Coronavirus: what Canadians need to know

Dr. Henry said no to them coming to Vancouver. But unlike Alberta or Ontario we have a Public Health Emergency were our Public Health Officer calls the shots not business leaders.

States Reverse Reopenings as Daily U.S. Coronavirus Cases Top 50,000 for First Time

The United States has set another grim coronavirus record, confirming nearly 52,000 cases of COVID-19 in just 24 hours. Alaska, Arizona, California, Georgia, Idaho, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee and Texas all reported single-day record levels of the disease Wednesday, with hospitals in some regions already overwhelmed with patients.

In Arizona, Governor Doug Ducey ordered bars, gyms, movie theaters and water parks closed for at least 30 days amid an exponential rise in new infections.

Gov. Doug Ducey: “Our message to Arizonans today is clear: They are safer at home. If they do go out, we want them to mask up. We want them to physically distance. We want them to wash their hands.”

Governor Ducey spoke to reporters after meeting Vice President Mike Pence, the head of the coronavirus task force. Pence is traveling to Florida today for talks with Republican Governor Ron DeSantis, who vowed this week he was “not going back” on reopening his state’s economy despite an exponential rise in new infections.

In California, Governor Gavin Newsom on Wednesday reimposed coronavirus restrictions, shutting down bars and indoor dining in 19 counties that are home to more than 70% of California’s population.

New York City has halted plans to reopen indoor dining at restaurants. New York, New Jersey and Connecticut have ordered travelers from 16 states with high infection rates to self-quarantine upon their arrival.

...

Dallas Choir Members Tested Positive for COVID-19 Ahead of Performance for Mike Pence

In Texas, at least five members of a choir and orchestra at a Dallas megachurch visited by Mike Pence last weekend tested positive for COVID-19 ahead of the vice president’s trip. That’s according to BuzzFeed News, which reported that church officials failed to quarantine performers after their exposure to infected people — and instead continued holding rehearsals for the rest of the month. Over 2,000 people attended Sunday’s event, where Pence sat in the front row while the choir of over 100 people performed unmasked in front of a largely unmasked audience.

...

San Quentin Prisoners Launch Hunger Strike Amid Explosion of COVID-19 Cases

At least 20 people held at San Quentin State Prison in California launched a hunger strike Monday to protest inhumane conditions inside. Over 1,100 men have tested positive for COVID-19 — that’s a third of San Quentin’s population. One person has died. Among those testing positive is incarcerated journalist Juan Moreno Haines. He appeared on Democracy Now! in March warning about the likelihood of a COVID outbreak at San Quentin.

Juan Moreno Haines: “So, we live in such close proximity, that in the 13 years that I’ve been in San Quentin, if I see somebody with the flu or sick, I’m going to get it. I already know this. I’m going to get it. There’s no avoiding it.”

Coronavirus Surges Across Country as Dr. Fauci Warns U.S. Still “Knee-Deep” in First Wave

Hospitals in parts of Florida, Texas, Arizona and California are running out of intensive care unit beds as coronavirus cases continue to surge. In Texas, the number of COVID-19 hospitalizations has quadrupled over the past month. In St. Petersburg, Florida, five hospitals have run out of intensive care unit beds. In Miami, indoor restaurants have been ordered to close again, less than two months after being reopened. Nationwide, the death toll from COVID-19 has topped 130,000, and COVID cases are rising in 41 states. At least 14 states have reported single-day highs in cases recently. On Monday, the nation’s top infectious disease expert, Dr. Anthony Fauci, warned the United States is still “knee-deep” in the first wave of the pandemic.

Dr. Anthony Fauci: “A series of circumstances associated with various states and cities trying to open up, in the sense of getting back to some form of normality, has led to a situation where we now have record-breaking cases. Two days ago, it was at 57,500. So, within a period of a week and a half, we’ve almost doubled the number of cases. So, in answer to your first question, we are still knee-deep in the first wave of this.”

Dr.Fauci also said immunity provided by antibodies may be “finite” and that protection from any potential vaccine might be short-lived.

The pandemic continues to hit communities of color the hardest. Newly released federal data show African American and Latinx people are nearly three times more likely to be infected and twice as likely to die from the virus compared to their white neighbors.

In California, the top medical officer for the state’s prison system has been ousted following the death of six prisoners from COVID-19 at San Quentin State Prison, where more than 1,300 prisoners have tested positive.

Meanwhile, Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms has announced she has tested positive for the virus.

...

Jair Bolsonaro Gets Tested for COVID-19; WHO Warns AIDS Deaths in Africa Could Rise Amid Pandemic

On the international front, the death toll in Brazil has topped 65,000 — the second highest in the world behind the United States. On Monday, Brazil’s far-right President Jair Bolsonaro was tested for COVID-19 after experiencing symptoms.

