coronavirus discussion

[supafamous]

Originally Posted by JDMDreams

Should we just do a full lock down for like 2 weeks? Everything is closed every one is off for Christmas anyways. We should just pause everything for a few weeks and restart.

I think that's likely unrealistic for a host of reasons:

1) Just delaying the inevitable as Hondaracer mentions. Omicron spreads like wildfire so as soon as the lockdown stops you're back at it.
2) The incremental increase in booster shots given isn't a game changer in a 2 week span. We need more of this though, a lot more.
3) The focus is mostly on not overwhelming the health system so hospitalization numbers is what we really care about. (maybe this will justify a lockdown later though).
4) People are just tired especially over the holidays. I think locking down over the holidays, while saving lives and reducing the spread, will consume so much of the public's patience that we'll end up hurting more over the long term. Gotta spread out the pain.

[JDMDreams]

I'm just wondering what the breaking point is? 50k cases a day? Ppls gotta start calling in sick and staying home. How many cases until business start to not be able to function? I'm reading Christmas flights are being cancelled cuz pilots and airline workers are calling in sick

[whitev70r]

Well ... if enough people catch it, call in sick, then no one has to worry about circuit breaker shut down, that will be moot. It will naturally happen due to insufficient workers at every sector.

[Eff-1]

Am I the only one starting to tune out BH? I appreciate all she does and I don't disagree with any of her advice. But 2 years now of her droning on and on is starting to wear thin. Every team eventually needs a new coach and maybe BH needs a new spokesperson.

[Hondaracer]

Who?

[whitev70r]

Dr. BH has never been a great up front spokesperson from day 1. Honestly, I would have passed it on to the 2nd person in charge or something ... doesn't she have way too many things to do and to be on top of to give these pressers?

[Hondaracer]

Sitting in the Metrotown food court hyperventilating trying to catch my booster

[pastarocket]

I am very surprised that many people are tuning out Dr. Henry's warnings about Omicron.

Scientists and infectious disease experts around the world tell us these things about this variant:

Five times more likely to be reinfected with Omicron compared to Delta
Symptoms from Omicron are variable for people. Some people will have mild symptoms such as a cold. Severe symptoms? A high fever or worse.

Would you not err on the side of caution and listen to what she says???

The fact of the matter is that we don't have enough resources for Covid testing at all the sites in BC. We do not have boosters coming in fast enough into BC for everyone.

It is like going into a gunfight with a super soaker water gun against a group of snipers with assault rifles.

Given that BC's health care system doesn't have the resources to even treat people with Covid in hospitals, we are at the mercy of this Omicron storm.

If you think 2000 plus cases per day now is high, wait until January.

This is just the calm before the storm.

Omicron doesn't give a fuck about what people refuse to believe about it. It can fuck anyone up again, and again.

[Alpine]

Originally Posted by pastarocket

I am very surprised that many people are tuning out Dr. Henry's warnings about Omicron.

Scientists and infectious disease experts around the world tell us these things about this variant:

Five times more likely to be reinfected with Omicron compared to Delta
Symptoms from Omicron are variable for people Some people will have mild symptoms such as a cold. Severe symptoms? A high fever or worse.

Would you not err on the side of caution and listen to what she says???

The fact of the matter is that we don't have enough resources for Covid testing at all the sites in BC. We do not have boosters coming in fast enough into BC for everyone.

It is like going into a gunfight with a super soaker water gun against a group of snipers with assault rifles.

Given that BC's health care system doesn't have the resources to even treat people with Covid in hospitals, we are at the mercy of this Omicron storm.

If you think 2000 plus cases per day now is high, wait until January.

This is just the calm before the storm.

Omicron doesn't give a fuck about what people refuse to believe about it. It can fuck anyone up again, and again.

Beyond general fatigue from hearing the same messaging for the last 2 years, IMO it’s a behavioural thing. We’ve all gone to school/work/socialize with headaches, runny noses, sore throats, coughs, and thought nothing of it at all. And judging from latest reports, these are generally the symptoms from the latest variant. So if you have these symptoms and it never stopped you before from going out, why would it now? Plus most are double vaxxed or getting boosters anyways, which is more than what we can usually say for our standard flu season.

