Toronto is returning to a partial COVID lockdown because of rising case numbers.
It has limited practical effect on me since I have been in isolation anyway since early March, only going out for groceries and socially distanced walks for exercise.
I suppose the pandemic and the public policy response will always be subject to multiple interpretations. I can’t recall any comparable disease control measures in my lifetime, so you could say that the world has responded with unprecedented energy. At the same time, the pandemic is a constant reminder of how many people put their own comparatively unimportant preferences (like for entertainment and variety) ahead of protecting themselves and others, limiting the effectiveness of public health measures and extending this entire unpleasant experience for everyone. Like climate change, the pandemic provides endless examples of people who begin with what they want to do and then choose beliefs which are compatible.
All told, the behaviour of governments and populations highlights how poorly human beings respond to slow and generalized threats, as opposed to the fast and personal kind. That’s not an encouraging precedent at a time when the future of humanity is in jeopardy if we cannot cooperate, moderate our selfish desires, and do what’s necessary to control the problem.
How risky is a get together in Toronto right now? In some scenarios, there’s a 25% chance COVID-19 will be a guest at the party
Pandemic fatigue: More Canadians likely to visit family, friends during Thanksgiving than during Easter, poll finds | National Post
https://nationalpost.com/news/pandemic-fatigue-more-canadians-likely-to-visit-family-friends-during-thanksgiving-than-during-easter-poll-finds
Ontario’s daily COVID-19 cases top 1,000 for 1st time, day after reaching previous high
Bulk of new cases reported in Toronto, York and Peel regions and Ottawa
77 fines issued, 7 people charged for breaking Canada’s quarantine rules during COVID-19
More than a million people have been required to quarantine upon entering Canada
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RCMP officers issued the majority of the fines, which ranged from $275 to $1,275. Individuals can either pay their fine or contest it in court. Anyone charged — typically for a more serious offence — must appear in court.
Under the Quarantine Act, both Canadians and foreigners entering Canada must quarantine for 14 days, unless they get a special exemption.
Trump aide says ‘we’re not going to control the pandemic’ while president scoffs at COVID-19 case numbers
White House chief of staff: ‘We are not going to control the pandemic’
Experts point to ‘crucial’ week ahead after Ontario reports more than 1,000 infections on Sunday, a new all-time high
Global report: Merkel says Germany faces ‘difficult months ahead’ in Covid fight
Chancellor says country is on verge of losing control as Europe death toll passes 250k
Survey uncovers widespread belief in ‘dangerous’ Covid conspiracy theories
False claims that pandemic is a hoax or was started deliberately are attracting adherents around world
U.K. study finds Covid-19 antibodies fall significantly, making immunity unlikely
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Oxford Covid vaccine works in all ages, trials suggest | World news | The Guardian
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Proportion of people in England with Covid antibodies has fallen, study says | World news | The Guardian
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Belgium: Covid-positive health workers asked to keep working as crisis worsens – CNN
Folding@Home Exascale Supercomputer Finds Potential Targets For COVID-19 Cure
Household spread of Covid-19 is common and quick, CDC study finds – CNN
https://www.cnn.com/2020/10/30/health/household-spread-covid-19-wellness/index.html
Second wave will be ‘weeks and months’ of limiting contacts, but Trudeau says ‘blunt’ lockdowns unnecessary | National Post
https://nationalpost.com/news/canada/second-wave-will-be-weeks-and-months-of-limiting-contacts-but-trudeau-says-blunt-nationwide-lockdowns-unnecessary
Bank of Canada says economy will likely be scarred by COVID-19 until 2023 | CBC News
https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/bank-canada-economy-covid-19-1.5780703
Pfizer’s vaccine is an mRNA vaccine officially called BNT162b2.
It consists of genetic instructions on how to make the modified spike protein from SARS-CoV-2, the coronavirus that causes COVID-19. The genes are encoded in mRNA and packaged in lipid nanoparticles. Once the vaccine is injected into the body, human cells use the instructions to make copies of the spike protein for the immune system to learn to recognize.
The technology includes Vancouver-based Acuitas Therapeutics’s lipid nanoparticles to deliver the mRNA after it’s injected into our cells.
