on_wx

Very March-esque today. Canada banned flights from the UK, and an Ontario-wide lockdown was leaked to start on Christmas Eve. The official announcement will be made at 1pm. Tension.

I'd bet Thanksgiving had a lot to do with it. Most people I know, my family included, canceled and remained home. But a lot of people flaunted the recommendations and went ahead with multi-household gatherings. Cases started exploding a week or two later.

If the USA holds at 2,000 fatalities a day, that will be 14,000 a week. Assuming a lot of these fatalities were from infections 2-3 weeks ago, then what will it look like in 2-3 weeks from now? 14,000-21,000 a week? I can't wrap my head around these 150,000-200,000 infections a day.

Doug Ford warned new restrictions are coming on Friday. My county moved to Orange (3/5) on the weekend, and our public health has warned we could move to Red (4/5) this week. Most counties in the Golden Horseshoe are already in Red, so we could see lockdown (5/5) issued there on Friday.

They advised us to only have Thanksgiving with our own household this year and it sounds like most people listened. But we'll see in two weeks is the "run-away train" they warned will happen actually happens

Montreal and Quebec City are on a form of lockdown for the next 28 days. I don't think a lot of us are expecting another lockdown for various economic reasons, but its surprising to see parts of Quebec are going ahead with it.

We were on lockdown for 2 months. I never even got laid off cos the federal government paid my workplaces wages so my employer didnt have to lose any staff. That was the Canadian emergency wage subsidy. We still cant assemble in groups larger than 10 people. All businesses have to limit how many people can enter the store at the time so we have to form lines on marked spacing 6 feet apart to get into stores, including inside malls that were just allowed to reopen. Theatres and recreation are still closed. Only restaurant patios are open with massive restrictions. And singing and dancing are illegal. And more counties are making masks mandatory. We've worked hard to keep our numbers down and aside from a couple dumb protests everyone is complying. I'm hoping all the emergency aid for wages, unemployment, and business grants will keep us afloat. Could all come down at a moments notice tho. Its night and day for us looking south of the border.

Hate to say it but the USA is in serious trouble and idk why but everywhere you turn these days is Americans arguing about facts vs fiction about the virus, "freedom", my political viewpoints vs yours, and who knows what else. It's enough to drive us all over the edge. Ontario premier even says he will not support the border reopening and tbh we all feel the same as him. This virus is real, its deadly, you have to take precautions, and we're all at risk of death if we catch it. If it kills 1% of those infected, USA is looking at 3.5 million and everyone seems to be actively trying to expedite the process while the rest of us in the modern world have nearly stopped the virus in its tracks for now. I don't get it?

Most of Ontario moved to stage 2 today. Group size increased from 5 to 10 people. Malls and restaurant patios can reopen with significant restrictions. Movie theatres and entertainment venues are still closed. Hair salons also opened today. Two counties north of here also made face coverings mandatory for everyone working or entering a place of business. Wondering if more areas will adopt the same policy.

The EC calculator asks for temp and dewpoint to get the humidex. Everyone treats it as a temperature, but it's supposed to be a value representing a level of discomfort

The USA needs CERB. The federal government here is giving everyone who's lost their jobs due to the pandemic $2,000/month. They've even updated the eligibility for those who are out of seasonal or contract work or have had their hours cut to part time It doesnt seem right to throw everyone to the wind, no wonder why they're getting restless

Ontario is extending the emergency order until May 12th at least. No end in sight yet

Novel coronaviruses are different than the flu. The problem is that you develop difficulties breathing/pneumonia and require hospitalization at greater numbers. If you end up on a ventilator to breathe, then you are on that ventilator until you're immune system fights off the pneumonia, or you die. Unfortunately the process of healing can take several weeks which takes up hospital space and uses up all available ventilators. H1N1 killed an estimated 3,600 Canadians over six or seven years. COVID19 has already claimed 228 Canadians in two weeks, and Ontario is projecting of 3,000-15,000 deaths in the next two years in our province alone. It would probably be better if this was a flu pandemic since we have vaccines and what not. Edit: should add that COVID19 is a SARS (Severe Accurate Respiratory Syndrome). We last dealt with SARS in 2002/2003 and they were able to contain it. This one not so much.

If there is no intervention to slow the spread hospitals will be overwhelmed/overrun and it'll be a nightmare for everyone

I can see that as well. But, at the same time a lot of money and planning go into these events. You could end up forking out millions of dollars for nothing