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Quebec's schools are closed until 10th Jan..

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BC just announced same

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I'm sorry to hear this and hope you feel better soon.drink lots, take meds, watch telly.

BMJ article by Elisabeth Mahese 24 Dec 2021 says that someone infected with Omicron is 31 -45% less likely to attend emergency care than someone with Delta and 50 - 70% less likely to be admitted. They also state the info is preliminary. There's the possibility that more numbers might need hospital care as the variant is very transmissible. So much is uncertain.

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Certainly this was the information coming out of the UK a week ago and now England have decided against any restrictions going into New Years eve so will be interesting to see if they have change of heart by January and today they were saying that maybe London had peaked with it's case numbers already.
Meanwhile Bonnie Henry here in BC has been mulling over the US CDC data on reducing isolation times for people and has in essence agreed it's a good idea, she has even stated that British Columbians who are double vaccinated and been in contact with a positive person no longer need to isolate and can go to work so long as they follow precautions. We now seem to be going from "save the people" and "save the health service" to "save businesses" I'm hoping that we can now start to move forward and stop counting cases so much because we all know the figures will be alarming for the next while at least but we also know this sin't the whole story

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the kids and teachers were told to prepare in December for an extended January break/remote learning so Doug dragging his feet publicly is dumb because we all know what’s coming. And again I’m still not sure why he keeps making announcements about announcements, the data is out there that this is highly contagious so just pick one side on the schools and run with it. The cynic in me is this is just him indirectly picking a fight with the teachers union

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There was a letter sent by 500 ontario doctors asking for schools to stay open, and I think they should be listened too, but suspect they won't be. There will be some BS comment from DF containing the phrase "Friends... blah blah blah" and how it's important to stop the spread.

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Sounds like they’re delaying the reopen until Jan 5th and naturally DF and his cabinet have passed off making the announcement to the chief medical officer so probably won’t even get the “friends blah blah blah” statement

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So, is Covid Pandemic over then? Kinda sounds like that.
Hard to turn around that quick in my mind, but can't argue with science and the Gov.
Well, we could argue, doesn't do anything though.

Are Canadians still wearing masks?
Around here most people have dropped them.

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Pretty sure masks still required throughout Canada for indoor stuff (not homes) and outdoors when distancing not possible.

Quebec has introduced an overnight curfew which seems a little different to let's all hug and snog each other. :lol:

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People are still wearing masks. vaccination is required to go indoors, offices are closed with the staff working from home, schools are closed, there are queues for booster shots. In no sense is the covid pandemic over.

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I think by mid January Britain will have a good idea about the shape of the pandemic (in Britain). England and the other three nations have differed on level of restriction, so that should lead to some comparative data too.

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https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/british...144b18e67f.jpg
It seems like its over in London UK

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I went for a pint yesterday, the Brewery I went to is now in a indoor mask requirement area, must have changed in the last week.

We now have snow, time of year, so packed. So you are supposed to wear your mask until you get to the bar and then once you have your beer in hand mask is not required.

The logic escapes me.

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It's all based on the science don't you know. :lol:

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Have you tried drinking through a mask?

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Is drinking at the bar allowed there?

You have to be seated at a table here and eating / drinking to be able to remove your mask. The tables are spaced as well so as to maintain distance from other patrons.

If you subsequently test positive, you will hopefully only transmit to other people in your group.

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That is what is happening in BC. No table hopping either.

Limited number of people in homes, including for Christmas or NY dinners ............ 1 household plus 1 household ....... and only that other household, no invti8ng one family tonight and another tomorrow. All big or organized Christmas and New Year's parties, banquets etc cancelled.

You have to show proof of full vaccination and photo ID for entry to restaurants and bar, cinemas, etc etc. Night clubs closed.

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I was recently in Denver which I think has had restrictions for a month or so and they have brought back the mask requirement but no sign I saw of going back to limited seating, all the places I went to had bar seating. But not that busy.

The place I was referring to earlier is in Breckenridge so despite the late snow this year very busy and no bar issues. Tap Room so not sure how they could operate as it is a mix of bar seats and big benches.

Where I live there are currently no restrictions.

I read that it is extremely easy to get the latest variant so not sure it really makes that much difference. You are most likely going to get it, just when.

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Sorry to read that. :(

Good for you getting the shots and good that your symptoms are minor.

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Is it still only 1 (one) omicron death in the US, 4 weeks in with a nation of 330m people? Hard to find reputable information online right now. Are we still at 0 (zero) in Canada?

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Dunno but this Forbes article dated Dec 18 says
That's in two days.

I'm putting off my plans for hugging and snogging for the time being. :lol:

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Well i'm not sure but with the latest figure from UK today on case numbers, almost 250,000 i would hope that this is very much a common cold because if it isn't then they are in for some serious hospital overload never before seen and i'm pretty sure the scientsts and professors that calculate all this stuff alongside NHS advisors will have been consulted on this and a more rigorous set of rules or a lock down would have been ordered by Boris already but it hasn't. There is talk of contingency plans to be made as 300,000 NHS staff could be off isolating if predictions are correct. Who knows maybe Boris has been busy changing nappys (diapers) at home and forgot he was running the country.

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It's the inconsistency that's bothering me.

