26251 replies to this topic

[Sparky]

Wait, he already gave the televised address?

Who watches TV at 4PM?

That’s why PVR’s were invented.

[RFS]

Wait, he already gave the televised address?

Who watches TV at 4PM?

It wasnt 4pm for most of the country

[dasmo]

I guess those million jobs wont be in health care? I thought we were doing two weeks to flatten the curve, then we could prepare our system for potential influx of patients? 

 

"On Tuesday, Southlake Regional Health Centre in Newmarket, Ont. confirmed it will be laying off 97 registered nurses as a result of “a significant financial challenge.”

“Similar to some other hospitals across the province, Southlake is currently facing a significant financial challenge and has announced a series of changes to address this while maintaining the same high-quality care that we provide to the communities we serve,” a spokesperson said in a written statement. “Given the number of current and potential future clinical vacancies we have, we are hopeful to avoid any frontline involuntary employment loss at Southlake.”

 

https://toronto.ctvn...lenge-1.5117270

[exc911ence]

Or they could keep the nurses and start pushing through all of the surgeries and other medical procedures they delayed/cancelled due to the KungFlu. 

[Mike K.]

It wasnt 4pm for most of the country

Right. End of the work day in BC, and rush hour in Alberta and Sask.

Good thing we have a PM who views the western half of this country as equal to the eastern half.

[Mike K.]

That’s why PVR’s were invented.

You PVR’d the speech!?

[dasmo]

It’s what the internet is for. It’s what all the kids are using.
https://youtu.be/UVuk-qGQb2A

[tanker]

The local newscasts didn't even lead with the throne speech or Trudeau's speech. They finally mentioned it 20 minutes into the newscast after a bunch of stupid fluff stories. Not complaining here.

[LJ]

(Ontario) conducted more than 35,000 tests over the past 24 hours, bringing the case positivity rate to 0.96 per cent, down from 1.4 per cent on Tuesday.

 

https://www.cp24.com...today-1.5116549

 

 

 

 

 

Quebec:

This week has provided evidence of what Weiss is talking about. 

On Tuesday, public health officials said they had logged 75 new outbreaks in the previous 48 hours. The province is now dealing with 250 separate locations where the virus is spreading.

With the virus being transmitted in the community, Health Minister Christian Dubé said exposing health-care workers to illness is perhaps his greatest worry as a second wave gains amplitude.

"Community transmission affects the staff of our health network and puts a lot of pressure on the health-care network," he said, adding that the province is already dealing with a backlog of surgeries and other medical services that had to be put on hold last spring.

As a result, the province has roughly 2,000 open beds for COVID cases; during the first wave, capacity was closer to 8,000.

The increase in cases so far hasn't overwhelmed hospitals, though the number of hospitalizations is on the rise. In the past four days, the total has climbed by 20 per cent, to 168.

https://www.cbc.ca/n...legne-1.5734599

I was talking about BC.

[Victoria Watcher]

this is ontario their dashboard is better than ours.  the rise in cases is not really causing serious hospitalizations.

 

 

https://covid-19.ontario.ca/data

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 24 September 2020 - 03:50 AM.

[Victoria Watcher]

the alberta dashboard shows only 3.5% f the deaths had no additional health conditions.

 

The following comorbitities are included in respective analyses: Diabetes, Hypertension, COPD, Cancer, Dementia, Stroke, Liver cirrhosis, Cardiovascular diseases (including IHD and Congestive heart failure), Chronic kidney disease, and Immuno-deficiency.

 

https://www.alberta....-statistics.htm

 

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 24 September 2020 - 03:57 AM.

[amor de cosmos]

Restaurants, hotels could take more than 8 years to get back to pre-pandemic levels
Pandemic's first wave drained the rainy-day funds of many businesses, CFIB says
https://financialpos...pandemic-levels
 

WEDNESDAY, Sept. 23, 2020 (HealthDay News) -- If you're unfortunate enough to be admitted to the hospital with COVID-19, a common blood marker may predict how severe your illness might become, new research shows.
 
The blood marker is called "red cell distribution width" (RDW) -- basically, the greater the variance in the size of red blood cells, the poorer a patient's prognosis, the study authors explained.
 