Another vaccine in Phase 3 trials that uses mRNA technology is Moderna’s (which has also been preordered by the Canadian government). Two others, CureVac’s and Arcturus Therapeutics/Duke-NUS’s candidates, are in Phase 2.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/health/covid-19-vaccine-pfizer-faq-1.5795486
US Coronavirus: Expert predicts US could soon hit 200,000 daily cases as the country tops 10 million infections – CNN
https://www.cnn.com/2020/11/10/health/us-coronavirus-tuesday/index.html
Ontario rejected its own public health agency’s advice when it launched its colour-coded plan for COVID-19 restrictions
Thresholds in the final plan for “red” zone, for example, were four times higher than Public Health Ontario advised, says a member of the province’s health measures table.
Swedish surge in Covid cases dashes immunity hopes
Country has opted for light-touch, anti-lockdown approach since start of pandemic
Pfizer’s vaccine is also the first using a promising new technology. Many vaccines prime the immune system by introducing inert fragments of viral protein. This one gets the body to make the viral protein itself by inserting genetic instructions contained in a form of rna. Because you can edit rna, the vaccine can be tweaked should the spike protein mutate, as it may have recently in mink. This platform can be used with other viruses and other diseases, possibly including cancer, BioNTech’s original focus.
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Worse, Pfizer’s shots need to be stored at temperatures of -70°C or even colder, far beyond the scope of your local chemist. The company is building an ultra-cold chain, but the logistics will still be hard. The vaccine comes in batches of at least 975 doses, so you need to assemble that many people for their first shot, and the same crowd again 21 days later for a booster. Nobody knows how many doses will be wasted.
https://www.economist.com/leaders/2020/11/14/the-promise-of-the-new-covid-19-vaccine-is-immense
Limiting Indoor Capacity Can Reduce Coronavirus Infections, Study Shows – The New York Times
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/10/health/covid-indoor-venues-infections.html
Officials beg Torontonians to stop socializing with those not in their households — including outdoors
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/toronto-socializing-new-rules-1.5800907
Figures compiled by Ontario’s COVID-19 Science Advisory Table estimated the percentage of virus outbreaks — sometimes defined as two or more people being infected from the same source — in different types of venues.
The largest chunk, 27 per cent, were in long term care and retirement homes, at 27 per cent, followed by schools and day cares, at 22 per cent. Others included restaurants, clubs and bars, 6.5 per cent, stores 5.6 per cent, and gyms at 3.3 per cent.
Before it ended most contact tracing last month, Toronto Public Health found that 18 of 45 outbreaks during a week in September were in restaurants and bars.
Montreal’s health department also tracked outbreaks of COVID-19. Shops of various kinds represented the largest source – 50 out of a total of 151 – followed by the service industry, including bars, gyms and hotels, with 26 outbreaks.
https://nationalpost.com/health/where-exactly-are-canadians-catching-covid-19-authorities-are-not-totally-sure
U.S. Air Travelers Surge Over 1 Million in Holiday-Season Uptick
Most coronavirus cases are spread by people without symptoms, CDC now says – CNN
https://www.cnn.com/2020/11/20/health/cdc-coronavirus-spread-asymptomatic-website-wellness/index.html
Fauci says Canada ‘getting into trouble’ as COVID-19 cases surge worldwide
https://www.cbc.ca/news/health/fauci-coronavirus-canada-covid-19-vaccines-1.5805254
More than 1 million people traveled by plane in the US in one day, despite CDC COVID-19 guidelines – ABC News
https://abcnews.go.com/US/million-people-traveled-plane-us-day-cdc-covid/story?id=74345950
Ontarians should only celebrate holidays with people in their own home, province announces
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/covid-19-coronavirus-ontario-november-25-holiday-guidance-1.5815378
Ontario university students and faculty say online learning is hurting educational experience | CTV News
https://toronto.ctvnews.ca/ontario-university-students-and-faculty-say-online-learning-is-hurting-educational-experience-1.5201989
Efforts To Slow The Spread Of COVID-19 Plummeted Over The Summer, Survey Finds : Shots – Health News : NPR
https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2020/12/02/940098071/social-distancing-plummeted-in-lead-up-to-fall-surge-survey-finds
Biden to ask Americans to wear masks for 100 days
bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-55182309
Obama, Bush and Clinton pledge to film themselves getting Covid vaccine
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-55177741
Turkey’s COVID-19 explosion brings harsh restrictions
With more than 30,000 new daily infections, President Erdogan says he had no choice but to ‘minimise human mobility’.
