Coronavirus: what Canadians need to know

Honestly, I'm not sure there's any point in even following the list of exposures the province publishes. Sometimes the exposures are posted almost a week (or even more) after the exposure happened. Then the official instructions are that anyone there doesn't need to isolate but should watch for symptoms. We're already watching for the specified symptoms anyways, so what good is that list anyways?

That's why I feel very safe going to a gym during this time (as soon as I can find one close to me that is open). Gyms already kept detailed records of who comes and goes and for what time. I'm sure if there was a covid exposure that they would be able to track me down and let me know right away. "Some guy might have been on this bus route at such-and-such a time" sounds more nebulous to me.

NDPP wrote:

AstraZeneca vaccine volunteer dies in Brazil.

Was that the one that was in the placebo group?

Here is a question I have about the data. This is the time of year when we can expect higher cases of respiratory illnesses and infections. We are also seeing a rise in coronavirus cases, in many cases breaking records each day. Is there any data showing the number of coronavirus cases compared to all other respiratory infections? Are covid cases happening on top of the usual respiratory infections we have this time of year? Is the increase in covid cases coindicent with a drop in the numbers for all other infections? Is the total number of all respiratory infections what you would expect for this time of year, or is there any major deviation in any direction?

• US 892 deaths per million
• Sweden 586
• Canada 261
• Denmark 121
• Australia  35
• New Zealand 5
• China 3

NDPP wrote:

WHO: Countries on 'Dangerous Track' in COVID-19 Pandemic

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/10/23/who-countries-on-dangerous-tra...

"Too many nations, particularly in the northern hemisphere, seeing an exponential increase in coronavirus cases, with hospitals and intensive care units running close to capacity, WHO chief says..."

With all due respect to the World Health Organization, why is this even a concern to them? Nearly every country in the Northern Hemisphere has the capacity to handle health care issues on its own without assistance.

I'm getting my flu vaccine in November because it is delivered in my building but I expect the flu season to be way down due to precautions taken for Covid. 

I'm not sure what you think the role of the WHO is. 

• providing leadership on matters critical to health and engaging in partnerships where joint action is needed;
• shaping the research agenda and stimulating the generation, translation and dissemination of valuable knowledge;
• setting norms and standards and promoting and monitoring their implementation;
• articulating ethical and evidence-based policy options;
• providing technical support, catalysing change, and building sustainable institutional capacity; and
• monitoring the health situation and assessing health trends.

laine lowe wrote:

I have been curious for the past many weeks about the disappearance of Manitoba Shared Health Chief Nursing Officer Lanette Siragusa from the public information campaign. Aren't public health nurses on the forefront of doing COVID-19 contact tracing (and possibly testing before some of it was farmed out to Dynacare)?

She's back:

Quote:

As stricter COVID-19 control measures come into effect in Winnipeg schools and in northern Manitoba, and as the disease puts increasing strain on Manitoba's health-care system, the chief provincial public health officer and chief nursing officer will give an update on the pandemic in the province.

Dr. Brent Roussin, chief provincial public health officer, and Lanette Siragusa, chief nursing officer with Manitoba Shared Health, will hold a media briefing at 12:30 p.m. CBC News will live stream the news conference here.

This will be the first time Siragusa has been at a COVID-19 briefing since Aug. 4.

Chilling how much it spreads even with people wearing masks. 

I can see why there is reluctance to publish that Danish study. The methodology is idiotic. They had a test group wear masks, and they had a control group with no masks, and they compared which group was more likely to get covid. They may very well have shown no correlation at all between mask use and probability of infection. However, as I have patiently explained several times on this board, that is totally the wrong question to ask.

The question of interest is: if everyone in a population wears a mask, how much will that lower the rate of transmission? This study does nothing to answer that question and is therefore a big waste of the money and resources. However, if published in a prestigious journal, it will be misinterpreted by motivated thinkers (and science -illiterate journalists) as proof of the important question which it did not even address.

Aristotleded24 wrote:

Either way, I think it's in the public interest to know the results of the Danish study. More data leads to more understanding, which in turn leads to better decisions, which in turn leads to better outcomes.

Not if it is garbage data. 

“We cannot start discussing what they are dissatisfied with, because in that case we must also explain what the study showed – and we do not want to discuss that until it is published,” explains Christian Torp-Pedersen.

Why not? If three major journals have refused to publish it may never happen. If they believe the data they assembled is being surpressed they could self-publish and allow the scientific community to weigh in. If it is a serious study then others will want to duplicate it. It's impossible to supress the results against their will. 

Hi ho, hi ho, so to lockdown I go:

Quote:

Broad shutdowns will start in Winnipeg and surrounding areas on Monday as the province moves its capital area to the red, or critical, level on its pandemic response scale in the face of a rising tide of COVID-19 cases.

Movie theatres, concert halls, sport facilities, and restaurant and bar dining rooms will be ordered to close starting Monday, Manitoba's Chief Provincial Public Health Officer Dr. Brent Roussin said Friday.

The rest of Manitoba will move to the orange, or restricted, level starting Monday, Roussin said. The order will limit gathering sizes to five and reduce capacity in public-facing businesses.

The announcement comes as Manitoba shattered its previous record for a daily announcement of COVID-19 cases at 480 new cases, which were identified over the past several days, Roussin said.

They are not wild mink. They are bred, which is wrong, but these mink would not have ever lived were it not for the desire for their fur. Letting them loose in the wild to infect other animals isn't a good idea.