A COVID-19 patient's RDW test result "was highly correlated with patient mortality, and the correlation persisted when controlling for other identified risk factors like patient age, some other lab tests and some pre-existing illnesses," said study co-author Dr. Jonathan Carlson, of Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) in Boston.
 
The new study was published online Sept. 23 in JAMA Network Open and was led by Dr. John Higgins, a pathologist investigator at the hospital and associate professor of systems biology at Harvard Medical School.

https://www.webmd.co...severe-covid-19

Statins Reduce COVID-19 Severity, Likely by Removing Cholesterol That Virus Uses to Infect
Analyzing anonymized patient medical records, UC San Diego researchers discovered that cholesterol-lowering statins reduced risk of severe COVID-19 infection, while lab experiments uncovered a cellular mechanism that helps explain why
https://ucsdnews.ucs...-uses-to-infect
https://www.scienced...00923164603.htm

Large study confirms men have 62% increased risk of COVID-19 associated death, possibly related to higher degree of inflammation
https://www.eurekale...c-lsc092320.php
 

Two scientists from IP2I (CNRS/Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1), in collaboration with a researcher from the University of Southern Denmark and the University of Naples Federico II, have developed a new mathematical model inspired by high energy physics to predict the next waves of the Covid-19 pandemic. The extension of this technique to epidemiology, referred to as the epidemic Renormalisation group, and widely used in particle physics and condensed matter physics, yields a mathematical model that can characterise the evolution of the pandemic across European territories. Their simulations, which were conducted on the basis of infection rates and travel within and between European countries from March to July 2020, suggest that a second wave will impact Europe between July 2020 and January 2021.2 While it is not possible to provide specific details of this second wave, or to identify when exactly the next peak of infections will take place in France, the simulations underscore the importance of human behaviour in slowing the pandemic. According to this research, the precise moment of peak infection rates for each country can be controlled through social distancing, the control of local “clusters,”and border control measures. The study was published in Scientific Reports on 23 September 2020.

https://www.alphagal...y/ItemId/197686

Little evidence taking vitamin D prevents severe COVID-19
https://medicalxpres...ere-covid-.html
 

One of the cities that has excelled at this task is Kafr Qasim. Shortly after his nomination, coronavirus tzar Ronni Gamzu decided on a "traffic light plan," categorizing Israeli towns and villages into red, orange, yellow and green, according to the rate of infection. Kafr Qasim was declared last month a “red city," but today it is already designated a yellow city, and the mayor hopes that it will turn green in a week. This success story even won praise and a visit from former Minister of Defense and current Yamina party leader Naftali Bennett, for whom the fight against COVID-19 in Israel has become a goal on the way to the next election, as today he has 21 mandates according to a Channel 12 poll.

So what is the secret to the success of Kafr Qasim? In a conversation with Al-Monitor, Mayor Adel Bdir said, “A month ago we were labeled a red city, and we were even a hot red city with an infection rate of 10.6%. Today we are classified as a yellow city with a 6% infection rate, according to the traffic light plan. We all hope we are on the way to becoming a green city, as we are already down to 149 active patients."

In regard to the action plan the city has adopted, he said, “We developed a plan called 'Moving from red to green in seven steps,' which was formulated in cooperation with COVID-19 czar Ronni Gamzu, to deal with the spread of the coronavirus pandemic in the city. The plan is based on seven steps that include creating action staff and delegating roles, training the staff, creating a database, frequent meetings to assess the situation, drafting residents to comply with the plan, starting work and adjusting in real time, and an information system that supports full control of the data."

Bdir added, "The plan’s emphasis is on raising awareness of tests, cutting off chains of transmission by reaching all residents and clarifying the need for isolation, full control over illness data by building a database, supervising and enforcing health guidelines, and frequent evaluation of the situation by means of cooperation between all the parties like the local authority, the Home Front Command and the health maintenance organizations.”

https://www.al-monit...l#ixzz6YyVGmEWU

Choir practice in Spain infects 30 of 41 members with virus
https://medicalxpres...bers-virus.html

UK

Human challenge studies, which have been successfully used in the past to develop vaccines for malaria and cholera, involve deliberately infecting volunteers to test the effectiveness of vaccines.