Of course the UK advisors were all consulted last year :lol: in 2020 and their recommendations pretty much ignored so I don't think just because a government "does something" is because of advice. I mean Wales and Scotland must surely have the same batch of advisors as England but they've done different stuff. It's the same variant in most places but contrast England and Quebec with its curfew.

But mostly what bothers me most - and nobody seems to address this when I mention it - is from day one we were told there would be variants as the virus spreads. We have seen this come true. And now, apparently, we are somewhere between "not worrying" about Omicron and even encouraging its spread because it's like a cold.

How do we know that while it's spreading even more quickly that it's not mutating (and at a faster rate than others)? All the others have so why are we excluding that possibility for this one?

Is it like Doctor Who with a limit on regenerations or something like that? :lol:

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Highest ever daily case count here - 434, which I know is tiny compared to elsewhere. Stage 3 lockdown so restaurants at 50% capacity and bars closed. Schools will be virtual learning from Tuesday with a reassessment every Thursday. Only 1 hospitalization current which is encouraging. However all routine procedures being cancelled which is less so as I have one at the end of the month. Social media pretty evenly split between “Nah its fine, no need for any lockdowns” and “sweet Jesus take us to level 5 (complete lockdown) now!”

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Same sort of thing here - in the 600s - but when it was between zero and 9 daily throughout 2020, with post Christmas daily highs of 40 and as recently as July 2021 not a single active case in he province for several consecutive days (not just the absence of new ones), 600 daily is ENORMOUS.

Easy to say not serious but we have as many ICU beds used for covid as we've ever had in my city.

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We are the same - numbers gone from 0 for most of year, to single digits through beginning of December (we opened state border at end of November), to over 2000 cases a day for the last couple of days.

We definitely have omicron.

ETA - population of South Australia is about 1.75 million for comparison.

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I'm waiting for it. Silly summer festival season here.

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And this came from the WHO regarding the latest rush to add booster shots in some countries.
World Health Organization officials on Wednesday criticized blanket Covid-19 vaccine booster programs as poor countries struggle to obtain initial doses, warning that the unequal access to immunizations could lead to more mutated variants that drag out the crisis.

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It's a good point. I suppose mutations will be addressed as they arise. Unless there is a more lethal variant, it seems increasingly difficult for the authorities to deal with public fatigue, resistance and scepticism.

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yes well this annoys me that we’re all getting boosted/4th shots when there are places that struggle to get 1st doses. I have my booster scheduled tomorrow, my reluctance is growing and I’ll certainly be more reluctant if a 4th dose gets pushed out if there are still places that are struggling to get enough first doses.

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4th shot ?! Are you in Israel ?

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A few days ago it was reported here in Ontario that certain people (care home residents) can get a 4th shot.

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Yes. I suppose there is at least recognition that "more mutated variants that drag out the crisis"can result from lack of vaccination allowing infection to spread or just plain old allowing infection to spread because this one's just mild.

But as a part of the world where the latter one still applies why is it not being said?

I've been trying to find something about how long after significant numbers have been infected differently can they identify a new variant as the reason but I'm drawing a blank.

But reading early reports about potential exposure, onset of symptoms (incubation period) followed by infectious period, just from one person passing it to another, we're talking a week or two, followed by a week or two to the third person. Unless it's a super spreader event it could take a month or more to gather enough information to identify a source of basic covid let alone whether there's a new variant involved.

So that suggests to me that the discovery of every new variant occurs several weeks after its release into the population.

Perhaps when they do the regular tests they are automatically geared up to look for even the minutest difference that might at least indicate the possibility of change so it might be discovered sooner. If it happens why not announce that and reassure people?

Yes, that makes sense. There was a discussion here a few weeks back that Ontario had announced that (and I discovered after the event that NB had too - September I think) 'third' shoots (boosters) were available for immune-compromised and so on.

So now that 3rds/boosters are the norm for everyone, it follows that those who got their first shots first and boosters first would get second boosters first. ;).

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I heard somewhere that dozens of variants have been identified from the original Covid-19, so that implies that that the we only hear about a variant once becomes a concern (severity, transmission) and is continuing to infect a growing number of the population. Many variants "die out" (recede would be a better term) naturally.

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Ontario back to Step 2.
Schools going to virtual / remote as of Wednesday 5th until at least 17th Jan, which more than a little annoys me.

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The last thing the kids need is more time away from school.

My 7 year old GD has her 2nd shot on Wednesday. Most of the kids in her class have had or are getting them in the next week or so,

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I think the concern is to reduce the infection amongst the teachers and staff. It's a tough call because because if too many teachers/healthcare are infected everything stalls. The kids themselves seem to be fairly resilient.

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I think it is mainly due to healthcare staff. Seems that hospitals were stretched before Covid…but now :eek:

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Yes, I came across something like that while looking. Once it becomes a concern there are already significant numbers of cases of the new one so we're back to my questioning the lack of concern about a variant of concern developing while spreading is practically encouraged.

One other odd thing to go with that...

Lots of talk now about "needing" N95 masks or doubling up because masks "may not be protecting the wearer as much as thought."
So what is it now then, completely forgetting all that time advising us it was the wearer protecting others? :frown:

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I've noticed that too. I suppose the greater transmissibility of Omicron favours N95/etc, but it is interesting that the guidance "masks primarily reduce spreading rather than intake" seems to have been shelved.