Coronavirus: what Canadians need to know

Unless it's a Black Lives Matter protest. That seems to be okay.

U.N. Says 150 Million More Children May Face Poverty as Global Coronavirus Death Toll Nears 1 Million

Global coronavirus cases have topped 31 million, and the reported death toll is approaching 1 million. UNICEF says the pandemic may have led to 150 million more children living in poverty, a 15% increase in the overall number, which is now nearly 1.2 billion children who lack sufficient access to education, housing, nutrition, healthcare, sanitation or water.

India remains second in overall COVID-19 cases, behind the U.S., with over 5.4 million infections. Brazil has the second-highest death toll after the U.S. at nearly 137,000.

Guatemalan President Alejandro Giammattei has tested positive for the coronavirus, becoming the fourth Latin American head of state to contract the infection.

In Europe, Madrid reimposed a partial lockdown as cases there continue to surge. Cases in Belgium surpassed 100,000 following a recent spike.

Meanwhile, the British health minister says the U.K. is at a tipping point and that a second national lockdown is possible if people do not respect containment measures. Under tough new penalties, people who refuse to self-isolate after testing positive for COVID-19 or coming into contact with an infected person can be fined up to $13,000.

That's what happens when you try to suppress a virus that doesn't want to be suppressed. It doesn't matter how long you lock down or curtail human activity, virus cases will rise once restrictions are lifted. Eventually, we are going to see that treating the fight against covid as a war we could win was foolish. It's not going away, we need to learn to manage it to protect human health. The same way we need to manage diseases like tuberculosis, cholera, diptheria, or any other number of diseases which ravaged the developing world before this  year that we here in Canada weren't paying attention to.

The same way we need to manage diseases like tuberculosis, cholera, diptheria, or any other number of diseases which ravaged the developing world before this  year that we here in Canada weren't paying attention to.

We have a vaccine for cholera which is recommended for travel but we don't normally take it in Canada because it isn't common here nor highly contagious. You can get it from an infected persons feces but that is uncommon in developed countries.

The diphtheria vaccine is usually given as part of a combined vaccine with other diseases. This is routine for all Canadian children. 

Tuberculosis can be cured by taking antibiotics.

Canada was terribly ill-prepared.

• We are scrambling to get enough PPEs and beginning to produce them in Canada to lessen our dependence on other countries to provide them, but we are not there yet. 
• We are training staff in the thousands to work in homes for the elderly and in hospitals but we are still short staffed and nurses can't be trained up that easily. 
• We are still short on testing kits and access is uneven across the country. BC is using an easy home saliva test but for some reason it isn't approved and distributed across Canada. As things stand testing is still problematic in many places across Canada. That hampers contact tracing. 
• We are trying to get buy in on an app that would greatly simplify contact tracing and make it much faster but public buy in doesn't seem to be there yet. 
• We are opening in stages and regions to test how fast it will spread. If it doesn't spread then we can continue opening everything up. If it spreads we are trying to do more limited lockdowns so many regions won't be impacted. 

The speed with which we can open up is highly dependent on public behavior. If we are mindful, if we wear masks and socially distance, if we avoid breathing the air of other people as much as possible then we will be able to open up that much faster. Until there is a vaccine or effective treatment it is all on us.

So, when you argue against compulsory mask wearing or promote groups of unlimited size, you are arguing against the very behaviors that will help us to open up again.

You ask if not now then when? I've been hearing not estimates but best case scenarios. Best case scenario major events will be able to resume by the end of 2021 but it is more likely we will have to wait until 2022 to get back to major international events. Once the vaccine exists and is fully approved it will still take time to manufacture and distribute. Again, We only have so many medical professionals. Worse case scenario a vaccine takes much longer so we are stuck with finding treatments. In that case we will hear more and more sad stories of young people either dying unexpectedly or being permanently disabled. It won't be as bad as polio but it won't be good. 

From what I hear it is a good candidate for a vaccine so I think it is likely that by 2022 at the latest we will be back to holding major events. We have a bigger problem.

Scientists predicted this pandemic and predict that they will happen more often. 

https://www.gavi.org/vaccineswork/5-reasons-why-pandemics-like-covid-19-...

Increased global travel, urbanization, climate change, increased human-animal contact, health worker shortages because they all move to higher income countries. 

Sneering at science won't change the facts for libertarians or Trumpers. 

• Across the world the race is on for vaccines.

150+ Countries, Not Including the U.S., Join U.N.’s Effort to Fairly Distribute COVID-19 Vaccine

In international news, 156 nations have formally joined together to ensure the fair distribution of future COVID-19 vaccines. The United States and China have both declined to join the effort, known as COVAX, which is being organized by the World Health Organization.

..my post had nothing to do with what your saying ari. i just wanted to make that clear since your trying to use my post to solidify your position. 

..i believe your position plays into the hands of the sytem i describe. so not "exactly" but opposite.