In this case, volunteers would be inoculated with a potential vaccine before receiving a dose of SARS-CoV-2, the coronavirus that causes COVID-19, under controlled conditions, according to reports.

In an emailed statement to MarketWatch, a government spokesperson said: “We are working with partners to understand how we might collaborate on the potential development of a COVID-19 vaccine through human challenge studies. These discussions are part of our work to research ways of treating, limiting and hopefully preventing the virus so we can end the pandemic sooner.”

*snip*

Peter Horby, professor of emerging infectious diseases and global health at the University of Oxford, told BBC Radio the trials were a good idea.

“We now know the risk in a healthy young adult with no underlying conditions is extremely low. We suspected this before, but we really did not have the strength of evidence to go forward with challenging people with the virus — but now I think there is clear data.”

He added: “The second thing that has changed is there are now some treatments that have been shown to have a benefit, so in the likely event that a challenged person does become unwell, there are drugs that can be given very early to help control the disease.”

https://www.marketwa...ent-11600943806
 

COVID-19 has had a “catastrophic” impact on workers, the head of the International Labour Organization (ILO) said on Wednesday, with lost working hours higher than originally forecast, and equivalent to 495 million full-time jobs globally in the second quarter of the year.

The bleak news from ILO Director-General Guy Ryder coincided with an updated mid-year forecast from the UN body.

Lower and middle-income countries have suffered most, with an estimated 23.3 per cent drop in working hours – equivalent to 240 million jobs - in the second quarter.

Previously, the ILO had suggested a 14 per cent average drop in global working time, equivalent to the loss of 400 million jobs, relative to the fourth quarter of 2019.

*snip*

Nonetheless, State financial support has led to the emergence of an extremely worrying “fiscal stimulus gap” between wealthy economies and the developing world, amounting to $982 billion, Mr. Ryder warned.

“It runs a risk of leading us to post-COVID world with greater inequalities between regions, countries, sectors and social groups,” he said. “It’s a polar opposite to the better world that we want to build back, and it reminds us all, that unless we are all able to overcome and get out of this pandemic, none of us will.”

https://news.un.org/...2020/09/1073242

Moscow daily hospitalizes 30% more coronavirus patients than last week
https://tass.com/society/1204667

China's COVID-19 vaccine shows "no side effects" in Russian trials
http://www.ecns.cn/n...pz4254509.shtml

Coronavirus cases in Lebanon’s largest prison soar past 350
https://english.alar...n-soar-past-350
 

YANGON: Myanmar has quarantined tens of thousands of people to prevent a coronavirus outbreak from overwhelming its fragile healthcare system but public health experts and doctors say the strategy is on the brink of collapse as infections surge.

The Southeast Asian nation is housing more than 45,000 people, including COVID-19 patients as well as those yet to be tested, their close contacts and returning migrant workers, in buildings from schools and monasteries to government offices and tower blocks, mostly run by volunteers.

Even those with no symptoms or mild symptoms are hospitalised or quarantined, part of an ambitious plan to stop the virus swamping a chronically underfunded health system.

But the "maximum containment” strategy pursued by Myanmar since its first cases were confirmed in March could backfire if overburdened facilities put people off quarantine altogether, public health expert Kyaw San Wai told Reuters.

"This strategy was implementable up to mid-August given Myanmar's low caseloads but as case numbers increased dramatically from late August, especially in Yangon, this approach quickly pushed both the health centres and quarantine centres to the brink,” he said.

*snip*

On Thursday (Sep 24), authorities reported 1,000 new infections, while the total number of deaths rose to 150.

The Southeast Asian nation has now recorded 8,344 total cases, more than double the number in neighbouring Thailand, which has a bigger population.

https://www.channeln...-brink-13141922

חולים הועברו לחניון ברמב"ם שהפך למחלקת קורונה

החניון התת-קרקעי, שתוכנן במקור כדי לאפשר את המשך פעילות בית החולים בחיפה בעיתות מלחמה או אסונות, הוכשר היום כדי לקלוט חולי קורונה. "הכנסנו את החולים הראשונים, ואנחנו מעבירים חולים למחלקה התת-קרקעית", אמר המנהל, ד"ר מיקי הלברטל

Rambam Hospital in Haifa, the largest in Israel's north, is using its underground parkade as a coronavirus ward. It was meant to enable the hospital to continue functioning in war, chemical attack or other disaster.



https://www.ynet.co....ticle/rkEQdQ9Sv
 

A second wave of COVID-19 infections in the fall and winter and the lack of further fiscal aid could make the U.S. economic recovery more gradual than hoped, a senior Federal Reserve official said Wednesday.

