The COVID-19 pandemic

[ac3r]

Why do we need 3 weeks to vaccinate even less people than the USA manages to do in a single day? It's an absolute joke.

Is this a serious question? Or are you just complaining about the fact that we are not receiving as much vaccines as the Americans are keeping for themselves?

I'm not sure where you pulled these imaginary points from. I am indeed complaining that we've failed to get vaccines to keep Canadians healthy and alive. We blundered with the vaccines, plain and simple (I say this while also acknowledging the issues with supply, but that was not the only problem). And yes, why is it taking 3 weeks to vaccinate people when other nations are doing much more in a single day? It doesn't make any sense.


Caught off guard by early COVID-19 vaccine approvals, Ottawa tried and failed to secure more shots: https://www.theglobeandmail.com/politics...es-before/

Canada is failing on vaccines — and the responsibility lies with Justin Trudeau: https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/...n-trudeau/

[tomh009]

I'm not sure where you pulled these imaginary points from. I am indeed complaining that we've failed to get vaccines to keep Canadians healthy and alive. We blundered with the vaccines, plain and simple (I say this while also acknowledging the issues with supply, but that was not the only problem). And yes, why is it taking 3 weeks to vaccinate people when other nations are doing much more in a single day? It doesn't make any sense.

If we had a bountiful vaccine supply, and we vaccinated at the same rate as the US, it would still take us about 1.5 weeks to vaccinate as many people as they do in a day: we are roughly 1/10 the size. So, on a per capita basis, Canada taking three weeks would mean that we are vaccinating at roughly half the rate of the US, which is not so bad considering the supply constraints (I did not check your math and I don't know how many we are vaccinating at the moment, though).

I posted vaccination stats for not-small developed countries a few weeks ago, including a reference link to te data. Apart from the two big outliers (UK and the US) which have domestic production, most of the other countries, including Canada, were clustered fairly close together.

[tomh009]

Caught off guard by early COVID-19 vaccine approvals, Ottawa tried and failed to secure more shots: https://www.theglobeandmail.com/politics...es-before/

Canada is failing on vaccines — and the responsibility lies with Justin Trudeau: https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/...n-trudeau/

I'll note that the G&M article specifically describes the vaccine purchase contract negotiations as difficult and challenging, especially given that there was no certainty about approval dates or manufacturing timelines.

As for the WP article, it's a hack job by a conservative Canadian vlogger who apparently doesn't know the difference between a "bogeyman" and a "boogeyman". I give much more credibility to the experts that the G&M article quoted.
https://thefederalist.com/author/jjmccullough/

[tomh009]

TUESDAY 2021-02-23

Waterloo Region reported 40 new cases today (12.2% of the active cases) and four more for yesterday for a total of 32; 298 new cases for the week (+25), averaging 12.8% of active cases. 341 active cases, -6 in the last seven days.

An average of 1,332 tests per day for the past week, with a positivity rate of 3.20%.

Ontario reported 975 new cases today with a seven-day average of 1,055 (+10). 1,002 recoveries and 12 deaths translated to a drop of 39 active cases and a new total of 10,296. -1,308 active cases for the week and 165 deaths (24 per day). 25,979 tests for a positivity rate of 3.75%. The positivity rate is averaging 2.52% for the past seven days, compared to 2.27% for the preceding seven.

In the past week there have been 81 cases (-7) of B.1.1.7 (UK), zero cases (-2) of B.1.351 (SA) and zero cases (+0) of P.1 (BR) variant.

283 patients in ICU (+3 today, -9 for the week). Total hospital population of 718 (-24 for the week).

