The COVID-19 pandemic

[tomh009]

Yes, all depends on the particular church. The more conventional churches (Catholic, Lutheran and Church of England) will tend to follow scientific guidance but some others do not.

Oh yes, Pastafarian churches, though not an old religion, will also be promoting the use of masks and following other scientific guidance.

The police and by-law could have stopped this. They didn't even show up at this event. I guess charging a lot of _____ (1 syllable, 5 letter word, begins with w) isn't a priority.

It seems that they are waiting for a decision on how to deal with the contempt of court order in this case.

[jeffster]

The police and by-law could have stopped this. They didn't even show up at this event. I guess charging a lot of _____ (1 syllable, 5 letter word, begins with w) isn't a priority.

It seems that they are waiting for a decision on how to deal with the contempt of court order in this case.

Sure.

But my point was if they were not white (sorry for having to spell this out), something different would have occurred. That's just fact. Unfortunately.

[tomh009]

MONDAY 2021-01-25

Waterloo Region reported 79 new cases today (10.1% of the active cases) and one more for yesterday for a total of 36); 615 new cases for the week (-11), averaging 10.2% of active cases. 744 active cases, -173 in the last seven days.

The next testing report will be on Tuesday.

Ontario reported 1,958 new cases today with a seven-day average of 2,371 (-80). 2,448 recoveries and 43 deaths translated to a drop of 533 active cases and a new total of 23,620. -5,001 active cases for the week and 413 deaths (59 per day). 35,968 tests for a positivity rate of 5.44%. The positivity rate is averaging 4.59% for the past seven days, compared to 5.30% for the preceding seven.

397 patients in ICU (+5 today, +3 for the week).

• 29 cases in Huron Perth: 29.6 per 100K
  
• 365 cases in Peel: 26.4 per 100K
  
• 727 cases in Toronto: 24.8 per 100K
  
• 85 cases in Windsor-Essex: 21.9 per 100K
  
• 22 cases in Chatham-Kent: 20.8 per 100K
  
• 82 cases in Niagara: 18.3 per 100K
  
• 19 cases in Lambton: 14.5 per 100K
  
• 157 cases in York: 14.1 per 100K
  
• 28 cases in Southwestern Ontario: 14.0 per 100K
  
• 35 cases in Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph: 12.9 per 100K
  
• 46 cases in Middlesex-London: 11.4 per 100K
  
• 54 cases in Halton: 9.8 per 100K
  
• 62 cases in Durham: 9.6 per 100K
  
• 55 cases in Hamilton: 9.5 per 100K
  
• 41 cases in Simcoe-Muskoka: 7.6 per 100K
  
• 9 cases in Brant: 6.6 per 100K
  
• 39 cases in Waterloo: 6.3 per 100K (based on provincial reporting)
  
• 11 cases in Eastern Ontario: 5.4 per 100K
  
• 51 cases in Ottawa: 5.1 per 100K
  
• 5 cases in Thunder Bay: 3.3 per 100K
  

[Coke6pk]

I guess charging a lot of _____ (1 syllable, 5 letter word, begins with w) isn't a priority.

But my point was if they were not white (sorry for having to spell this out), something different would have occurred. That's just fact. Unfortunately.

LOL --- With your clue, I thought the missing word was WASPS, and I was going to question if they were Protestant … we were on the same though process, but different words (or acronyms).

Coke

[ijmorlan]

But my point was if they were not white (sorry for having to spell this out), something different would have occurred. That's just fact. Unfortunately.

That is speculation, not fact. If there was a Black church in town that also kept on having services and the riot squad had attended (for example) then it would be fact.

My guess is that for this specific type of behaviour, WRPS police behaviour would not be significantly different if the people involved were of a different race. I welcome evidence to the contrary because while I have a reasonably good opinion of our police, I don’t expect it to remain unchanged in the fact of more complete information about what our citizens experience.

[ijmorlan]

LOL --- With your clue, I thought the missing word was WASPS, and I was going to question if they were Protestant … we were on the same though process, but different words (or acronyms).

I’m pretty sure anything called a “bible chapel” will be protestant. While there are many lunatics within the Roman Catholic church, it is a mainstream group and I would be surprised to find many RC churches in this country flouting mask/closure rules; and I would be even more surprised to find one called a “bible chapel”. The phrase suggests a bibliolatric group, which is associated more with fundamentalist protestantism.

[tomh009]

LOL --- With your clue, I thought the missing word was WASPS, and I was going to question if they were Protestant … we were on the same though process, but different words (or acronyms).

I’m pretty sure anything called a “bible chapel” will be protestant. While there are many lunatics within the Roman Catholic church, it is a mainstream group and I would be surprised to find many RC churches in this country flouting mask/closure rules; and I would be even more surprised to find one called a “bible chapel”. The phrase suggests a bibliolatric group, which is associated more with fundamentalist protestantism.

Right. There are non-fundamentalist protestants, too -- such as Anglican, Presbyterian and Lutheran. I would be surprised if any of those flouted the rules.