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/12/3/turkeys-covid-19-explosion-brings-harsh-restrictions
U.S. could see more coronavirus deaths per day than 9/11 for months, CDC chief warns – National | Globalnews.ca
http://globalnews.ca/news/7515674/coronavirus-deaths-us-9-11/
Covid in Europe: Death tolls soar and hospitals struggle as containment unravels – CNN
https://www.cnn.com/2020/12/11/europe/europe-covid-cases-restrictions-intl/index.html
Montreal police issue more than $400,000 worth of tickets at anti-mask demo
The demonstrators took to the streets Sunday afternoon to express their displeasure with pandemic regulations such as mandatory mask wearing and physical distancing.
More Than A Million People Flew In The U.S. Yesterday, TSA Reports : NPR
https://www.npr.org/2020/12/20/948618133/millions-of-people-flying-despite-public-health-pleas-to-stay-put
Police will fine people leaving Covid tier 4 areas without reason | UK news | The Guardian
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2020/dec/20/police-to-stop-people-fleeing-new-covid-tier-4-areas-hancock-says
King of Sweden blasts ‘failed’ Covid strategy in rare royal rebuke | World news | The Guardian
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/dec/17/king-sweden-failed-covid-strategy-rare-royal-rebuke-lockdown-hospitals-cases
Toronto’s top doctor urges people to call out friends, family who plan to break COVID-19 holiday rules | CP24.com
https://www.cp24.com/news/toronto-s-top-doctor-urges-people-to-call-out-friends-family-who-plan-to-break-covid-19-holiday-rules-1.5234090
L.A. teachers express dismal views of distance learning – Los Angeles Times
https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2020-12-16/teachers-survey
All Canadians who want a shot will be vaccinated by September 2021, public health agency says | CBC News
https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/canadian-vaccines-september-2021-1.5844314
COVID-19 has now killed more Albertans than last 10 flu seasons combined | CBC News
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/alberta-coronavirus-covid-19-deena-hinshaw-1.5843814
CSIS warns of threats to vaccine distribution chain | CBC News
https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/csis-vaccine-distribution-threats-1.5842035
When is the general public expected to receive a vaccine?
Much of that depends on the province or territory. In Ontario, retired general Rick Hillier, the head of the province’s vaccination distribution task force, said he believes “we can get into a lot of mainstream Ontario by later July.”
But other provinces, such as Alberta, have pegged the fall of 2021 as the beginning of the third phase, when the general population will receive the vaccine.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/canadians-vaccinated-covid-19-1.5854325
Post-secondary student stress high ahead of another virtual semester | Calgary Herald
https://calgaryherald.com/news/local-news/post-secondary-student-stress-high-ahead-of-another-virtual-semester
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Giving people false hope about the pandemic isn’t ‘balanced’ – it’s dangerous | Coronavirus | The Guardian
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/jan/01/false-hope-pandemic-dangerous-disinformation
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26 Belgian retirees die after visit by volunteer Santa Claus who tested positive for COVID – CBS News
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/26-belgian-retirees-die-after-visit-by-volunteer-santa-claus-who-tested-positive-for-covid/
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Hospitals risk being overwhelmed because of holiday COVID-19 rule-breakers – The Globe and Mail
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-hospitals-risk-being-swamped-because-of-holiday-rule-breakers/
Modelling by Caroline Colijn of Simon Fraser University suggests that without a strategy shift, Canada will likely experience a third wave this spring, with a potential of over 9,000 cases a day, provoking a third round of lockdowns in late March/early April.
https://calgaryherald.com/opinion/john-ivison-a-bleak-winter-could-herald-a-grim-spring/wcm/838bdc21-b25c-447a-8ec6-2d6303061c5a
Why months of ‘Stay Home’ messaging didn’t work in Ontario – Macleans.ca
https://www.macleans.ca/society/health/why-months-of-stay-home-messaging-didnt-work-in-ontario/
US Coronavirus: More than 90,000 Americans could die of Covid-19 in next three weeks, CDC forecast shows – CNN
https://www.cnn.com/2021/01/14/health/us-coronavirus-thursday/index.html
3 arrested, 18 failure to comply charges laid amid Toronto anti-lockdown protests
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/ontario-covid19-update-january-16-2021-1.5876251
As one of the papers due to be presented at the conference explains, covid-19 is likely to reshape people’s beliefs about the world in ways that will complicate the already daunting task of restoring beleaguered economies to health.