• 37 cases in Thunder Bay: 24.7 per 100K
  
• 186 cases in Peel: 13.5 per 100K
  
• 343 cases in Toronto: 11.7 per 100K
  
• 48 cases in Simcoe-Muskoka: 8.9 per 100K
  
• 11 cases in Lambton: 8.4 per 100K
  
• 32 cases in Windsor-Essex: 8.2 per 100K
  
• 89 cases in York: 8.0 per 100K
  
• 40 cases in Waterloo: 6.5 per 100K (based on provincial reporting)
  
• 35 cases in Hamilton: 6.0 per 100K
  
• 8 cases in Brant: 5.9 per 100K
  
• 35 cases in Durham: 5.4 per 100K
  
• 27 cases in Halton: 4.9 per 100K
  
• 5 cases in Chatham-Kent: 4.7 per 100K
  
• 21 cases in Niagara: 4.7 per 100K
  
• 17 cases in Middlesex-London: 4.2 per 100K
  
• 6 cases in Southwestern Ontario: 3.0 per 100K
  
• 8 cases in Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph: 2.9 per 100K
  

Only regions with at least two cases per 100,000 population

[tomh009]

10-day averages for key regions in Ontario, plus the weekly trend as of 2021-02-24 (posting this every two days).

Region	Cases today	per 100K	10-day average	per 100K	Weekly trend
Thunder Bay	45	30.0	26	17.4	+145%
Peel	186	13.5	190	13.8	+7%
Northwestern		.0	10	11.3	-3%
Toronto	363	12.4	329	11.2	+19%
York	94	8.5	110	9.9	-14%
Windsor-Essex	50	12.9	31	8.0	+9%
Hamilton	38	6.6	41	7.1	+35%
Simcoe-Muskoka	53	9.8	39	7.1	+63%
Brant	9	6.6	10	7.1	-16%
Lambton	3	2.3	9	7.0	+5%
Durham	35	5.4	41	6.3	-12%
Waterloo	44	7.1	38	6.2	+34%
Halton	26	4.7	29	5.3	-13%
Ottawa	40	4.0	50	5.0	-18%
Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph	7	2.6	11	4.0	+23%
Niagara	13	2.9	17	3.8	-14%
Eastern Ontario	6	3.0	7	3.2	-41%
Huron Perth	1	1.0	3	3.0	-18%
Middlesex-London	10	2.5	11	2.8	+49%
Ontario total					+10%

[tomh009]

WEDNESDAY 2021-02-24

Waterloo Region reported 24 new cases for today (6.9% of the active cases) and one more for yesterday for a total of 41; 291 new cases for the week (-7), averaging 12.5% of active cases. 324 active cases, +7 in the last seven days.

Next testing report on Friday.

Ontario reported 1,018 new cases today with a seven-day average of 1,079 (+24). 1,291 recoveries and nine deaths translated to a drop of 282 active cases and a new total of 10,296. -971 active cases for the week and 164 deaths (23 per day). 54,852 tests for a positivity rate of 1.86%. The positivity rate is averaging 2.43% for the past seven days, compared to 2.34% for the preceding seven.

In the past week there have been 57 cases (-24) of B.1.1.7 (UK), three cases (+3) of B.1.351 (SA) and zero cases (+0) of P.1 (BR) variant.

287 patients in ICU (+4 today, -11 for the week). Total hospital population of 675 (-44 for the week).

• 45 cases in Thunder Bay: 30.0 per 100K
  
• 186 cases in Peel: 13.5 per 100K
  
• 50 cases in Windsor-Essex: 12.9 per 100K
  
• 363 cases in Toronto: 12.4 per 100K
  
• 53 cases in Simcoe-Muskoka: 9.8 per 100K
  
• 94 cases in York: 8.5 per 100K
  
• 44 cases in Waterloo: 7.1 per 100K (based on provincial reporting)
  
• 9 cases in Brant: 6.6 per 100K
  
• 38 cases in Hamilton: 6.6 per 100K
  
• 35 cases in Durham: 5.4 per 100K
  
• 26 cases in Halton: 4.7 per 100K
  
• 40 cases in Ottawa: 4.0 per 100K
  
• 6 cases in Eastern Ontario: 3.0 per 100K
  
• 13 cases in Niagara: 2.9 per 100K
  
• 7 cases in Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph: 2.6 per 100K
  
• 10 cases in Middlesex-London: 2.5 per 100K
  
• 3 cases in Lambton: 2.3 per 100K
  

Only regions with at least two cases per 100,000 population

[ac3r]

Doug Ford's beeping Fitbit's may just be part of a scam: https://www.reddit.com/r/ontario/comment..._money_on/

[welltoldtales]

Doug Ford's beeping Fitbit's may just be part of a scam: https://www.reddit.com/r/ontario/comment..._money_on/

So sad.

