Defenestrate Them All: Canadian Politics 2021

I can understand a slight discrepancy based on average age, but those numbers are fucking wild.

Anyone care to explain why that is?

xps Not an experiment at all, that's a dumb way that they put it

Basing the rollout so strictly on age was probably a mistake. (Tbf, they couldn't have predicted the new variants when they made the original plans.) Ottawa did make a point of prioritizing high-risk neighbourhoods at each stage, although age etc is still the primary criterion - not sure what the numbers come out to.

xp without researching, I'm guessing these are factors: average age; accessibility of clinics (as mentioned above); populations getting left out bc of language skills or citizenship/residency status

Sigh @ people replying on that thread in defence of the situation by emphasizing that there are more old people in the richer and safer neighbourhood, rather than questioning whether age was the best criterion to use.

Makes sense. I was wondering whether we could add higher rates of vaccine hesitancy to that list, but the data I found doesn't really refer to income:

https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/45-28-0001/2021001/article/00011-eng.htm

questioning whether age was the best criterion to use

The assumption that vulnerable groups are 100% rational and will sign up for a shot as soon as a slot is available turned out to be off the mark in Quebec and I'm sure it's the same in Ontario.

Some of the communities in those neighbourhoods aren’t tuned into social media much at all, or regular media for that matter. Will need a localized approach.

As suggested by Warner upthread (and even Arlene Dickinson!), they should be bringing the vaccines into the factories and workplaces, into these neighbourhoods. It's fucking madness that people in our neighbourhood (which includes lots of immigrants and lower-income people, although there are far rougher) have to get themselves out to Canterbury.

Naheed Nenshi moves on: https://calgary.ctvnews.ca/calgary-mayor-naheed-nenshi-won-t-seek-re-election-in-october-vote-1.5376844

As much as I'm sickened by this new stay-at-home order, I do get it--3,200 cases today--and it was made clear to me yesterday, when I went into Stratford and found that thrift stores were open, how meaningless the red-zone move last week really was.

I have a UK visa appointment in Ottawa on Monday for dumb and complicated reasons I won't bore you with and if that falls through because of the stay-at-home order it'll set off an extremely unpleasant chain reaction. Fuuuuck.

Hopefully that would be deemed essential...I mean, staying or leaving seems kind of essential to me.

The rumour is that non-essential goods in the Ontario big box stores will actually be roped off this time, which I agree with if they are going to close the little stores.

It’s definitely time to prioritize vax for the teachers, despite the “schools are safe” rationale from Ford and Lecce. That same “99% have no cases” doesn’t hold when it comes to retail and everything else, and the thing is, in that small percentage where you do have cases, the teachers are at extreme risk because working with kids is always a higher than average germ exposure job.

I have a UK visa appointment in Ottawa on Monday for dumb and complicated reasons I won't bore you with and if that falls through because of the stay-at-home order it'll set off an extremely unpleasant chain reaction. Fuuuuck.

― pomenitul, Wednesday, April 7, 2021 12:08 PM (thirteen minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

Travel for immigration/visa appointments are supposed to be kosher iirc

That teachers weren’t the first vaccinated after the health professionals is so insulting.

Ok cool. It was definitely closed last spring though, at the height of the first wave. And why the hell don’t they have one in Montreal? Ugh.

xp

One = UK visa application centre, not covid wave lol (we already have that, alas).

They remember the FLQ.

And why the hell don’t they have one in Montreal Westmount?

Ok, stay at home order starting at midnight. If they follow through, some of this stuff is good - mobile vaccine clinics for 18+ in hot spots, special education and hot spot teachers to get priority, followed by teachers in general.

I think I'm eligible because I teach in Peel. I just hope it extends to supply teachers (it should; theoretically we move around, even though I think most are sticking to one school this year).

I might be eligible anyway, having been born in '61 (someone told me they go by year, not exact birthday).

Not sure about supply teachers, but hopefully - believe they did just say all Toronto and Peel teachers.

You should be able to book an astra Zeneca one at a pharmacy if any near you offering it? That’s 55+ right now

Yep, you should definitely go for it, clem.

Ford is being dumb again with this 99% of kids aren’t reporting a case of covid thing - I guess spending a full day with a group of 100 children is fine when just one is sick?

I'm going to try Kim's AstraZeneca suggestion--there's a whole bunch of pharmacies within an hour that offer it. I just registered with one in Ingersoll, so I'm on the waiting list there. I'll make some phone calls too. (First got some clarification from a friend how rare problems are with AZ--a decimal with many zeros. Also, I have another friend who's had it already.)

That teachers weren’t the first vaccinated after the health professionals is so insulting.

I think many teachers though this from the beginning--not insulted, just baffled--but the fact is, government has basically viewed this as a probability problem from the beginning (listening to Ford right now, he still does), and--as crass as this sounds--unless someone dies, they figure things are okay. I remember an early school-related death a year ago, but there was so much going on then, it didn't get a lot of attention. There must have been others since, but I don't remember any.