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The authors build a model in order to assess how this effect on beliefs might influence the recovery from covid-19. After a very severe initial economic shock from the pandemic, output recovers but does not return to the previous growth trajectory. Part of that long-run depressing effect can be accounted for by “capital obsolescence”: the fact that some of the existing capital stock can no longer be used as efficiently as before, or at all. Office space, for instance, may be used less intensively, as a precaution. But people also revise down their expectations of the return on future investments because they expect pandemics to become more likely. This leads to less investment, other things equal, and slower growth. In the long term GDP is as much as 4% below its pre-crisis level. The authors reckon that the present discounted value of losses associated with capital obsolescence and changing beliefs may be as much as ten times larger than the cost of the initial shock. And most of the long-term loss stems from revisions to beliefs.
https://www.economist.com/finance-and-economics/2020/08/27/psychological-scars-of-downturns-could-depress-growth-for-decades
In counties where university classes were in person, Covid-19 cases rose 56% – CNN
Long pandemic could add to extremism, decline in democracy: Defence Department report | CBC News
https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/dnd-defence-report-extremism-pandemic-1.5862945
A quarter of Canadians don’t want the COVID-19 vaccine. We asked the experts why | National Post
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Bodies stored in refrigerated trailer after morgue in London, Ont., reaches capacity | CBC News
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Nearly half of Canadians visited friends, family over holidays, new poll suggests | Calgary Herald
Lancet gives the nod to Russia’s coronavirus vaccine, giving a beleaguered Putin a soft-power victory | CBC News
https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/russia-sputnik-lancet-1.5908369
Coronavirus: pandemic is likely here to stay, says EU health agency chief | South China Morning Post
https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/3121617/coronavirus-pandemic-likely-here-stay-says-eu-health-agency-chief
Perceived lack of enforcement is splintering public will to follow health measures, experts fear
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/covid-alberta-lack-enforcement-1.5916152
‘Wildly unfair’: UN boss says 10 nations used 75% of all vaccines | Coronavirus pandemic News | Al Jazeera
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/2/17/un-chief-urges-global-plan-to-reverse-unfair-vaccine-access
US coronavirus: All our recent progress with Covid-19 could be wiped out by variants, CDC director says. ‘Please stay strong’ – CNN
https://www.cnn.com/2021/03/01/health/us-coronavirus-monday/index.html
‘When will it end?’: New data suggests COVID-19 could become endemic
https://globalnews.ca/news/7675174/coronavirus-pandemic-end7675174/
A year after Canada’s 1st COVID-19 fatality, health officials reflect on pandemic death toll | CBC News
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/a-year-after-canada-s-1st-covid-19-fatality-health-officials-reflect-on-pandemic-death-toll-1.5939500
10 arrested, over 140 tickets given as thousands protest in Montreal against pandemic public health measures
https://montreal.ctvnews.ca/mobile/10-arrested-over-140-tickets-given-as-thousands-protest-in-montreal-against-pandemic-public-health-measures-1.5346328
Ottawa sees highest one-day increase in COVID-19 cases since Jan. 23
https://beta.ctvnews.ca/local/ottawa/2021/3/13/1_5346136.html
TORONTO — Ontario has entered a third wave of COVID-19, the province’s hospital association says.
In a tweet published on Monday, the Ontario Hospital Association (OHA) said that variants of concern are steeply rising and the number of patients in intensive care is trending upwards.
“We’re now in wave three,” the OHA said, adding that “strong adherence to public health measures is urgently needed to prevent overwhelming hospitals.”
https://toronto.ctvnews.ca/ontario-now-in-third-wave-of-covid-19-province-s-hospital-association-says-1.5347940
Ontario’s independent COVID-19 Science Advisory Table said earlier Tuesday that two thirds of the province’s 34 public health units are now experiencing exponential growth of COVID-19 cases and declared that a third wave had arrived. On Monday, Ontario’s Chief Medical Officer Dr. David Williams said Ontario appears to be at the “base of a third wave” of infections
https://toronto.ctvnews.ca/mobile/don-t-get-this-wrong-statistician-says-no-doubt-third-wave-has-started-in-ontario-1.5350211
Ford warns Ontarians to be ‘very cautious’ after COVID-19 third wave declared in province | CTV News
https://toronto.ctvnews.ca/ford-warns-ontarians-to-be-very-cautious-after-covid-19-third-wave-declared-in-province-1.5348764
Provinces aren’t using COVID Alert app properly or widely enough, says report
Report says only 5% of people who test positive are given the code to register results
Ontario’s COVID-19 mistake: Third wave started because province went against advice and lifted restrictions, Science Table member says
https://ca.news.yahoo.com/covid-19-third-wave-ontario-212859045.html