The Politics of Covid 19, mask wearing and the vaccination process

[Blackhawk]

Daehawk, as I’m sure you know, their ability to produce more idiots is always above any attrition rate.

True, but there is peace in knowing that their maturation rate exceeds my life expectancy. If I didn't have kids who had to live in the world of the future, I'd just stop caring and let the world burn itself to ashes.

[pr0ner]

DC is dropping their vaccine mandate to enter businesses tomorrow (the day you were supposed to be fully vaccinated for entry), and is dropping the indoor mask mandate at most places (not schools) on March 1.

[Rumpy]

Mission accomplished.

Ontario to remove vaccine passport system on March 1, masking requirements to remain in place

Well, I think that may be more of a coincidence than the actual convoy protest actually having an effect on anything, as the passport was eventually going to be phased out via phased reopenings. But sure, I'm sure the truckers are celebrating. But I'm of the mind that it's dangerous to give these people credit.

[IceBear]

Yeah, I've been saying for weeks that the protest was moot...Ontario has been signaling for awhile it was going to get rid of restrictions (Alberta and Saskatchewan pretty much turboed to remove them). But I'm sure they'll take credit which will entice others to do stunts like this in the future.

I guess since they hate mainstream media they were out of the loop about what Ford has been saying since January about moving away from mandates

[Rumpy]

It's more than moot, even. It's an American-style fantasy and it simply doesn't befit us, certainly not as a Country which has been 80%+ vaccinated. It's not the Canada that I know, that's for sure. It's Reckless Buffoonery (and that would actually make a good band name). I get that people are frustrated about the mandates, but everyone's in the same boat, and a trucker protest (which is not even part of the industry) is not the way to go. It's just been a huge waste of time and resources.

[IceBear]

It's more than moot, even. It's an American-style fantasy and it simply doesn't befit us, certainly not as a Country which has been 80%+ vaccinated. It's not the Canada that I know, that's for sure. It's Reckless Buffoonery (and that would actually make a good band name). I get that people are frustrated about the mandates, but everyone's in the same boat, and a trucker protest (which is not even part of the industry) is not the way to go. It's just been a huge waste of time and resources.

+Infinity

[Daehawk]

Daehawk, as I’m sure you know, their ability to produce more idiots is always above any attrition rate.

You made me laugh...stop that.

They HAVE to see the waves on a beach effect of this over and over and over . Lower restrictions, new wave, people die, raise restrictions, it passes.......they seem to just ignore it. "Yay its better lets go back to normal"

[LordMortis]

It's more than moot, even. It's an American-style fantasy and it simply doesn't befit us, certainly not as a Country which has been 80%+ vaccinated. It's not the Canada that I know, that's for sure. It's Reckless Buffoonery (and that would actually make a good band name). I get that people are frustrated about the mandates, but everyone's in the same boat, and a trucker protest (which is not even part of the industry) is not the way to go. It's just been a huge waste of time and resources.

Even calling it a trucker protest is odd to me. A few hundred truckers have cause strife and maybe even hardship to thousands of truckers and the manufacturing and logistics industries that keep them employed. While it may be a protest primarily by truckers it seems arrogant or misplaced to put that baggage on the field of work. If it was truly a trucker protest, then they'd just not go to work en masse and grind the logistics industry to a halt.

[Rumpy]

It's more than moot, even. It's an American-style fantasy and it simply doesn't befit us, certainly not as a Country which has been 80%+ vaccinated. It's not the Canada that I know, that's for sure. It's Reckless Buffoonery (and that would actually make a good band name). I get that people are frustrated about the mandates, but everyone's in the same boat, and a trucker protest (which is not even part of the industry) is not the way to go. It's just been a huge waste of time and resources.

Even calling it a trucker protest is odd to me. A few hundred truckers have cause strife and maybe even hardship to thousands of truckers and the manufacturing and logistics industries that keep them employed. While it may be a protest primarily by truckers it seems arrogant or misplaced to put that baggage on the field of work. If it was truly a trucker protest, then they'd just not go to work en masse and grind the logistics industry to a halt.

I agree and they aren't even speaking for the trucking industry, as most truckers are already fully vaccinated and compliant with measures across both borders. This is just a whole lot of noise from a minority hijacking a purpose, and any message they might have has long evaporated due to their entitlement issues. They're not benefiting anyone, and they certainly aren't proving anything. Stealing food from a soup kitchen like they've done is like stealing food from old ladies. It's not and never will be patriotic for all they claim. Just want them to grow the F up!

[Daehawk]

Supposedly a convoy of truckers from my wonderful state of TN are going up to support them with socks and some other bullshit. I just love my state of stupid.

[LordMortis]

Stealing food from a soup kitchen like they've done

Wait... What????