[ijmorlan]

I’m pretty sure anything called a “bible chapel” will be protestant. While there are many lunatics within the Roman Catholic church, it is a mainstream group and I would be surprised to find many RC churches in this country flouting mask/closure rules; and I would be even more surprised to find one called a “bible chapel”. The phrase suggests a bibliolatric group, which is associated more with fundamentalist protestantism.

Right. There are non-fundamentalist protestants, too -- such as Anglican, Presbyterian and Lutheran. I would be surprised if any of those flouted the rules.

Indeed. I would be very surprised if any of those flouted mask rules.

Although there is wide variation within those. While the Anglican churches with which I am familiar have no problem with female ministers, I distinctly remember it being a live issue within the wider church, and it probably still is. Or take the Lutherans (which is really an umbrella term for several groups): I think of them as basically Anglicans with different words, but even just a few years ago (maybe still, I don’t know) the church on Willow St. explicitly advertised a “Biblical” (i.e., bigoted) view on homosexuality.

I regret not asking when I had the opportunity: I was speaking to the then-moderator of the United Church of Canada, a gay man. The question is, how far does ecumenism go? For him to share a stage with bishops from the Roman Catholic church, the Anglicans, the Lutherans, etc. seems very natural; but then he is sharing a stage with people, some of whom come from groups which officially believe that he is sinning just by being who he is, and some of whom may even believe so themselves.

[tomh009]

Although there is wide variation within those. While the Anglican churches with which I am familiar have no problem with female ministers, I distinctly remember it being a live issue within the wider church, and it probably still is. Or take the Lutherans (which is really an umbrella term for several groups): I think of them as basically Anglicans with different words, but even just a few years ago (maybe still, I don’t know) the church on Willow St. explicitly advertised a “Biblical” (i.e., bigoted) view on homosexuality.

Indeed, the Missouri Synod Lutherans are far more hardline than the Euro-style Lutherans from northern Europe.

[tomh009]

TUESDAY 2021-01-26

Waterloo Region reported 66 new cases today (8.9% of the active cases) and four more for yesterday for a total of 83; 593 new cases for the week (-22), averaging 10.2% of active cases. 690 active cases, -176 in the last seven days.

An average of 1,841 tests per day for the past week for a positivity rate of 4.60%, down from the previous week's 6.07%.

Ontario reported 1,740 new cases today -- although with only about 30,000 tests on a Sunday -- with a seven-day average of 2,332 (-39). 2,261 recoveries and 63 deaths translated to a drop of 584 active cases and a new total of 23,036. -4,681 active cases for the week and 430 deaths (61 per day). 30,717 tests for a positivity rate of 5.66%. The positivity rate is averaging 4.57% for the past seven days, compared to 5.21% for the preceding seven.

383 patients in ICU (-14 today, -17 for the week), and 1,466 total hospital beds in use (-160 for the week).

• 320 cases in Peel: 23.2 per 100K
  
• 677 cases in Toronto: 23.1 per 100K
  
• 55 cases in Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph: 20.2 per 100K
  
• 59 cases in Windsor-Essex: 15.2 per 100K
  
• 144 cases in York: 13.0 per 100K
  
• 77 cases in Waterloo: 12.5 per 100K (based on provincial reporting)
  
• 49 cases in Niagara: 10.9 per 100K
  
• 59 cases in Hamilton: 10.2 per 100K
  
• 49 cases in Halton: 8.9 per 100K
  
• 18 cases in Eastern Ontario: 8.9 per 100K
  
• 34 cases in Middlesex-London: 8.4 per 100K
  
• 51 cases in Durham: 7.9 per 100K
  
• 36 cases in Simcoe-Muskoka: 6.7 per 100K
  
• 9 cases in Brant: 6.6 per 100K
  
• 7 cases in Chatham-Kent: 6.6 per 100K
  
• 13 cases in Southwestern Ontario: 6.5 per 100K
  
• 6 cases in Lambton: 4.6 per 100K
  
• 6 cases in Thunder Bay: 4.0 per 100K
  
• 32 cases in Ottawa: 3.2 per 100K
  
• 3 cases in Huron Perth: 3.1 per 100K
  

[Coke6pk]

I think of them as basically Anglicans with different words, but even just a few years ago (maybe still, I don’t know) the church on Willow St. explicitly advertised a “Biblical” (i.e., bigoted) view on homosexuality.

Can't speak for the (former) congregation of St. John's, but they amalgamated with two other congregations (St. Marks and Reformation) to form Trillium Lutheran a couple years back.

I will speak to the (former) congregation of St. Marks who were always inclusive to the LGBTQ+ community, with members from that community being members of the church. Same sex marriages were also performed. This inclusivity has continued into the new Trillium, so I can confirm the "maybe still" part is not accurate.