Meanwhile, in South Africa, the number of confirmed cases has topped 200,000. In other news from Africa, the World Health Organization warned Monday that an additional 500,000 people could die from AIDS and related diseases in sub-Saharan Africa over the next two years due to interruption in services and treatment caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

Anti-Asian American Hate Crimes Have Been Soaring Since the Start of the Pandemic

Anti-Asian American hate incidents are soaring across the country following the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic. A new site tracking hate crimes reports over 2,100 incidents have occurred since March. The site was launched by the Asian Pacific Policy and Planning Council and Chinese for Affirmative Action. Both groups have criticized President Trump for describing COVID-19 as the “Chinese virus” and “kung-flu.”

NDPP wrote:

Another brave freedom-fighter against the 'tyranny of the mask' falls. Brazil's Bolsonaro tests positive for coronavirus. D'OH!

Coronavirus tests positive for Bolsonaro.

Trump Begins Formal U.S. Withdrawal from World Health Organization

The Trump administration has begun the process of officially withdrawing from the World Health Organization, in a move condemned by public health officials across the world. The move came on the same day that the WHO warned that the global peak of the pandemic has still not been reached. The American Medical Association, American Academy of Pediatrics, American Academy of Family Physicians and American College of Physicians condemned President Trump’s decision, saying it “puts the health of our country at grave risk.” Former Vice President Joe Biden has vowed to reverse Trump’s decision on his first day in office if he wins the November election.

...

Brazil’s Official Coronavirus Death Toll Tops 65,000 as Jair Bolsonaro Tests Positive

In Brazil, the nation’s far-right president, Jair Bolsonaro, has tested positive for the coronavirus after months of downplaying the severity of the pandemic. Bolsonaro recently developed a high fever and a cough. Brazil is the second-hardest-hit nation in the world after the United States, with more than 65,000 deaths and 1.6 million confirmed cases. Bolsonaro said Tuesday that he is taking hydroxychloroquine, even though it has been proven ineffective against COVID-19. 

President Jair Bolsonaro: “Here, I’m taking my third dose of hydroxychloroquine. I’m feeling very well. I was feeling a little ill on Sunday. I was bad on Monday. Today, Tuesday, I feel better than on Saturday. So, in all certainty, it’s working.”

Brazil-based journalist Glenn Greenwald noted that Bolsonaro’s announcement comes as the country is on day 53 of having no health minister. The last two were fired or resigned within 30 days of each other for endorsing science. The grandmother of Brazil’s first lady Michelle Bolsonaro is also suffering from COVID-19. She was recently transferred to an ICU unit and is reportedly intubated.

...

U.S. Confirms Record 60,000+ Coronavirus Cases as Trump Demands School Reopenings

Here in the United States, more than 60,000 new coronavirus cases were reported Tuesday — a new record, shattering the previous high. Nearly 3 million people have now tested positive for the virus. The U.S. death toll has topped 131,000. On Tuesday, President Trump and Education Secretary Betsy DeVos urged elementary and secondary schools to resume in-person classes in the fall. 

President Donald Trump: “So we’re very much going to put pressure on governors and everybody else to open the schools, to get them open. And it’s very important. It’s very important for our country. It’s very important for the well-being of the student and the parents.”

The main teacher unions have warned that reopening schools without a comprehensive safety plan would be “putting students, their families and educators in danger.”

I should have the right to drive with my eyes closed:

Quote:

Inspired by the bravery of the now-infamous Toronto woman who refused to wear a mask in hospital while seeking treatment for a suspected broken finger (You slay queen! But, uh, figuratively, of course), I would like to bring attention to another inconvenience that has similarly sacrificed individual freedoms at the altar of “public good.”

I am, frankly, fed-up with so-called experts telling me that I cannot drive on the highway with my eyes closed. It’s enough. Freedom should not be conditional on the fickle opinions of city planners, or occupational health and safety specialists, or my auto-insurance provider. It should be my right, as a free citizen, to close my eyes and daydream about picking up food from that taco place by my house as I merge into traffic on the 400-series highways. If you tasted their refried beans, I’m sure you would understand what I’m saying.

All of these people I see driving with their eyes open nowadays are but mere sheep, flocking mindlessly to the latest popular, virtue-signalling gesture. Or else they’re pitiful weaklings, living in a chronic state of fear about the world and the traffic around them. Who could live like that?

Anyway, the efficacy of vision-involved driving is still very much a matter of debate, or so I read in a message posted in my #FreedomFromTyranny WhatsApp group last night. In fact, opening your eyes while driving can actually negatively impact your health: You risk corneal sun damage, severe tiredness and the penetration of 5G waves into your optic nerves. I learned all about this from the graffiti covering the abandoned gas station in my neighbourhood, and let me tell you, the evidence here is truly astounding.

Indeed, just as mask-wearers imbibe on their own exhaled carbon dioxide (in fact, that’s why doctors have such bad handwriting – their brains are oxygen-deprived), open-eyed drivers risk irreparable harm to their own bodies. And for what? Just because there is a possibility (key word) that driving with your eyes closed might get someone killed? Well, I need unequivocal proof – absolute certainty – that the inconvenience of keeping my eyes open will save a life. Otherwise, I will continue doing what I’m doing, thank you very much.