I know people like to talk about how Trudeau has failed us but I don't understand how anyone can look past the provinces. I mean, we have provinces that are clearly doing the right things and have been successful and then we have the province which has been basically terrible at everything.

Saying that, how sad is it that we are going to spend money on this beeper thing and we have the COVID Alert app that we continue to make optional for people and could easily do this exact same task. I don't understand how we haven't just asked all the carriers to force this to be installed like the rest of the spam/malware that sits on our phones from various carriers.

[danbrotherston]

Doug Ford's beeping Fitbit's may just be part of a scam: https://www.reddit.com/r/ontario/comment..._money_on/

So sad.

I know people like to talk about how Trudeau has failed us but I don't understand how anyone can look past the provinces. I mean, we have provinces that are clearly doing the right things and have been successful and then we have the province which has been basically terrible at everything.

Saying that, how sad is it that we are going to spend money on this beeper thing and we have the COVID Alert app that we continue to make optional for people and could easily do this exact same task. I don't understand how we haven't just asked all the carriers to force this to be installed like the rest of the spam/malware that sits on our phones from various carriers.

Wow...that's crazy.  Lets play, incompetent or corrupt.

As for the app, carriers cannot force install an app on devices, the carrier apps you are talking about a preloaded, once you own the phone, carriers can (mostly) no longer control what is on the device.

[ac3r]

Pre-registration for the vaccine has opened up in the region. Currently, the following groups qualify:

• Long-term care and retirement home staff, residents and essential caregivers
  
• Seniors group setting staff and residents
  
• Adults 80 years of age and older
  
• Indigenous adults
  
• Adults receiving chronic home care
  
• Patient-facing health care workers involved in the COVID-19 response: Specimen Collection Centers, teams supporting outbreak response, vaccine clinics, and mobile teams, Mobile Testing Teams, COVID-19 Isolation Centers, COVID-19 Laboratory Services
  
• Medical first responders (paramedics, medical first response firefighters)
  
• Needle exchanges & supervised consumption and treatment services
  
• Community Health Centres serving disproportionally affected or at-risk communities
  
• Home and community care health care workers caring for recipients of chronic homecare and seniors in congregate living facilities or providing hands-on care to COVID-19 patients in the community
  
• Health care workers in congregate settings (assisted living, correctional settings, residential facilities, hospices, palliative care settings, shelters, supportive housing)
  
• Health care workers with Adult day programs for seniors
  
• Other health care services for Indigenous populations
  
• Birth centres, OBGY, Midwifery
  
• Community-based specialists
  
• Death investigation professionals
  
• Dentistry
  
• Contract nursing agencies
  
• Pharmacies
  
• Primary care
  
• Respirology (Respiratory Therapy)
  
• Walk-in clinics
  
• Laboratory services
  

If you or anyone you know belongs to one of these groups, you can pre-register here: https://www.regionofwaterloo.ca/vaccinePreReg

[tomh009]

THURSDAY 2021-02-25

Waterloo Region reported 65 (!) new cases for today (19.8% of the active cases) and one more for yesterday for a total of 25; 324 new cases for the week (+33), averaging 13.8% of active cases. 364 active cases, +32 in the last seven days.

Next testing report on Friday.

Ontario reported 1,174 new cases today with a seven-day average of 1,099 (+20). 1,094 recoveries and 23 deaths translated to an increase -- the first in more than six weeks -- of 57 active cases and a new total of 10,071. -631 active cases for the week and 143 deaths (20 per day). 66,351 tests for a positivity rate of 1.77%. The positivity rate is averaging 2.42% for the past seven days, compared to 2.40% for the preceding seven.

