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gabe said:
Yeah that's what they looked like. I have the utmost respect for what they do! And also the other health care workers, doctors, nurses, hospital staff...all of them. I couldn’t imagine doing their jobs.



I find during the winter even out here in the burbs, it's difficult to give 2+meters to other pedestrians because of the snowbanks and ice.
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Briefly passing someone on the sidewalk ought to be low risk. The data seems to emphasize that duration of exposure is important.
 
This is a letter to the editor in today's Globe and Mail:

Re Time To Reopen, Or Is It Too Early? (Editorial, FEb. 9): The table labelled "deaths, by month" on Statistics Canada's website tells us all we should need to know about COVID-19 numbers. Every year from 2015 to 2019, deaths are lowest in June, start to rise in October, reach their peak in January, then fall each month until the following June.
COVID-19 numbers follow exactly the same pattern because it is a winter virus like other coronaviruses, the flu and other cold viruses that circulate every year. Public-health precautions appear not to have prevented numbers from following the usual pattern, and are unlikely to make a difference in their fall to summer lows.
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--Paul Cary MD, Cambridge
 
In other news, I had to do a fitness stress test at my cardiologist's today (sorry, I'm not dying yet) and I almost had a full on panic attack at the conclusion of it because I was breathing so hard that with the mask on it felt as if I was suffocating on a plastic bag. It was brutal. I told the technician that I had to take it off and luckily he was ok with me partially doffing the p.o.s.
The guy goes: "Hey man, I don't even care, but we deal with a lot of old people here so you gotta keep it on, at least partially."

Running uphill for 15 minutes with a piece of cloth over your face, go f*** yourself.

Can't wait to burn the stupid thing.
 
PinkLucy said:
I am fortunate to be able to go for walks in low density areas. I see the same people most days (and dogs!); we wave and nod from a distance, but there is plenty of space to give 2 metres and more pretty much everywhere. Today a "newbie" passed by me, giving me about a 15 metre berth all while holding her mask to her face. I get it, but it did seem like a bit of overkill or something out of a bad sci-fi movie (which is pretty much how I have felt life has been like since last March). I definitely see more people wearing masks outdoors when I'm out and about, particularly when people are walking in pairs or small groups.
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Same here. We are early morning people, so we go out for walks at 6:00 am. Usually only see a couple of people and everyone stays apart (we or the other people cross the street to stay away from each other). Even when it's a bit busier, we are in an area that has lots of alternate routes to take to avoid people.
 
They think they are somehow special or different? Like they can't bring a virus back with them just because they've been gone (and living in COVID hotbeds) for months? How is that even logical? The tests now taking place at airports upon landing have discovered positive cases, so why is this such a bad thing?
 
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Restaurants/bars across the province are opening for indoor dining. Toronto, York Region, Peel Region and North Bay-Parry Sound will remain under the stay-at-home order until Feb. 22.

toronto.citynews.ca

Halton, Durham move to 'red zone' as Ontario moves 27 regions into colour-coded framework

Ontario will be moving 27 public health regions back into the colour-coded framework as the stay-at-home order ends in these areas on Tuesday. Halton and Durham are among several regions moving to the red zone where gyms and restaurants will be allowed to reopen with restrictions. Toronto, York...
toronto.citynews.ca toronto.citynews.ca

https://twitter.com/x/status/1360314954428121092
 
Sweeeeeet, the pubs will be open for my trip to Ottawa. The museums as well, hopefully...and if the casino in Gatineau is running. Nah, too soon, too soon.



I heard our lovely PM on the radio today extolling the virtues of our lovely government's border restrictions going into effect in a week and a half. Cool story....a year late. Not sure why it took them that long to figure out that it's not in fact racist to restrict access to one's country during a pandemic. Then again, I didn't finish university indoctrination...er, studies in the social sciences I was in...so what do I know?
 