NDPP wrote:

More...

Radhika Desai: Know Your Enemy: The Dangerous Futility of Pseudo-Philanthropic Neoliberalism (Part 4)

https://canadiandimension.com/articles/view/know-your-enemy-pseudo-phila...

"The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation combines corporate philanthropy and the drive to advance 'socially responsible corporate power.' It has long been working to promote the full range of public-private partnerships that have proved so lucrative to capital, particularly big corporate capital, in the name of addressing human welfare. It has made world hunger a profit opportunity for agribusiness and its patented products such as Genetically Modified Organisms (GMO). It has promoted financial sector interests in the guise of 'financial inclusion' and digitalization of payments to eliminate cash. Most relevantly, it has promoted Big Pharma and other parts of the medical industrial complex in the name of protecting humanity from viral diseases. The Foundation works with private capital, universities and friendly governments [Canada's] to advance its causes. India, where the Gates Foundation has been involved since 2002, is a veritable house of its horrors..."

Which ignores the role that crowded living conditions play in the spread of infectious diseases as covid swept through northern Saskatchewan, or that there are places like New Zealand which have already nearly beaten the disease without a vaccine.

NDPP wrote:

And while the poor, the powerless and the elderly die and do without, the 'middle' class averts its eyes and pretends not to notice what it's in the middle of. As more of these join those below a great awakening may come.

Exactly. Why do you think there has been a concerted effort to push every aspect of our lives online and construct a society where those of us with priviledge can live in a bubble digitally connected to others without ever having to leave our places of residence?

Aristotleded24 wrote:

Why do you think there has been a concerted effort to push every aspect of our lives online and construct a society where those of us with priviledge can live in a bubble digitally connected to others without ever having to leave our places of residence?

To lower the value of R0 and thus slow the spread of the virus?

Michael Moriarity wrote:

Aristotleded24 wrote:

Why do you think there has been a concerted effort to push every aspect of our lives online and construct a society where those of us with priviledge can live in a bubble digitally connected to others without ever having to leave our places of residence?

To lower the value of R0 and thus slow the spread of the virus?

That's a laugh. If the Canadian government was really interested in doing that, they would have enforced a proper quarantine of returning travellers in March, they would have protected elder care homes, they would have listened to meat-packing plant workers in Alberta when they complained that their working conditions were fertile ground for infectious diseases, and they would have told employers that they can no longer rely on disposable workers from other countries.

Frankly, I am very disappointed in this online community's reaction to the covid pandemic. Even on the question of drastic lockdowns, it is well-known that public health exists in a web of many inter-related factors, and that if you change one aspect drastically it will have impacts on other aspects of health. On the question of lockdowns, the idea that your income influences your ability to endure them. To the scientist or the medical officers of health, staying home means that they can stay in their own houses they own, they can have all their needs met online, and their families are safe. For poor workers (many of whom work in workplaces that don't take proper steps to protect them) that means living in cramped apartments, often sharing accomodations with elderly parents who are more vulnerable to respiratory infections. We are not all equally at risk of illness or death from covid, and we are not all equal in our ability to do social distancing. For amplifying the moral panic that everyone had a duty to stay home or else we were all going to die, only for it suddenly to become a moral duty to go out and protest police brutality following George Floyd's murder. For the tone-deaf response and lack of empathy for the emotional angst that was driving the lockdown protests, or why there was so much fuel that fanned the flames of the lockdown protests. On the other hand, we're supposed to have empathy for murderers, and having a viewpoint that murderers should be locked away from society for the rest of their lives (which is my viewpoint, along with a few other crimes as well) is reactionary and beyond the pale. For lack of basic media literacy (remember that our public health officials were downplaying the risk of covid 19 on the national media as late as March 6, 5 days before the WHO declared covid 19 a pandemic), and not questioning why the media was highlighting everything people naturally do as a possible way to spread the virus, while ignoring bigger structural issues, such as poverty and crowded living conditions, that are lethal even during non-pandemic times. For not seeing obvious parallels between the media fearmongering about terrorism post-9/11 to the over-the-top coverage of covid 19, as if covid 19 is the only thing that was happening in the world and that nothing else was going on. For not questioning the need for drastic shutdowns, or even on the topic of re-opening, how average citizens have no democratic input into how this is happening. Even questioning the way the re-opening is happening. As Bill Maher said, if it's okay to fly American Airlines, why can't we attend a concert in American Airlines arena? I would think all these points would at least be open for discussion on the left, but I really feel like I've hit a brick wall even trying to bring up these ideas in the last few months, as if any dissent or differing opinions is beyond the pale and you don't care about people's lives. It's the same thing the right throws at us every time we question the need for draconian anti-terrorism measures and the importance of due process and human rights.

It would take education. Not reefer madness style and not fake reassurances. Information has provided to manipulate rather than inform.

Nice one by Banksy. Had to share it on Facebook.