry.

Three-hundred Jamaican workers who landed in Halifax this week are now on farms in Nova Scotia’s Annapolis Valley, weeks later than they usually would’ve been.

Some workers are at Keddy Nursery, which grows everything from strawberry plants to asparagus and sweet potatoes. Before they can work though, they must spend 14 days in isolation, which is the case for all migrant farm workers who arrived in Canada after the lockdowns began.

A federal program is aiming to keep workers paid during the waiting. Farmers like Charles Keddy are being supplied $1,500 per worker to help cover their pay for the quarantine period.

"It would have been a high expense and really no productivity, so (the money is) to offset that and the cost of the food and the extra (work of) getting the bunkhouse ready,” Keddy told CTV News. “You know, the $1,500 doesn’t offset the entire cost but certainly goes a long way to helping.”

The support came after the Canadian Federation of Agriculture pushed for Ottawa to dedicate funds to the agriculture sector in order to keep Canada fed.

Scott Biddle, president of Scotlynn Group in Vittoria, Ont., told CTV News last week that if the workers who travel from Mexico every spring to plant millions of pounds of asparagus and sweet corn can’t get to work on time, the food supply simply won’t be there come summer.

Roughly 60,000 temporary migrant workers travel to Canada every year to keep our agriculture flowing. They handle tasks that farmers cannot find domestic labour for, meaning they often work the hardest jobs for the longest hours.

 
Coming soon to a grocery store near you. They will be checking your temperature before you go in. This will be the norm soon sadly.

Longos piloting a store entry Wellness Screening program

"Starting Friday, April 17th, we will be piloting a store entry Wellness Screening program for both Team Members and Guests as a further step to help prevent the spread of COVID-19," said the notice signed by company president and CEO Anthony Longo.

 
A friend of mine is recovering from probable COVID19 (he was unable to get tested). He was refused entry at a grocery store when they took his temperature -- that was a few weeks ago.
 

Back
Top