Stinkypup

OK, after three years of a global pandemic, seeing patients needlessly die and others debilitated for who know how long, whilst fighting lunacy and outrageous misinformation on line, I took the bait. I am sure that I am wasting my breath given that even with presenting the most rocksolid proven evidence, Covid deniers continue to argue that black is white but its worth a punt.
I am absolutely for audit and review of actions carried out by any medical or Government organization, but it has to be carried out by unbiased and balanced expert individuals and having even scratched below the surface of the so called National Citizens Inquiry none of this lot fulfill any of those criteria. They claim that they are honest and follow only evidence-based lines yet then present as expert witnesses the likes of Robert Malone, darling of the antivaxxers and Covid deniers (alongside Peter McCullough) a veritable megaphone of misinformation, Mark Trozzi, quite rightly suspended by the CSPO because of the totally unproven misinformation that he spouted, Laura Braden, a rampant antivaxxer (including opposing childhood vaccines). They are to name but a few. This garbage is going nowhere, dont kid yourself. Thankfully, the vast majority of the general public follow evidence and science which has managed to get us through this pandemic relatively unscathed although the relatives of far north of 6 million now deceased would probably dispute that alongside those who are potentially suffering lifelong disabilities as a consequence of it.

BristolUK

How nice to see you after all this time.

spouse of scouse

shelley748

Time will tell

Stinkypup

Time will tell what exactly? That a kangaroo court of science deniers, conspiracy theorists and antivaxxers will come to the conclusion that it was just a cold? That vaccines have caused more deaths than the "cold"? That Malone et al were totally right, that the vaccines (somehow) modify people DNA so they die in two years (not seen that yet). etc etc
The "Commission" apparently displays credibility, independence, competence, evidence based practice- are they having a laugh? This deluded idea came from the unhinged brain of Preston Manning which tells sane people who actually do their research a lot. I knew it would be a waste of time, it always is but I will always counter BS when I see it.

BristolUK

Time will tell.

I went for my routine blood test this morning at the hospital. Screening still at the door. Masks everywhere throughout - they actually give you one and insist you put theirs on even if you have one yourself.
Hospital.
It's almost like medical people know medical stuff isn't it?

Stinkypup

Yes but they are not the poor persecuted brave "truth seeking doctors and nurses" they are just the government paid off (I wish) ones. Despite my high exposure professional environment and my necessary multiple trips to the UK, being fully vaxxed and boosted (and thankfully still alive with DNA intact), avoiding high risk situations and wearing my N95 whenever I need to, I still haven't had Covid. Science working maybe?
BTW

printer

The problem with the science debate is that we seem to have lots of grey areas whereby science is not the same Canada wide or world wide for that matter. Henry and Dix are sticking to their guns and point blank refusing to consider allowing nurses and doctors who aren't vaxxed back into healthcare despite may other provinces doing so. All healthcare settings remain with mask mandates in BC yet countries such as UK have not only got rid of the mandate they are now stopping pretty much all covid testing requirements in most places that previously required them. Science says that getting vaccinated is a good thing and we are now up to 4th or even 5th booster shot to be covered yet in BC healthcare the mandate is two shots which if done at the start of this are pretty much useless by now surely without the boosters yet the boosters are not required to be considered fully vaccinated. I don't see a uniform scientific approach across the board.

Stinkypup

These are totally reasonable points you raise and I am definitely not saying that I agree with everything that is done here in BC, far from it, some of it does not make sense. Concerning unvaccinated doctors and nurses, they do seem to be digging their heels in despite what seems to be a very significant nursing crisis. Does it make scientific sense? Not with transmitting Covid but it perhaps does reflect on their lax attitude towards the virus and its potential effects which can be hugely significant. Would I be up in arms if they were allowed back? No not at all, just disappointed that they took this ridiculous attitude in the first place given that they are obliged to be vaccinated against several other infectious diseases. Concerning unvaccinated doctors, if they were responsible for disseminating misinformation, I do not feel that they should ever practice again, if it was simply that they objected to the Covid vaccine then the same concerns would apply as the nurses but I would accept their return to work.

