[jayme2016]

The first vaccinations reported in the media is a great feel good story. I guess we should savor that for a moment.

As throughout this pandemic however I think it paints a false narrative to the public. 2021 will be a grind. I would wager you will be more likely to contract covid-19 in 2021 than 2020.

I'm interested in how the pandemic will be declared over because people have this false sense that Covid-19 will be imminently eradicated. The reality will probably be an unsatisfying metric-based declaration like an icu capacity threshold target.

The downside risk is that vaccination roll out and insufficient vaccine uptake will roll this though into 2022 providing time for the virus to mutate sufficiently to make it an annually required shot. I think this is highly likely. Covid-19 will become less lethal but potentially require an annual shot to help control it.

Bill Gates said today this will go well into 2022 before things are back to normal.

 

[Richard White]

I'm interested in how the pandemic will be declared over because people have this false sense that Covid-19 will be imminently eradicated. The reality will probably be an unsatisfying metric-based declaration like an icu capacity threshold target.

I hate to say this but after a year of lockdowns and other related situations there will no doubt be a push for some normalcy with the vaccine coming into play.

I am as cautious as the next person however something's got to give before 2022. People will see this vaccine and demand that restrictions be relaxed. People want to travel, they want to relax and the moment people start to get vaccinated the legitimacy of the restrictions will start coming into question.

 

[PinkLucy]

The vaccine will take time to get to the masses. It isn’t a quick fix. It’s like when people said the war would be over by Christmas. Not going to happen.

 

[Richard White]

The vaccine will take time to get to the masses. It it a quick fix. It’s like when people said the war would be over by Christmas. Not going to happen.

Oh I am well aware, I am just saying that people are itching for a diversion. They will use this an excuse to get one.

 

[Northern Light]

An assortment of tangentially Covid stories:

First, we have the Night Club party guy, sorta 'fake hosting' a party inside the Burlington Ikea.....

Toronto club promoter attempts to throw illegal birthday party inside IKEA

"I can't have 10 people in my house, but I can bring 11 people to IKEA. It doesn't make any sense whatsoever." These are the words and se...

www.blogto.com

Then we have an update on the ongoing Adamson BBQ saga. The section 22 order forcing their closure has been lifted (ie. they may open for take-out etc.); but the City is reminding Mr. Skelley that before he can reopen he must have a valid business license..........or else.

Toronto lifts order requiring Adamson Barbecue to stay closed

Toronto's medical officer of health has lifted the order mandating the closure of Adamson Barbecue's Etobicoke location following repeated incident...

www.blogto.com

Finally, while things may not be 'normal' in fall 2021.............The Mirvish group have determined that they feel it will be legal and viable to field a season of theatre then; and have told their subscribers as much.

This is when Mirvish theatres will reopen in Toronto

While seeing a live musical inside a theatre with countless other audience members may seem like an unrealistic dream in the era of COVID-19, an an...

www.blogto.com

 

[W. K. Lis]

As an aside, the year 2020 is a leap year, with 366 days in it, not 365 days. So it wasn't just COVID-19 making this year seem longer, it is longer.

 

[PinkLucy]

I’m pretty sure this year had about three thousand days. And we’re not done yet!

 

[W. K. Lis]

I’m pretty sure this year had about three thousand days. And we’re not done yet!

Use the extra day to enjoy yourself, if you can safely.

 

[Northern Light]

A reporter with the National Observer, Emma McIntosh had a bout w/Covid in late November; she moved into one of the City's isolation hotels, so as not to infect a flat mate.

She has written her account of that here.

Here's what it's like inside Toronto's COVID-19 isolation hotel

Hours after she was diagnosed with COVID-19, reporter Emma McIntosh entered an isolation hotel in hopes of keeping her loved ones from getting infected. "With the door shut behind me, I felt relieved. Like I was no longer a risk to anyone I love," she writes.

www.nationalobserver.com

***

I quite enjoy Emma's reporting; and this is no slag on her.........