Edit:

I totally missed this


https://www.cnn.com/2022/01/31/us/ottaw ... index.html

[Rumpy]

Stealing food from a soup kitchen like they've done

Wait... What????

Early on, in the first few days that they'd arrived, they claimed to have free food given to them by the Shepherds of Good Hope, but in reality they threatened, harrassed, and demanded food from the kitchen staff. The shelter in return received many donations to recoup what was taken.

https://globalnews.ca/news/8581568/otta ... rotesters/

[Pyperkub]

Yeah, this guy ain't right in the head...

Ben Marble, a medical doctor who recently spoke at a Capitol Hill event held by Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI), made a deranged appearance on far-right conspiracy theorist Alex Jones’ broadcast where he said the COVID-19 pandemic could be ended by killing several government officials and public figures and bombing the next meeting of the World Economic Forum.

Marble said the following people deserve to die and that if he was the U.S. president he would have them killed: financier and philanthropist George Soros, World Economic Forum head Klaus Schwab, Microsoft founder Bill Gates, presidential medical adviser Anthony Fauci, and “a few others.” Then saying that “the job of soldiers during war is to arrest and/or kill the enemy,” Marble repeated the previous names, along with President Joe Biden’s and Vice President Kamala Harris’.

[Max Peck]

Apparently the world is done with COVID, and surely the virus will respect that and move on to bigger and better things.

World is 'done' with COVID and it's time to move on from restrictions, Ford says

It's time to move on from public health restrictions aimed at reducing the spread of COVID-19 because people are "done" with rules like vaccine certificates and masks, Ontario's premier said on Tuesday.

A day after his Progressive Conservative government announced plans to speed up its business reopening plan and end its vaccine certificate system within a few weeks, Doug Ford said he's eager to "get these mandates moving."

"I hate as a government telling anyone what to do. We've just got to get moving forward and get out of this and protect the jobs," Ford said at a manufacturing announcement in Hamilton, Ont.

"The world's done with it, so let's just move forward."

The problem all along has been the public health measures, not the disease. It's so clear now.

[Rumpy]

It may be done with Covid, but I'd be surprised if Covid isn't done with the world. Funny how we can dictate our feelings to the Virus like a human being.

Also, am I the only one in thinking we may be jumping the gun?

[Jaymon]

I'm still terrified of the next mutation. This whole business of being infectious before showing symptoms, combined with the infection rate of omicron, means it will just burn through the world in a week. the part that scares me is, what if it becomes more deadly. Healthcare in many places worldwide is already at the limit, it would not take much more to push it over the top, and we once again would be stacking bodies in ice skating rinks.

Some countries might be able to re-enter covid lockdowns and masking, but USA for sure will not.

[Isgrimnur]

It may be done with Covid, but I'd be surprised if Covid isn't done with the world. Funny how we can dictate our feelings to the Virus like a human being.

Also, am I the only one in thinking we may be jumping the gun?

Talk to me in two weeks when we see what society did for the Super Bowl and Valentimes Day.

[Rumpy]

Some countries might be able to re-enter covid lockdowns and masking, but USA for sure will not.

Yeah, that's what worries me. I mean, we're all in the same boat, and I get the frustration people have, but it doesn't seem like the time to be lax.

[Max Peck]

The next mutation is already here -- it's the BA-2 subvariant of Omicron. So far it seems to be significantly more transmissable than the OG Omicron variant (BA.1) and possibly better able to evade vaccines but I haven't seen anything regarding changes in virulence one way or the other. It has been displacing the Omicron BA.1 subvariant in places like Denmark for some time now, which makes the Danish Experiment (abandoning all attempts to mitigate the disease) all the more interesting. It looks like it's working out just fine for them, so I'm sure everything will be OK.



The thing that puzzles me about Denmark is that while their hospital admissions and deaths are up, the number of ICU patients seems to have gone down and stabilized. I'm not sure what to make of the decoupling of hospitalizations/deaths from the ICU. Are people dying before they can get medical attention? Are the hospitals triaging patients such that the severe cases that probably can't be saved don't go to the ICU? Something less dystopian, hopefully?

[LawBeefaroni]

The thing that puzzles me about Denmark is that while their hospital admissions and deaths are up, the number of ICU patients seems to have gone down and stabilized. I'm not sure what to make of the decoupling of hospitalizations/deaths from the ICU. Are people dying before they can get medical attention? Are the hospitals triaging patients such that the severe cases that probably can't be saved don't go to the ICU? Something less dystopian, hopefully?

Denmark has a population of around 5.5M. When you have things measured in deaths per million and they're at like 2, that's like 11 in the entire country. Their ICU and deaths are both below 5 on that table. I wouldn't read too much into either number at the moment. The deaths haven't been higher than ICU yet.