I would not cite the UK as an example to follow, they have been appalling throughout this whole pandemic. They have not been doing anything really since the so called "Freedom day" (back in July 18 months ago). The government was determined that everybody should get it irrespective of potential long-term consequences and that is something that I will never forgive them for. My mum is in a residential facility in the UK and following the removal of the mask mandate within the facility, shortly after she got a second round of Covid, ( the first time right at the beginning of the pandemic (before they mandated masks) and this then subsequently developed into a secondary bacterial infection and I am amazed that she survived. #vaccinessavelives

Concerning the vaccines here in BC, as you say, the mandated number of doses is 2 which is indeed almost certainly totally inadequate given that people who have had just 2 doses are getting very sick at times and some are ending up in hospital here. We moved away from mandating both masks and vaccines to a personal choice, not unreasonable I feel given where we are with the pandemic now with vaccines and therapeutics available. I will take whatever vaccine is offered to me and will continue to wear an N95 mask in situations that I feel will put me at risk. Do I feel that the mandates should have remained? No, definitely not, its now personal choice. (Having said that, I have seen a ton of patients with Covid recently, thankfully none have needed hospitalization but I would say probably two thirds of them have felt completely wiped out at best and at worst have her run this persistent cough and fatigue and muscle aches that have prevented them from going back to work for a considerable time this is precisely why I do not want to contract it.)
I strike the middle ground, I run a large science based Covid Facebook group and have done for the last 3 years, there are people there that are still very hesitant to go out, many of them immunocompromised, I try and lead a relatively normal life, we do have to move on but we should also try and help protect the vulnerable.

printer

Many good and fair points

BristolUK

I wonder what could possibly have caused that increase on a year that was already higher than usual.
Wait, there was a pandemic and people died at unprecedented rates last year, when we didn't have to worry about it anymore?

printer

Interesting article on our local news website this week. And i quote:New modelling shows British Columbia is the most severely affected province for COVID infections, health care system impact and death in the country.

According to the “hazard index” published by COVID-19 Resources Canada, a grassroots initiative with the objective of facilitating Canada’s response to the pandemic, B.C. has had the highest score across the country for more than a month.

The index is calculated from current infections and spread, health care system impact and mortality.

Tara Moriarty, an infectious-disease researcher and co-founder of the group, said the high score in B.C. is driven by a combination of first-time infections and the effectiveness of COVID vaccines starting to wane. She added people who were infected early in the Omicron wave have begun to lose antibodies providing protection.
British Columbia is followed by Prince Edward Island, Newfoundland and Labrador, and Saskatchewan, which are all marked “severe.”

Yet our health guru Bonnie Henry says of the report:
She said thanks to the high level of population immunity, the virus is no longer causing severe disease in most people, and this is why the public can now move forward with confidence and remove some of the COVID-19 measures that were in place.

OrangeMango

Don't know if this is true, but they say that Toronto is going to go bancrupt and the budget shortfall is due to lack of ridership on the TTC during the Corona pandemic.

BristolUK

N.B.'s COVID-19 hazard index highest in Canada, says researcher, as virus kills 3 more
3-5 weekly deaths has been pretty consistent here. Remember when, in the early days of Covid that NB was posting zero cases for so, so long and then when they started filtering through it was just one or two here and there?

The reason put forward was not that we were being good boys and girls following the guidance it was "because of low population density". I always thought that was nonsense because while the population is much lower you sit on a bus with the same number of fellow passengers, stand in line or sit with the same number of people in Tim Hortons, class sizes are fairly standard, you share a taxi with the same number of taxi drivers, your queue in the bank or supermarket is pretty much the same everywhere, cinema seats have seats next to you, behind and front the same as everywhere else and so on.

So now we have a higher infection rate than other provinces. Almost double

withabix

I had No. 5 on Sunday, with a side of flu shot. No side effects other than 2 sore arms and a bit of general ache this time. Noted from my BC records that I've had all Moderna except for my first one which was the Astra Zeneca

Mrs. withabix had No. 6 (works for a regional health body), and she's had Pfizer every time.

Both of us had OG Covid in December 2020, thanks to one of my work colleagues - having worked our way through 2020 on a municipal construction project with 300 other people (we were classed as Essential Workers) with 1 case, some kind chap brought it to work to share and about 12 of us got it all at once...

Quite a few colleagues have had Covid in the last few weeks and it was a 3-days-in-bed job, despite on their previous time only having mild symptoms. So this XBB1.x might be a worse variant...