PinkLucy said:
😳 https://www.stcatharinesstandard.ca...-and-murder-of-medical-officer-of-health.html
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While this is definitely not a good thing, I am honestly not surprised that health leaders in Ontario are not receiving protection details. There are so many wackadoodles out there that believe in the most obscure conspiracy theories to the point where MOH's lives are at risk.

There is no doubt in my mind that someone would make an attempt on the life of a MOH solely because they heard something on facebook or other outlet claiming that covid is a hoax, etc.
 

Asia’s movie rebound is good news for everyone​

From link.

Has the pandemic dimmed the houselights for good at American movie theaters? Stay-at-home orders, capacity limits and simple fear of the virus have kept cinema crowds away for nearly a year. So, too, have studio decisions to delay the release of anticipated blockbusters.

Last year, the North American box office declined to its lowest total since 1981 (when “Raiders of the Lost Ark” was the top draw). Now theaters are flirting with bankruptcy while hoping that they haven’t lost their fans forever.

The good news? The picture could hardly look more different in Asia. Although similar worries had plagued the region’s movie business at the start of the pandemic, audiences are now piling back into theaters and spurring record box-office hauls.

In China, where the government says that COVID-19 is mostly under control, the take for the first 10 days of January surged more than 50% over the same period last year. In Japan, Imax Corp. is reporting record weekend attendance. From India to Taiwan, there’s been a similar surge in theater-going.

Is there anything the U.S. could learn from this unexpected feel-good tale?

In truth, American theaters weren’t in good shape even before the pandemic. The rise of streaming services and other entertainment (such as gaming), was eating into an industry that had grown increasingly dependent on a small number of blockbusters. In 2019, U.S. ticket sales fell by 4.4% to $11.4 billion, the biggest year-over-year decline since 2014.

Still, there was reason for optimism. Through March 1 of last year, the U.S. box office had earned $1.6 billion, 7.3% ahead of 2019. Thanks to a slate of expected blockbusters, from a new James Bond film to a much-anticipated remake of “Dune,” the rest of the year was looking up too. But as the pandemic set in, studios began pulling back and delaying big-budget releases, including the Bond film. By mid-March almost every U.S. theater screen was dark, with no timetable for re-opening. In April, Universal Pictures announced that it would bypass theaters altogether and release “Trolls World Tour” right to home video. Other studios soon followed.

All told, it threatened to be a mortal blow. With audiences stuck at home, subscriptions to the biggest streaming services increased by more than 50%, according to one estimate. In response, the film industry and cinema fans agonized that customers might never want to return to the days of crowded auditoriums and overpriced popcorn.

As Asia has shown, though, those worries were almost certainly premature. Just as in the U.S., theaters in Asia-Pacific closed thanks to COVID-19, and there was plenty of pessimism about their prospects for re-opening. But then a few things went right.

One critical factor was a competent coronavirus response from many regional governments, including mass testing, adequate protective gear, contact tracing, tough quarantine measures and early travel restrictions. Widespread compliance with masking and other safety directives also instilled confidence in businesses and consumers.

But perhaps the biggest factor was a surge in good local films. In the absence of Hollywood fare, “The Eight Hundred,” a Chinese war epic, became the world’s top-grossing movie with a $460 million take. Japan’s “Demon Slayer” grossed $337 million, good enough for fifth place globally. “Peninsula,” a Korean zombie film, was likewise a huge regional hit.

In a down year, the Asia-Pacific region accounted for about 51% of global ticket sales, compared to 41% in 2019. By the end of 2020, Chinese sales had surpassed $3 billion — enough to top the U.S. for the first time.

For America’s movie theaters, that should actually be welcome news. As vaccines roll out, and Americans venture back into public spaces again, Hollywood will be waiting for them with an unprecedented backlog of big-budget films competing for their attention and wallets.

Not every Netflix subscriber will get off the sofa and head to a theater, of course. But the pent-up demand in countries like China and Japan shows that even in an era of personal screens and screenings, millions of people still want to share in the experience of watching movies together.The big screen, after all, is still where the action is.
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