COVID-19 >>"True and Helpful" Covid Information Thread

[cc]

We are up to 342 today .. 10 times where we were 2 1/2 weeks ago and rising rapidly now



Alta hospitalized patients has been in the 90s for six straight days now.



It's all a numbers game. The numbers will tell the story in the end



"95 per cent of COVID cases since January occurred in unvaccinated people or people still developing immunity in the early days after a first dose."

To be fair, the variant's takeover is relatively new. That % does not represent today



Again, it will be argued both ways - BUT - in the end. the numbers (cases, deaths, hospital cases) .. whatever they are ...will tell the story and set the path for the "actual" future

[Anonymous]

But, once we reach three quarters of the population double dosed, it can only spread so much.

[Anonymous]

I'm not worried about the Delta variant. I am fully vaccinated. Even if I caught it, I would have only mild symtoms.

[Anonymous]

An interesting prespective on COVID by Licia Corbella.



It's time we stopped 'freaking out' and learn to live with COVID, just like Hinshaw says

'The question is, at what time points do we make a shift into living with COVID?'



How did Dr. Deena Hinshaw, Alberta's chief medical officer of health, get transformed from nearly every Albertan's golden girl of COVID care to a pandemic pariah at the speed of a Twitter pile on?



In short, she announced the loosening of restrictions. It appears many people just can't let go of the fearmongering.



What's ironic is many of these profane pundits are the very same people who repeatedly admonished all others to rightly listen to the experts and follow the science.



Indeed, even Calgary Mayor Naheed Nenshi — who not so long ago was singing Hinshaw's praises and wearing a 'What would Dr. Hinshaw do?' T-shirt, seemed to have turned on Hinshaw, saying he was "freaking out" and called the elimination of almost all health restrictions related to COVID by the end of the month "the height of insanity."



Indeed, Hinshaw pointed out 95 per cent of COVID cases since January occurred in unvaccinated people or people still developing immunity in the early days after a first dose.



"I think it's regrettable that we've seen comments attacking the expertise of our brilliant chief medical officer of health," Kenney said in defence of Hinshaw.



"This was a package that came forward from the chief medical officer of health and her team based on the evidence, both here and around the world, of the changing nature of the disease given widespread vaccine protection and a careful analysis of the risks and benefits . . . So I guess I would say that this is a government that respects the advice of our scientific experts . . . knowing that that advice is based on hard data and science."



Kenney quoted Dr. Sarah Fortune, chair of the department of immunology and infectious diseases at Harvard University, who told CBC's Radio Active she believes Alberta's plan is sound.



"I think Alberta is taking reasonable steps in the face of having done a good job of bringing the viral numbers down and in the face of good vaccine coverage," said Fortune.



"I don't think the people of Alberta, where you've achieved upwards of 70 per cent vaccine coverage, need to think that they're going to become the next Louisiana, where vaccine coverage is much lower."



According to Alberta Health, 76 per cent of Albertans aged 12 and older have received at least one vaccine and 65.8 per cent have received two doses. That's higher than Israel, which led the world early on and for many months afterwards.



Hinshaw says COVID-19 and its variants will be with us for a long time and the extraordinary measures in place to combat it — widely testing asymptomatic people, for instance — aren't sustainable as they leach away valuable medical personnel from helping Albertans with other ailments.



"One of the things that's important to note in terms of context is there are very few places around the world that have the kinds of vaccine coverage that we have, and in speaking to other colleagues who are contemplating their forward planning, everybody is aware that their current approach is not sustainable," said Hinshaw.



"The question is, at what time points do we make a shift into living with COVID?"



That's the zillion-dollar question.



"I think everyone is aware that we're not going to eliminate COVID and so there are risks and benefits . . . of making that shift. And there's also risks of maintaining the status quo," she added.



People are naturally concerned for their children, but Hinshaw pointed out more children were hospitalized in intensive care over the seven-month flu season of 2019-20 than were hospitalized through the 17 months of COVID-19.



COVID is just not a serious illness for kids. The flu is worse. Other ailments are worse and other activities are much more risky.



Kenney noted that kids aged five to 14 had a 140 times greater risk of an emergency department visit for a sports-related injury in 2019 than the risk of COVID-related hospital admission since March 2020. We don't talk about shutting down kids' sports because, unfortunately, some kids get injured and have to go to the emergency ward. A tiny fraction of that number ends up having to visit a hospital with COVID-19.



"It's important to recall that in Alberta over the 17 months of the disease here, we have not recorded a single COVID-related death for any Albertan under the age of 20," he said. "And the vaccine coverage just reduces the chances of children becoming sick or experiencing severe symptoms radically from where we were six and 12 months ago."