But it occurs to me in reading her account that the people most likely to need this; those living in large, multi-generational families or otherwise with an older or immune-compromised family member are far less likely to end
up benefiting from this service.

First you have to know about it; then it helps if you know to drop in the word 'urgent'; your articulate, and face no language barrier.

While the City provides housing and food for free; of course families have bills; and not everyone has sufficient spare cash to be able to not work for 10 days; or the wherewithal to find the needed public income support in lieu of same.

In the end, I applaud the City for providing this service; but I wonder how often it reaches those most acutely in need.

 

[lenaitch]

My father-in-law is in LTC at the Sunnybrook Veteran's Centre. They have been generally very good and very safe throughout this whole thing, but the missus has been obviously frustrated with no visitation at all for the first several months then restricted visits more recently. Their mantra has always been to connect in other ways as best we can. It is largely a multi resident per room set up and they started moving some to get better separation, and his bed was moved. She had been frustrated trying to call him, which isn't always unusual but after almost two weeks she started getting ugly. She finally discovered that nobody thought to re-program the phone jacks and now some of them are telling us that it is up to the individual/family to do that (some say it's Bell, others say it's in-house tech). Very, very frustrating.

This is what we used to call 'tunnel planning' where people don't consider knock-on impacts of their decisions; usually but not always the domain of senior management who think they are the smartest people in the room. It's things like this that make me glad that military (or military-trained) leadership is involved in the vaccine roll-out. They do this type of planning as a matter of course.

 

[Northern Light]

The Mayor of Niagara Falls, ON, has some rather odd ideas..........about Covid, about the Health Protection Act; and about appropriate voice mail messages.........

‘They will spit in his food,’ Diodati says about journalist who fact-checked his COVID-19 claims

Niagara Falls Mayor Jim Diodati was so incensed by the St. Catharines Standard’s fact-checking of false claims he and other politicians have made abou...

www.stcatharinesstandard.ca

Should you be unable to read this, Outline will work for this link.

 

[cdr108]

An assortment of tangentially Covid stories:

First, we have the Night Club party guy, sorta 'fake hosting' a party inside the Burlington Ikea.....

Toronto club promoter attempts to throw illegal birthday party inside IKEA

"I can't have 10 people in my house, but I can bring 11 people to IKEA. It doesn't make any sense whatsoever." These are the words and se...

www.blogto.com

COVIDIOTS ...

why can IKEA have 800 people vs 10 people in your home ... ?!?

because IKEA is 428,500-square-foot with 12+ feet ceilings and commercial/industrial ventilation requirements.

800 people ( + 440 employees ) in 428,500 square-foot equals to 345+ square-feet/person.
mind you some of that space is occupied by furniture, but there's still ample area.

10 people in his small apartment is generous, given i doubt it's 3,500+ square-feet

 

[W. K. Lis]

COVIDIOTS ...

why can IKEA have 800 people vs 10 people in your home ... ?!?

because IKEA is 428,500-square-foot with 12+ feet ceilings and commercial/industrial ventilation requirements.

800 people ( + 440 employees ) in 428,500 square-foot equals to 345+ square-feet/person.
mind you some of that space is occupied by furniture, but there's still ample area.

10 people in his small apartment is generous, given i doubt it's 3,500+ square-feet

Wonder why The Bay is forced to close but Wal-Mart is allowed to be open, despite having more floor space available.

 

[tiffer24]

Ontario is reporting a record 2,275 new cases Tues. The 7-day avg. is up to a new high of 1,927 cases daily, or 93 weekly per 100,000. Labs report 39,566 completed tests & 5.3% positivity. 20 new deaths reported; active hospitalizations at 921.

https://data.ontario.ca/dataset/status-of-covid-19-cases-in-ontario

 

[PinkLucy]

Wonder why The Bay is forced to close but Wal-Mart is allowed to be open, despite having more floor space available.

Wal-Mart sells groceries