"Recent economic data have been encouraging, but I believe the most difficult part of the recovery is still ahead of us," Eric Rosengren, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, said in prepared remarks to the Boston Economic Club.

"The biggest challenge to the economy, and the risk to a more optimistic forecast, continues to be our inability in the United States to achieve the public health progress on the virus seen in many other developed countries," he said.

Rosengren said he was concerned that a second wave of COVID-19 infections is likely to come in the fall and winter, which could cause some states to impose new restrictions on mobility and face-to-face interactions.

"Even without added restrictions, the added risk of infection from a second wave could sap some of the willingness of consumers and businesses to spend and invest," he said, adding financial spillovers from businesses impacted by the virus will also become a "more significant headwind" going forward.

"I am especially worried about a 'second shoe dropping' that will particularly affect small and medium-sized banks, which provide a large share of commercial real estate loans and small business loans," he said.

http://www.ecns.cn/n...pz4254379.shtml
 

A study published in the “Journal of Public Health” finds that for each person in the U.S. who died after contracting COVID-19, an average of nearly 10 years of life had been lost. Researchers claim “years of life lost” is a more insightful measure than death count since it accounts for the ages of the deceased. The tool is often used to determine the effects of non-communicable disease, drug misuse and suicide. They believe “years of life lost” is especially appropriate given the range of ages at which individuals have died of COVID-19.

“While death counts are a vital initial measure of the extent of COVID-19 mortality, they do not provide information regarding the age profile of those who died,” said lead author Troy Quast, professor of health economics in the USF College of Public Health. “By contrast, years of life lost tell us the extent to which deaths are occurring across age groups and can potentially help healthcare providers and policymakers better target clinical and governmental responses to reduce the number of deaths.”

Quast and his research team obtained data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that report COVID-19 death counts by sex, age and state. The study focused on data from Feb. 1 to July 11, during which there had been roughly 130,000 COVID-19 deaths reported. They then compared the ages at death to life expectancies by age and gender from the U.S. Social Security Administration and to population data from the U.S. Census Bureau. When taking those factors into account, they calculated that COVID-19 had caused 1.2 million years of life lost during that timeframe. While the analysis only covered the period through mid-July, if past trends were to have continued, that figure at this point would approach 2 million.

https://www.usf.edu/...f-covid-19.aspx
https://www.scienced...00923124557.htm

[Victoria Watcher]

some interesting information there.

[todd]

“Walmart is using drones to deliver COVID-19 tests in Las Vegas“: https://www.ctvnews....vegas-1.5116977

[dasmo]

Vancouver island

Nothing happening. 0 new cases, 0 in the hospital, 0 new deaths in months. Gotta change the parameters if Act 2 is going to make sense here. The curve doesn't exist. 

[todd]

Vancouver island
Nothing happening. 0 new cases, 0 in the hospital, 0 new deaths in months. Gotta change the parameters if Act 2 is going to make sense here. The curve doesn't exist.

But also the phone system to get the test hangs up after three hours

Edited by todd, 24 September 2020 - 01:20 PM.

[dasmo]

Note, that is a 0.32% positive test percentage. 

[dasmo]

But also the phone system to get the test hangs up after three hours

almost 70,000 tests done. 

[dasmo]

I guess Trudeau singled out BC because not enough of us are wearing masks driving alone in our cars yet... 

[Greg]

Vancouver island

Nothing happening. 0 new cases, 0 in the hospital, 0 new deaths in months. Gotta change the parameters if Act 2 is going to make sense here. The curve doesn't exist. 

 

 

Note, that is a 0.32% positive test percentage. 

 

A really good reason to start to take a more localized approach. BC is a big province, and the situation varies by location. Probably time to start to apply the response more granularly. Does Vancouver Island really need to do more than keep the border closed, avoid large gatherings, and continue to practice reasonable distancing and regular hand washing? (Although to be fair, we aren't really doing much more than that right now.)