In other words, ignore Twitter and those who want to continue lockdowns and treating COVID like we did before we were widely vaccinated. Follow the science. It's time we learned to live with this illness and get on with living.

https://calgaryherald.com/opinion/columnists/corbella-its-time-we-stopped-freaking-out-and-learn-to-live-with-covid-just-like-hinshaw-says?fbclid=IwAR2Ow1DCbgI2u4XIB4mSBE8uzUgNz9qRzD4XzFlIzV55RTbY48Q5s_CyvRk">https://calgaryherald.com/opinion/colum ... 8Q5s_CyvRk">https://calgaryherald.com/opinion/columnists/corbella-its-time-we-stopped-freaking-out-and-learn-to-live-with-covid-just-like-hinshaw-says?fbclid=IwAR2Ow1DCbgI2u4XIB4mSBE8uzUgNz9qRzD4XzFlIzV55RTbY48Q5s_CyvRk

Dr Hinshaw was right We have nearly 70% of the population double dosed. COVID uses up a lot of resources. We can't keep this up with so many people vaccinated.

[cc]

I'm not worried about the Delta variant. I am fully vaccinated. Even if I caught it, I would have only mild symtoms.

That's you and most all of us



Have y'all forgotten the hospital shutdowns to non infected needy??



Our opinions  will not determine what is to be ... Again, we'll soon see what the numbers are.



The numbers alone will determine what is to be

[Anonymous]

I'm not worried about the Delta variant. I am fully vaccinated. Even if I caught it, I would have only mild symtoms.

That's you and most all of us



Have y'all forgotten the hospital shutdowns to non infected needy??



Our opinions  will not determine what is to be ... Again, we'll soon see what the numbers are.



The numbers alone will determine what is to be

What does the part in bold mean?

[Anonymous]

I'm not worried about the Delta variant. I am fully vaccinated. Even if I caught it, I would have only mild symtoms.

As am I. I am double vaxxed, so I did my part. I don't mask or socially distance unless I have to. And if a business requires masks, fuck them, I'll go elsewhere.

[cc]

I'm not worried about the Delta variant. I am fully vaccinated. Even if I caught it, I would have only mild symtoms.

That's you and most all of us



Have y'all forgotten the hospital shutdowns to non infected needy??



Our opinions  will not determine what is to be ... Again, we'll soon see what the numbers are.



The numbers alone will determine what is to be

What does the part in bold mean?

Sorry if I confused. I merely meant that covid-full hospitals (numbers)  would be a major number that would dictate actions, despite intentions expressed

[Anonymous]

I'm not worried about the Delta variant. I am fully vaccinated. Even if I caught it, I would have only mild symtoms.

That's you and most all of us



Have y'all forgotten the hospital shutdowns to non infected needy??



Our opinions  will not determine what is to be ... Again, we'll soon see what the numbers are.



The numbers alone will determine what is to be

What does the part in bold mean?

Sorry if I confused. I merely meant that covid-full hospitals (numbers)  would be a major number that would dictate actions, despite intentions expressed

Once we reach seventy five per cent vaccinated, I don't think that will happen.

[cc]

Sorry if I confused. I merely meant that covid-full hospitals (numbers)  would be a major number that would dictate actions, despite intentions expressed

Once we reach seventy five per cent vaccinated, I don't think that will happen.

I don't expect it to either, but I always allow that this beast has destroyed the "safest" predictions so many times (more infections than predicted, new & stronger variants, etc.), I don't make or accept predictions for the future any more



That's why I now say only "whatever the numbers turn out to be  will determine the steps" no matter what anyone says qt a given point in time ... but I'm always hoping and allowing that the numbers could be good

[cc]

402 new cases in BC today - over 1/2 in Okanagan  area



BC, ON & Alta are up 2 1/2 times last week's average day



Provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry noted Thursday that 95 per cent of recent cases have involved people who are not fully immunized against the disease, and described the surge in infections as "a wave of cases in the unvaccinated."





I just saw on TV that to keep up with all the new cases,  Florida is having to rebuild  hospital interiors - eliminating meeting rooms and cafeterias to make them into Covid patient areas .. so things are not going well at all there

[Anonymous]

Oh my goodness, 397 cases today in Alberta..

[Anonymous]

We had 369 cases today in Alberta.

[cc]

We have 464



Nearly 60 per cent of the cases announced Friday were identified in the Interior Health region, where rapid spread has prompted the government to ramp up COVID-19 measures in the Central Okanagan.



At a news conference, provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry said transmission in the region has mostly been among "under-immunized young people," mostly between the ages of 20 and 40.



As of today, that area is now under much much stricter rules in the Central Okanagan and case tracking is taking place ... as health care workers and care homes are being hit hard



The government has said 95 per cent of recent cases involve people who are not vaccinated or only partly vaccinated. This week, Henry suggested that inching up vaccination numbers across all age groups could be the determining factor in whether the province experiences another major wave in cases or "something that is more of a ripple."





Henry said about 80 per cent of the cases in the Okanagan involve the Delta variant, which is said to be much more contagious. But research has found that two shots of vaccine are nearly as effective against Delta as the previously dominant Alpha variant, however.

[Anonymous]

United Airlines has mandated that all of it's employees be vaccinated by October or risk losing their job.