Jingsamichty

Schools have been back in Scotland for a month now. My colleague today just said that his 10 year old son tested positive - very mild fever controlled with paracetemol - and 12 out of 20 kids in the class also tested positive. Thank goodness for the mass vaccinations otherwise it's likely that teachers and parents would be getting very ill in huge numbers. The kids do not have to isolate.

This virus isn't going anywhere, that's very clear. The only positive thing I've seen is that quite a few anti-vaxxers seem to be dying of COVID, a sort of deranged Darwin Awards.

Jerseygirl

That’s worrying, but good that has only mild symptoms. IMO vaccination should be mandatory.

Almost Canadian

I don't know about other places in the world but, in Alberta, 20% of those in hospital with C-19 have been fully vaccinated.

As I stated above, society is going to have to learn to live with this. The sooner it does so, the better.

Jerseygirl

I bet they have an underlying health problem/s and/or are very elderly.

BristolUK

I'm not sure it's 20% fully vaccinated. 5th Sept - Albertans fully vaccinated for COVID-19 urged to stay cautious during pandemic's 4th wave
So could include first dose people and those with two but insufficient time to have become 'fully' vaccinated.
Nevertheless, this is the Delta variant causing this problem as the vaccines at the moment are better for common or garden covid.

It's a good reason for showing caution; the more the virus is passed around and the more complacent we get about that, the greater the chance of other, more problematic, variants.

There seems to be an 'issue' in Alberta.
It's not the first time Alberta has led the way in negative aspects of the virus.
What with the financial encouragement to overcome resistance to getting jabbed and the Rodeos that went ahead against advice. It didn't come as a huge surprise to read "They don't call Alberta the covidiot capital of Canada for nothing" and similar comments on CBC news reports

Almost Canadian

You would lose that bet and, even if it was true, so what? I don't believe that anyone is disputing that most people will suffer few ill effects of contracting C-19. Trump and Johnson are hardly the epitome of health but both survived.

Almost Canadian

I take it that you accept that the vaccine is not a silver bullet and that people will continue to suffer the effects of C-19 whether or not all are fully vaccinated?

I bet that C-19 will still be an issue in 2 years time. It is not going away. Today it is the Delta variant. I am confident that, in the future, it will be Echo variant and so on.

Would you be OK with everyone having to be vaccinated? If not, why not?

Most jurisdictions have experienced ebbs and flows with how they have dealt with C-19. Alberta is in a predicament at the moment, but it is still miles behind Quebec, Ontario and Manitoba when fatalities per head of population are considered.

I suggest you have a read of this:Corbella: Who are the vaccine hesitant and anti-vaxxers in Canada? | Calgary Herald

It paints a picture that those that are unvaccinated are not likely to be "covidiots in Alberta" but middle aged Liberal voters in Ontario. Of course, I am being selective, just as you are.

The graph (someway down the page) in this article suggests that the ICU numbers in Alberta have been consistently throughout the peaks and troughs related to C-19:Alberta mayors call for COVID-19 vaccine passport; 4,903 new cases | Calgary Herald

Again, context is always required and rarely reported.

scrubbedexpat091

Unfortunately BC doesn't release information in a timely manner for most of the data so its hard to get most current, so it's always a bit outdated but tis the best we have, and CBC seems to be about the only who actually reports this type of data, the rest kind of ignore it.

The last break down of deaths by age group I saw covered July 30 to August 26 time frame, of the fully vaccinated group all deaths were over 60 with most over 80 which isn't unusual, as vaccines are not as effective in 80+ year old's as well just being 80+ your just naturally at a higher risk of death from being that old.

The unvaccinated saw a bit wider range of deaths in younger age groups, but no deaths under 40 in the unvaccinated as of this most recent data.

I rarely agree with our Alberta friend on many topics but I do agree with him on the fact COVID isn't going away at this point, and honestly at this point with pushing 80% vaccinated in BC, I would even limit testing to just those who seek medical care, what point is there to test people just for the sake of testing? No point really, if you have symptoms stay home, knowing its COVID isn't going to change anything for you unless you end up hospital but they can test you there, that is exactly what they do with influenza we don't test every single person with symptoms of influenza, so why continue with COVID at this point?

Unless I was ill to the point of medical care, I wont even bother with getting tested if I have mild symptoms, I will just stay home and rest like I do if I had influenza.

Jerseygirl

Do I have to take your word for that….or do you have proof?

Danny B

21% actually

https://www.alberta.ca/stats/covid-1...ccine-outcomes

scrubbedexpat091

It's been steadily rising in BC too, although I don't know if we have hit 20% yet.

But its not total cases that concern me, its hospitalizations they keep increasing week after week, and that isn't sustainable, we need hospitalizations to decrease or at least become stable, but this week over week increasing isn't sustainable.

BristolUK

And yet Canada covid tracker shows 84.5% in Ontario with at least one jab and 78% double jabbed compared to 78.6% and 70.5% for Alberta.

scrubbedexpat091

BC vs Alberta (these % include total population which is why the numbers are lower, they include the 0-12 year olds not eligible)

If you exclude the 0-11 year old age group not eligible BC sits at 86.4% with 1 dose and 79% fully vaccinated, the fully vaccinated has been sitting for a couple weeks not moving much, as the spike in first doses in mid August have about another week before they start being eligible for their 2nd dose, BC I believe is down to 28 days between 1st and 2nd dose.

I kind of think we are approaching the upper end of what is realistic vaccine wise for those 12+, I really don't think we will get much over 90%, but we shall see, but I do think we are approaching the point of those left are the hardcore ones who will never get it, the hesitant on the fence types are the ones who rushed to get it once they were going to lose access to things, but the hardcore vaccinate haters, good luck convincing them.

scrubbedexpat091

This is what people should be concerned with, we need to get the hospitalizations down the increase over the past month is just been insane.

Overall the number of COVID patients in hospital today in BC is up 283% from the number of patients in hospital on August 9.

ICU is even worse, patient numbers in ICU today 545% higher than August 9th.

New cases between Aug. 31 and Sept. 6 77.8% were either unvaccinated or only partially vaccinated.

Between Aug. 24 and Sept. 6 85% of those ended up in hospital are unvaccinated or only partially vaccinated.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/briti...ept8-1.6167993

scrubbedexpat091

For the first time BC released vaccination status and age groups of the ICU patients. Of 126 in ICU only 10 are fully vaccinated, 10 partially vaccinated and 106 not vaccinated at all.

Calgary area hospitals are cancelling all elective surgeries and most outpatient procedures to free up staff for COVID patients.