[MarkyMark]

Err on what side of caution? Were all going to get it, just at different times. Most of us will be fine, and some won't. Do your part to slow it down for our hospitals but don't fear getting it because you can't avoid it if you ever leave your house.

[pastarocket]

Originally Posted by MarkyMark

Err on what side of caution? Were all going to get it, just at different times. Most of us will be fine, and some won't. Do your part to slow it down for our hospitals but don't fear getting it because you can't avoid it if you ever leave your house.

The side of caution against a virus that has mutated how many times?

If the best scientists and infectious disease experts in the world are still learning about Omicron and its capabilities, that means everyone is dealing with an unknown.

We are at what O, in the Greek alphabet for naming these damn variants? Are we going to see more variants after Omicron?

Yeah, I don't fear getting Omicron because I am fully vaccinated. -hope to get the booster soon.

It's the fear about the next variant that may or may not come after Omicron.

Pi? Sigma? There's gonna be people in BC who are unvaccinated, who do not protect themselves or his/her circle of family, friends, etc from infection. Then that is where this bloody Omicron can mutate into another variant. Perhaps something worse.

[MarkyMark]

Yeah so someone who isn't vaccinated is going to do some stupid shit that I have no control over... What else can I do when a virus spreads so easily you can't avoid it?

[pastarocket]

Yeah, I understand the points that you guys are making in response to my post. Damn, I am just venting, and in a bad mental state of mind like some other people.

-just not feeling like myself today.

The toll on my mental health has been brutal for these past twenty plus months.

[Hehe]

This just paves way for the ultimate "OMEGA".









I think the problem with variants is the actual severity of it.

This is the story of the Boy who cried wolf. The gov't should treat imposing further restrictions on Covid very carefully and only when it is really critical.

Call it fatigue or whatever you want. But the truth is people can only take so much before they snap and stop giving a damn.

I am all for measures to keep us safe. However, I do want our gov't to be cautious about what they are doing. So far we know Omicron is more contagious, but far less severe. If we implement all new restrictions here and there now. What the fuck do you do when the Omega comes that is far more contagious and severe at the same time?

Is the sacrifice that we are making to deal with Omicron justifiable? It's one thing to have people with Covid, and another thing to have people with Covid who are in critical conditions. Instead, take it as a learning opportunity, see how we can adjust our policies and resources to deal with a larger-scale infection. Maybe allow more people who are less likely to develop severe symptoms (the younger/larger population group) to be less restricted, and divert our resources to those in need.

Like someone has mentioned before... if booster is needed, give to those who are older. If there's still surplus after, give it to countries who are still fighting to get enough vaccine. It's not that we are tired or don't give a fuck. Covid is a global pandemic. Just because we took care of Canada is not going to do anything about it if all the other nations are still in deep shit.

Put policy to live with Covid... to take a controlled/educated/manageable level of infection instead of an approach to "minimize" or "flatten" the curve. Covid is going to be with us for some time. Its continual evolution made sure of that. We just need to live with it until we come up with a cure that kills it for good.

[Traum]

Originally Posted by JDMDreams

I'm just wondering what the breaking point is? 50k cases a day? Ppls gotta start calling in sick and staying home. How many cases until business start to not be able to function? I'm reading Christmas flights are being cancelled cuz pilots and airline workers are calling in sick

The breaking point is when our hospital system is overwhelmed and collapses. I am nowhere close to being familiar enough with our hospital systems to know what sort of numbers we need to see being hospitalized and/or in ICU.

IMO, it doesn't really matter what the infection numbers are as long as people aren't getting really sick. As long as you are double vaxxed (and not old), the chances of developing severe COVID is supposed to be very low. So places might be understaffed because people are sick. But mild COVID shouldn't last too long, right? So society just make do with fewer working staff and hobble along until we all ride it out.

[spoon.ek9]

Off on a bit of a tangent here, but a few weeks ago an RS member spotted me at work. I suppose it was only a matter of time before that happened. Anyways, no need to reply if you wish to remain anonymous. I just wanted to say hey and that I hope your mom is feeling better.

Merry xmas and happy holidays everyone!

[quasi]

Originally Posted by Eff-1

Am I the only one starting to tune out BH? I appreciate all she does and I don't disagree with any of her advice. But 2 years now of her droning on and on is starting to wear thin. Every team eventually needs a new coach and maybe BH needs a new spokesperson.