[Max Peck]

Thanks, I figured I must be missing something obvious (because I haven't seen any chatter about it), but <something> trees <something> forest. I was too focused on the slope of the lines to pay attention to something obvious like the relative scales of the graphs.

I'm getting old and rusty...

[LawBeefaroni]

It certainly bears watching but not a giant red flag yet.

[Smoove_B]

The other thing happening is testing rates are dropping.

"The bigger concern right now, I think, is the still increasing number of deaths," Van Kerkhove said during a virtual panel discussion livestreamed on Twitter, Facebook and YouTube.

"In the last week alone, almost 75,000 people died reported to us and we know that that is an underestimate," she said.

The countries claiming that their transmission has dropped from two to six weeks ago have likely seen a drop in testing rates, said WHO's emergencies chief Mike Ryan.

We are in full-on ignore it and it'll disappear thinking right now. It's going to make the next phase of this so much worse.

[Blackhawk]

All I can say is that despite the hardship, I'm really glad Michelle isn't working at a hospital anymore, especially in the COVID ward. She was the vector most likely to bring it home. And in three months, nobody will be in school anymore, either.

[Zaxxon]

Do we need to set up a GrOOp purchase?

[LordMortis]

It may be done with Covid, but I'd be surprised if Covid isn't done with the world. Funny how we can dictate our feelings to the Virus like a human being.

Also, am I the only one in thinking we may be jumping the gun?

Talk to me in two weeks when we see what society did for the Super Bowl and Valentimes Day.

Two weeks from March 13th, the Saturday before St Patrick's day, when all the college bars go off the chain from sun up until close and in the northern states. About eight in the evening will see everyone crowding indoors to stay warm after drinking outside all day, smashed and loud talking and close talking until the early hours of the morning, That's what I am not so eagerly awaiting. I've been right two years in a row. I'm hoping I'm wrong this year but I'm getting shot #4 on the 25th so I can have my inoculation take full effect before this statewide super spreader celebratory event.

[Pyperkub]

Do we need to set up a GrOOp purchase?

One bath? For folks of our advanced age? Yeah, that ain't happening!

[Max Peck]

Do we need to set up a GrOOp purchase?

This is the second time in the last month that I've looked at that listing.

[Zaxxon]

Do we need to set up a GrOOp purchase?

One bath? For folks of our advanced age? Yeah, that ain't happening!

We could probably fit a few more somewhere on the 11 acres.

[Rumpy]

It may be done with Covid, but I'd be surprised if Covid isn't done with the world. Funny how we can dictate our feelings to the Virus like a human being.

Also, am I the only one in thinking we may be jumping the gun?

Talk to me in two weeks when we see what society did for the Super Bowl and Valentimes Day.

What scares me is that while the Superbowl doesn't count here, the number of cases in my region are still really high to even start thinking of letting go of our mandates.

[Isgrimnur]

[Max Peck]

If the convoys had rolled a week earlier, all those Canadian viewers could have been packed into bars instead of watching at home.

[LordMortis]

Remember when 60,000 cases and 1000 deaths a day nationally was considered a spike and we knew we had to re-evaluate our hygiene to reduce spread? I remember those days. Now a 150,000 cases a day and 2000 deaths is cause to declare that everything is great and the pandemic is over.

I don't get us.

[Isgrimnur]

George Carlin would have loved it.

[Kraken]

Remember when 60,000 cases and 1000 deaths a day nationally was considered a spike and we knew we had to re-evaluate our hygiene to reduce spread? I remember those days. Now a 150,000 cases a day and 2000 deaths is cause to declare that everything is great and the pandemic is over.

I don't get us.

Someone pointed out a few days ago that two years previous, there were 1,000 covid deaths worldwide. Imagine if someone had told you then that we'd have upwards of 6 million two years later. Remember when we locked down for what we thought would be two weeks? Remember when they told us not to wear masks because the virus wasn't airborne...but we isolated our mail and wiped down our groceries?

Now that we understand so much more about the virus and the disease, we're surrendering. A quarter million dead Americans each year from now on? Eh, whaddaya gonna do? Welcome to the new normal.

My dentist told me today that pandemics end after three years, so we've only got another year to go.

[Zarathud]

George Carlin would have loved it.

Carlin talked about eating dirt to build your childhood immune system. He would have pointed out the hypocrisy then joined the “let ‘er rip” team.

[Blackhawk]

Woke up to letters from the superintendent in the ol' inbox. Don't worry, everything's fine now. First paragraph:

[Smoove_B]

Sorry folks, pandemic's over. Moose out front shoulda told ya.

[Blackhawk]

Which now puts me in the position of the goon having to push my family to remain at 'high alert' when the rest of the world is telling them there is no issue and no need. It makes me look insane, and turns me into an asshole.

[stessier]

Here they are shutting down the public testing sites due to dropping demand. I'm sure this will be fine.