The COVID-19 pandemic

[jeffster]

It could be moderna hesitancy, or it could also be our terrible UX on the signup page.

As I had mentioned to Tom, it may be that some people got incorrect information from the region, as it was saying to at least some people that Bingeman's was booked solid this weekend.

[jamincan]

I wonder if once they decided to allow walk-ins for all appointments, they closed off booking for Bingeman's?

[ac3r]

They got 20'000 in total to spread across the weekend, so I'm sure they'll be able to use up most of the remaining doses today. Lots of discussion over on Reddit and other social media from people inquiring about how late they're open etc, so there's definitely some interest. Whatever is left over will probably go to other sites. I don't know how well the region advertised this vaccine blitz, so many probably don't even know it's going on. Still seems to be a lot of people ignorantly brand shopping the vaccines as well.

[robdrimmie]

I booked at Bingeman's at 9am this morning for a 9:40 appointment and was back in my vehicle at 10:03. Super efficient, and very well worth doing for anyone who still needs a shot and can get out there.

[tomh009]

That said, there are a lot of people that are going to avoid it for other reasons. You do have anti-vaxxers, who are against vaccines of any type for any reason. You also have conspiracy theorists regarding this vaccine. The craziest one I heard is that since 1974, the WHO has been working on a disease (Covid-19) that would require a vaccine (the ones currently available) that would sterilize women, so we'd have population control. Also many minorities don't trust public servants (especially the police) and are less likely to be vaccinated.

Lots of other factors as well haven't helped, such as poor media reporting (concentrating on side affects), poor information from all levels of government (like flip flopping on AZ vaccine). Lots of misinformation on social media. Hopefully though we can get to 70%+ for those 12 and up....and I'd imagine that those under 12 might be approved at some point (not because there is much risk, but there would be less spread potential).

Revisiting this a month and a half later ... Ontario is now at 68.90% vaccinated (first shot only, but it indicates those people are willing to get vaccinated), and that's of total population. Of the eligible (12+) population we are at about 79% right now. We are making awesome vaccination progress now, and still no significant portion of the population with hesitancy (ignoring the preference for a specific vaccine here).

US states have big variations in vaccination levels and hesitancy (Vermont 74% one dose, Mississippi under 40%); Canadian provinces are impressively consistent on this.

[tomh009]

Advertising in the bus shelters is probably a good move.

   

[danbrotherston]

[jeffster]

They got 20'000 in total to spread across the weekend, so I'm sure they'll be able to use up most of the remaining doses today. Lots of discussion over on Reddit and other social media from people inquiring about how late they're open etc, so there's definitely some interest. Whatever is left over will probably go to other sites. I don't know how well the region advertised this vaccine blitz, so many probably don't even know it's going on. Still seems to be a lot of people ignorantly brand shopping the vaccines as well.

I heard about the blitz through Waterloo Region Connected and 570 News. No communication from the region itself.

It's great that they use most of the 20,000 doses.

[jeffster]

Current 7-day Covid-19 cases per 100k

• Grey Bruce Health Unit 73.6
• Region of Waterloo Public Health and Emergency Services 45.0
• Haliburton, Kawartha, Pine Ridge District Health Unit 14.8
• Porcupine Health Unit 14.4
• Peterborough Public Health 13.5
• City of Hamilton Public Health Services 13.2
• Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph Public Health 13.1
• Lambton Public Health 12.2
• Southwestern Public Health 9.5
• Peel Public Health 9.1

• TOTAL ONTARIO 9.1

[jeffster]

[danbrotherston]

[plam]

Up here, we certainly do not have issues to the same scale as the US, but our Conservative (big c) party is starting to head in that direction. I find that very dangerous as well.

The Conservative party did manage to push out Maxime Bernier, so there's that. But yes, it can be concerning.

[jeffster]

Up here, we certainly do not have issues to the same scale as the US, but our Conservative (big c) party is starting to head in that direction. I find that very dangerous as well.

Thing is, this won't get them anywhere in this country. Hell, the old Liberal government from 1993-2001 or whatever was more conservative.

If they want to govern ever again, they need to push out most of the hardline right. But that isn't a issue in the USA. Trump hit a nerve with so many people (good or bad), that his brand is going to live for a long time and a huge chunk of the US population loves the guy -- and even with that country so divided, you still don't have a huge turnout (though it was pretty big this year). I think part of the issue is that the left is going to far to the left as well, and centre type politics is dead.

[danbrotherston]

Up here, we certainly do not have issues to the same scale as the US, but our Conservative (big c) party is starting to head in that direction. I find that very dangerous as well.

Thing is, this won't get them anywhere in this country. Hell, the old Liberal government from 1993-2001 or whatever was more conservative.

If they want to govern ever again, they need to push out most of the hardline right. But that isn't a issue in the USA. Trump hit a nerve with so many people (good or bad), that his brand is going to live for a long time and a huge chunk of the US population loves the guy -- and even with that country so divided, you still don't have a huge turnout (though it was pretty big this year). I think part of the issue is that the left is going to far to the left as well, and centre type politics is dead.

I dunno, look at the long arc of history. Our Conservative party even today is composed of the former Reform party and the remnants of the progressive conservatives.

The conservatives had a good deal of success merging with that party.

Additionally, Plam points out that the CPC resulted in Bernier leaving to form the PPC, but it's worth noting that before that Bernier came second in the leadership race. A slightly different result and our CPC could be spouting the crazy that comes from the PPC right now.

In all things in Canada are not as bad as the US is right now, but we must look at the path that the US took to get where they are and make sure we do not follow it. A major component is media. The US media landscape is downright dystopian. If you watch FOX News (which is a totally mainstream network) you will believe crazy things about the country which are not even remotely true. That's to say nothing of the truly crazy media networks like OAN. And that leaves aside less mainstream media sources like podcasts, talk radio, social media, all of which are well into crazy territory.

In Canada we don't have any mainstream news networks that are full on crazy like Fox. But we have plenty of fringe groups. And we have basically the same social media and talk radio nonsense going on.

We could easily go that direction if we allow ourselves to be complacent.

[tomh009]

Anyway, this will mess them up when it comes to vaccines. While most Republicans have gotten their vaccine, they certainly haven't encouraged it much. Now, will the USA go into a forth wave? I don't know -- I think so many got sick, and others are vaccinated, there might not be a lot of hosts left, and as for covid deaths, I don't think they'll spike again.

Their 7-day average of new cases is up about 50% in the past week. Florida already has close to 5,000 new cases per day. No masks or distancing, let alone any other restrictions. Vaccination levels have stalled. It's not rocket science to figure out what the presence of delta will do to their case load.