Lol, I come to revscene to get updated on what the new restrictions are. I honestly haven't watched Dr Henry speak in probably a year.

[StylinRed]

The fact that BC only does around 21K tests a day, and it's the most tests we've ever done is kind of shocking... Considering similar sized provinces in say Australia, on average, do 150K+ tests a day (with highs of 300+K a day)

And BC can't handle it so BH is asking us not to test /smh

Wonder how high our daily case counts would've been during those peaks if we were able to test similarly to other regions

[sdubfid]

What purpose does testing people from the same region serve? By the time someone has symptoms and gets tested wouldn’t they already have transmitted it to people? A quick search showed prices from $10-$100 each. So $200000-$2000000 per day but likely higher once you take into account government inefficiencies.

Testing is in place for people entering Canada and the South Africa variant was already here within days or already here.

I can see the benefits of testing if it were a permanent condition that could be transmitted for life.

[Alpine]

Originally Posted by pastarocket

Yeah, I understand the points that you guys are making in response to my post. Damn, I am just venting, and in a bad mental state of mind like some other people.

-just not feeling like myself today.

The toll on my mental health has been brutal for these past twenty plus months.

I replied to you but it wasn’t directed at you. I was just speaking generally. Here are two things that has helped me stay in positive frame of mind - context and optimism.

Context: shit is ALWAYS going down. Social media and the internet have simply surrounded us with it and force fed it down our throats. If I pull out my phone while taking a shit I’m gonna come across something about the pandemic. Not even my throne is safe. Social media is so fucked where if you allow it, it will become everything you read and think of and you will become brainwashed. If it wasn’t covid, it would be something else. Tens of thousands die from the flu each year, but we never bat any eye and we go out and spread it. There’s always some virus or disease popping up somewhere with the threat to take us all out. And if it’s not from a virus or disease, it’ll come from an illness stemming from own shitty personal habits. Shit happened before covid and you can bet your ass it’s going to keep happening after covid. It’s life. Things can change or end at a moments notice, and we all just have to enjoy the time we have and make it meaningful.

Optimism: that tomorrow will be better, because it will. When something starts, it eventually ends. Even when the pandemic first started, i looked forward to the day that it was going to be over. Because one day it will be over. With every mutation or variant it just meant that we were getting closer to the end. Our lives might not be the exact same as before, but humans are fucking good at adapting and moving forward. Control what you can control, and leave everything else to chance (because that’s how life literally works).

These are a few things that helped my mental state during the pandemic. I know that the pandemic has impacted the mental health of a lot of people, but I find the only way to fight that (now or in the future) is to change your mindset, as hard as that might be.

If you ever need to find inspiration, look at babies. Everything is a complete struggle for them. Look at babies struggling to walk. They stand up and fall down a million times. They fall face first, hurt themselves, and yet, all of them keep trying and eventually make it. If we were all born without being mentally strong you would see a large % of the population still be crawling on all 4s. Somehow, many of us un-learned the strength that lies in each of us, and we just need to re-learn it.

[SkunkWorks]

Originally Posted by Alpine

If you ever need to find inspiration, look at BMW owners. Everything is a complete struggle for them. Look at their cars struggling to start. They act up and break down a million times. They leak oil, throw random codes, and yet, all of them keep trying and eventually part it out. If we were all born without being mentally strong you would see a large % of the population still be driving BMWs. Somehow, many of us un-learned the strength that lies in each of us, and we just need to re-learn it.

Fixed

[pastarocket]

Thank you Alpine and SkunkWorks for your posts. I feel better already.

Merry Christmas, RS Fam!


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[quasi]

Went to movie with wife and son this afternoon. 50% capacity, everyone sitting on top of each other center of theatre, sides and front of theatre empty and no seat buffer between groups, shoulder to shoulder.

Pretty sure not intent of 50% capacity but what do I know lol.

[lilaznviper]

i think last time it was at 50% they blocked off seats next to you after you book. guess they are not doing that this time around

[SpeedStars]

Has anyone else here tried to get tested? I had come in contact with someone who had tested positive but every testing site in Vancouver/Richmond/Burnaby is closed