In the past week there have been 101 cases (+44) of B.1.1.7 (UK), one case (+1) of B.1.351 (SA) and one case (+1) of P.1 (BR) variant.

283 patients in ICU (-4 today, +6 for the week). Total hospital population of 687 (-71 for the week).

• 44 cases in Thunder Bay: 29.3 per 100K
  
• 204 cases in Peel: 14.8 per 100K
  
• 19 cases in Brant: 14.0 per 100K
  
• 339 cases in Toronto: 11.6 per 100K
  
• 9 cases in Northwestern: 10.3 per 100K
  
• 20 cases in Eastern Ontario: 9.9 per 100K
  
• 106 cases in York: 9.5 per 100K
  
• 56 cases in Waterloo: 9.1 per 100K (based on provincial reporting)
  
• 33 cases in Windsor-Essex: 8.5 per 100K
  
• 44 cases in Simcoe-Muskoka: 8.1 per 100K
  
• 40 cases in Halton: 7.3 per 100K
  
• 18 cases in Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph: 6.6 per 100K
  
• 64 cases in Ottawa: 6.4 per 100K
  
• 37 cases in Hamilton: 6.4 per 100K
  
• 6 cases in Huron Perth: 6.1 per 100K
  
• 8 cases in Lambton: 6.1 per 100K
  
• 11 cases in Southwestern Ontario: 5.5 per 100K
  
• 28 cases in Durham: 4.3 per 100K
  
• 12 cases in Niagara: 2.7 per 100K
  

Only regions with at least two cases per 100,000 population

[ac3r]

Health Canada approves use of AstraZeneca vaccine: https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/astraze...-1.5929050

Worth noting that while the article states it has an efficacy of 62.1%, it does provide 100% protection against severe symptoms/hospitalization/death: https://www.astrazeneca.com/media-centre...rials.html

[danbrotherston]

Health Canada approves use of AstraZeneca vaccine: https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/astraze...-1.5929050

Worth noting that while the article states it has an efficacy of 62.1%, it does provide 100% protection against severe symptoms/hospitalization/death: https://www.astrazeneca.com/media-centre...rials.html

Is there any information on what the delivery schedule would be? I assume this means the entire schedule the PCs presented yesterday gets thrown out...at least assuming they aren't exclusively limited by distribution capability.

[ac3r]

According to this article (which was written a few days ago, prior to approval), upon approval we could expect 500'000 doses shipped by March through the COVAX program: https://globalnews.ca/news/7647941/astra...not-ready/

[tomh009]

10-day averages for key regions in Ontario, plus the weekly trend as of 2021-02-26 (posting this every two days).

Region	Cases today	per 100K	10-day average	per 100K	Weekly trend
Thunder Bay	42	28.0	32	21.2	+109%
Peel	274	19.8	203	14.7	+21%
Toronto	362	12.4	342	11.7	+8%
Northwestern	2	2.3	10	10.8	-56%
York	104	9.4	110	9.9	-21%
Windsor-Essex	31	8.0	33	8.4	-7%
Hamilton	64	11.0	46	8.0	+8%
Brant	17	12.5	11	7.9	+84%
Simcoe-Muskoka	25	4.6	40	7.3	+19%
Waterloo	69	11.2	44	7.1	+69%
Lambton	6	4.6	9	6.9	-27%
Durham	42	6.5	37	5.8	+12%
Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph	35	12.9	15	5.4	+80%
Halton	32	5.8	29	5.3	+30%
Ottawa	52	5.2	52	5.2	-9%
Eastern Ontario	11	5.4	8	3.9	+72%
Niagara	19	4.2	15	3.3	+37%
Huron Perth	3	3.1	3	3.2	+46%
Middlesex-London	4	1.0	11	2.7	-35%
Southwestern Ontario	9	4.5	5	2.3	+128%
Ontario total					+13%

The trendline in Waterloo Region is quite ugly, by far the worst of the big (300K+) health units. And Ontario as a whole is certainly ramping back up again.