Coke

[jeffster]

We're getting more info as to why Canada is lagging behind all of the other countries when it comes to the Covid-19 vaccine.

https://ipolitics.ca/2021/01/26/days-aft...-shipment/

In a nutshell, Canada basically had a deal with China to test and use one of their vaccines. This agreement was made in May. China, and I will say, profoundly blocked this (after all, we are holding one of their nationals on behalf on the US government).

3 months after this, is when Canada made agreements with other deals with Pfizer and Moderna.

How the Trudeau government could have been so stupid to make deals with the Chinese first, is almost beyond belief. And why take a chance with an American or European company first wasn't considered. I get that you should take a chance with the first available vaccine, which I guess at that time may have been the Chinese vaccine, but in this case you're not dealing with a friendly.

And as it stands, sadly Trudeau doesn't have a lot of friends, either in the USA or Europe, so we're going to be in this a lot longer than we should have been. So whatever the case, Germany (basically the lead in the European Union) will be blocking vaccine deliveries to Canada, and President Biden has zero interest in helping Canada out (oddly enough, had Trump won, we'd probably get some vaccine from the USA). It seems in this case, the EU and USA made agreements with Pfizer and Moderna before Canada did, hence why we're back of the line.

[danbrotherston]

We're getting more info as to why Canada is lagging behind all of the other countries when it comes to the Covid-19 vaccine.

https://ipolitics.ca/2021/01/26/days-aft...-shipment/

In a nutshell, Canada basically had a deal with China to test and use one of their vaccines. This agreement was made in May. China, and I will say, profoundly blocked this (after all, we are holding one of their nationals on behalf on the US government).

3 months after this, is when Canada made agreements with other deals with Pfizer and Moderna.

How the Trudeau government could have been so stupid to make deals with the Chinese first, is almost beyond belief. And why take a chance with an American or European company first wasn't considered. I get that you should take a chance with the first available vaccine, which I guess at that time may have been the Chinese vaccine, but in this case you're not dealing with a friendly.

And as it stands, sadly Trudeau doesn't have a lot of friends, either in the USA or Europe, so we're going to be in this a lot longer than we should have been. So whatever the case, Germany (basically the lead in the European Union) will be blocking vaccine deliveries to Canada, and President Biden has zero interest in helping Canada out (oddly enough, had Trump won, we'd probably get some vaccine from the USA). It seems in this case, the EU and USA made agreements with Pfizer and Moderna before Canada did, hence why we're back of the line.

It's quite clear why we shouldn't make a deal with the US, up until a week ago, it was an unstable regime teetering on the brink of civil unrest. Not a place to put your eggs. The only reason we'd get vaccine from Trump if Trump thought he could make a buck, and because he had no plans to distribute it to the population.

China isn't my first choice, but the EU also clearly has protectionist aspects. Ultimately, we should have planned local production capability, along with a licensing scheme. There should have been global plans for licensing the first few vaccines which were proven viable for production everywhere with compatible equipment.

But the suggestion that we are back of the line is also absurd...it's conservative party rhetoric...we aren't first in line, but there are many other countries we are doing better than.

A bigger question I have is why we are still holding this foreign national for the US. They should either be sent to the US, or to China, we shouldn't be acting as jailor for the US, not under Biden, and certainly not under Trump.  This whole thing is bizarre, and been going on far far too long.

[Acitta]

A bigger question I have is why we are still holding this foreign national for the US. They should either be sent to the US, or to China, we shouldn't be acting as jailor for the US, not under Biden, and certainly not under Trump.  This whole thing is bizarre, and been going on far far too long.

Because we have an extradition treaty with the United States and because under Canadian law an accused person arrested on behalf of another government has a right to contest the arrest before being extradited. It is possible that the arrest warrant was issued for political reasons, but we are a nation that follows the rule of law.

[tomh009]

10-day averages for key regions in Ontario, plus the weekly trend as of 2021-01-27 (posting this every two days).

Region	Cases today	per 100K	10-day average	per 100K	Weekly trend
Peel	342	24.7	413	29.9	-22%
Toronto	450	15.4	731	25.0	-22%
Windsor-Essex	37	9.5	92	23.7	-47%
Niagara	128	28.6	99	22.1	-15%
Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph	10	3.7	52	19.0	-15%
York	171	15.4	199	17.9	-18%
Huron Perth	6	6.1	17	17.0	-55%
Lambton	2	1.5	20	15.0	-94%
Waterloo	75	12.1	87	14.0	-26%
Hamilton	84	14.5	81	14.0	-17%
Middlesex-London	36	8.9	56	13.9	-47%
Chatham-Kent	15	14.2	14	13.2	-23%
Halton	48	8.8	66	12.1	-22%
Eastern Ontario	28	13.8	24	11.6	-21%
Durham	63	9.8	72	11.2	-23%
Thunder Bay	14	9.3	17	11.0	+7%
Simcoe-Muskoka	21	3.9	56	10.4	-43%
Southwestern Ontario	3	1.5	20	9.9	-47%
Ottawa	82	8.2	82	8.3	-23%
Brant	15	11.0	10	7.0	+43%
Ontario total					-24%