That one Toronto teacher in an ICU last week (hope he/she is pulling through) was making the rounds on Facebook last week; maybe that helped change things. But mostly it's this new variant, which clearly poses a danger to kids.

risks from covid are several orders of magnitude higher than risks of the tentative adverse side effects of astrazeneca

https://thetyee.ca/News/2021/04/07/How-BC-Fumbled-Third-Wave/

Good roundup of BC's sins here. CW: Amir Attaran is interviewed (and makes pretty fair criticisms of Horgan's govt)

That's clear enough, and unfortunate.

Hmmm…

https://m1.quebecormedia.com/emp/emp/170576748_10158569474576549_6549383576524081840_ne66371a0-c824-465b-825c-7b1d74b153ee_ORIGINAL.jpg

https://www.macleans.ca/news/canada-likely-to-exceed-u-s-infection-rate-in-coming-days/

Somewhat more positive than recent news:

https://www.cbc.ca/news/health/canada-vaccine-rollout-data-1.5980588

just got a vaccine appointment booked for Monday because I live in a "hotspot"

although I'm still worried they're gonna turn me away or cancel my appt since they said that those 18+ wouldn't be able to book online and also there wasn't an 18+ option available while booking but I've been told by now two sources that they won't turn anyone away once you get a slot since they just want to get as many shots in arms now

IT SHOULD NOT BE LIKE THIS.

I’d rather this, than vaccinating people in low risk areas who work low risk jobs and enjoy low risk activities.

I should clarify, I'm all for vaccinating those like me who live in hotspots, what I'm aggravated about is the lack of information (had to find out about this local clinic from a friend who texted me, which is obv not ideal for those without such a social network), the eligibility criteria that is changing day to day that is clearly just the province flailing about, and since the province is changing the rules so rapidly, it leaves the local health units to be flailing about too

what a fucking mess

Oh for sure. But go get your jab. Don’t feel bad.

https://thetyee.ca/News/2021/04/07/How-BC-Fumbled-Third-Wave/

Good roundup of BC's sins here. CW: Amir Attaran is interviewed (and makes pretty fair criticisms of Horgan's govt)

― Wayne Grotski (symsymsym), Thursday, April 8, 2021 1:31 PM (two days ago) bookmarkflaglink

eh the experts quoted here sound like quacks tbh. when an evolutionary psychologist says ‘my mathematical model says a slightly different policy would have saved billions of dollars and hundreds of lives’ it’s an rmde from me. there’s no evidence of any variants eluding the vaccine yet, and if there were that is definitely not something BC can control

a couple of them do sound arrogant, but BC does release less data than other provinces. BC's failure to act when rates were rising seems self-evident. Manitoba's doing much better than the all the provinces around it after they put in quarantine requirements for interprovincial travel. Those kinds of restrictions would be harder to put in for BC for a lot of reasons, but I think they'd be worth it.

gotta say a lot of the tone of twitter #covidzero handwringers does make me grit my teeth, like if it's so easy to manage a deadly global pandemic why didn't they try it

it seems like the premiers are attracting the lion's share of the blame (usually fairly!) but trudeau is somehow escaping public anger, even though the weak rules about travel are one reason why the variants have spread

idk maybe it’s selfish of me and we could be twerking like nz right now if we had closed borders but im glad we haven’t restricted interprovincial travel at any point

Where did "covid zero" come from suddenly? I'm glad I can say it now instead of "yknow like what island nations do because they can" when talking about restrictions here in Newfoundland. It doesn't seem from here like an option in dense, mainland areas, if we're not paying everyone to stay home. If we didn't close the country down last Feb. Like no one did. But then I don't have much of a clue what anyone else is doing. Nova Scotia opening certain things up to full capacity seems weird. Like chill out a few more months?

This article on travel restrictions from last year is a slightly weird read now https://www.thestar.com/politics/federal/2020/03/13/justin-trudeau-wont-close-the-border-at-least-for-now.html

https://apple.news/A4u0lB6wDR_e-OYGFeJkTFw

“Even after Canadians receive two vaccine doses, they won’t be able to count on relaxing individual and population-level public health measures like masking, physical distancing and avoiding gatherings because not enough is known about the effect of vaccines on variants, or on asymptomatic infection and transmission.
Unlike the United States, where the Centers for Disease Control has published clear and evolving guidelines for what fully vaccinated people are allowed to do, the Public Health Agency of Canada thinks it’s too early to say what freedoms might be ahead.”

This is a bit much for me. I’m all for doing what’s necessary, but in the face of total unknowns, it does feel like this kind of position should never be our default.

https://apple.news/A4u0lB6wDR_e-OYGFeJkTFw

“Even after Canadians receive two vaccine doses, they won’t be able to count on relaxing individual and population-level public health measures like masking, physical distancing and avoiding gatherings because not enough is known about the effect of vaccines on variants, or on asymptomatic infection and transmission.
Unlike the United States, where the Centers for Disease Control has published clear and evolving guidelines for what fully vaccinated people are allowed to do, the Public Health Agency of Canada thinks it’s too early to say what freedoms might be ahead.”

This is a bit much for me. I’m all for doing what’s necessary, but in the face of total unknowns, it does feel like this kind of position should never be our default.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/apr/11/canada-ski-resort-p1-covid-variant-whistler

Everyone living or working in Whistler is now eligible for the vaccine...we might not have any horses left, but that barn door is gonna be nice and shut

whistler certainly seems like the case of too little too late now.