How Is Covid-19 Impacting Life in Your City?

[montréaliste]

Originally Posted by dktshb

I am constantly pulling masks out of my dog's mouth on our walks.

Yep, tissues and masks nonstop. lol, nonlol.

[10023]

Originally Posted by montréaliste

Isn’t it another frivolous claim to freedom to invoke checkout lines though?

I know you’re French(Canadian), but what the little wink emoji was meant to convey is that I added that one to my 3 examples as sort of a joke.

It’s true, but no it’s not one of the major reasons why I think removing lots of affluent (at least in terms of housing wealth) empty nester homebodies from the central city would make it a more vibrant and dynamic place, and help younger people who actually need to live and work in the city to find adequate housing without long commutes.

And then yeah, there’s a reason there are no good restaurants in Kensington (one of the “nicest” and most central residential parts of London) and that reason is old people. But this is probably a more British specific problem, since this country only discovered decent food in about 2004 and therefore it represents another generational divide.

[Steely Dan]

my daughter got sent home from school early today for potential covid exposure in her classroom last week.

YAY, back to remote "learning" for the next week or so.

[photoLith]

^
Some random kid probably had a cough and everyone freaked out.

[Steely Dan]

Originally Posted by photoLith

^
Some random kid probably had a cough and everyone freaked out.

No, one of her fellow classmates tested positive for covid over the weekend apparently, and per CPS guidelines, all 25 kids in her 1st grade classroom now have to go into a 10 day remote "learning" protocol.

The other 600 kids at her school (including her little brother) are unaffected for the moment, unless they track intra-school spread, in which case they might close the entire school BUILDING* for a spell.

CPS has said that once kids are fully vaxxed, any child who is fully vaxxed will not have to do these 10 day quarantines after exposure in school, which will be nice, but we're not quite there yet.


(*) Extra emphasis on "BUILDING" for those afflicted with VSIS.

[photoLith]

^
That’s insanity. Hopefully it comes to an end soon.

[suburbanite]

Out of an "abundance of caution" the Ontario government canceled it's plan to remove the remaining capacity limits on bars, nightclubs, strip clubs, etc. starting yesterday evening. For context, the caution is based on the recent increase in cases shown below.



They also keep touting how Covid will need to be handled on a regional basis, yet Toronto, where the vast majority of such high-capacity establishments are located, has some of the highest vaccination rates in the world and is still subject to the same province-wide restrictions. Over 95% of 18-29 year olds fully vaccinated, significantly higher than the populations actually at risk.

[the urban politician]

^ Idiots



That's exactly what has happened with COVID. It's turned into a mental illness. I fully expect the same goal post moves to keep happening everywhere, including Illinois

[Steely Dan]

Originally Posted by photoLith

^
That’s insanity.

meh. IMO, "insanity" would be shutting down the entire school BUILDING from a single case of covid in a classroom. this individual classroom protocol is disruptive and annoying (anytime one or both of my kids aren't at their the school BUILDING on a school day is disruptive and annoying), but it is what it is, and with my kids getting fully vaxxed within the the month, it is hopefully a policy not long for this world (or at least one that will not affect our family).

[mrnyc]

Originally Posted by Steely Dan

No, one of her fellow classmates tested positive for covid over the weekend apparently, and per CPS guidelines, all 25 kids in her 1st grade classroom now have to go into a 10 day remote "learning" protocol.

The other 600 kids at her school (including her little brother) are unaffected for the moment, unless they track intra-school spread, in which case they might close the entire school BUILDING* for a spell.

CPS has said that once kids are fully vaxxed, any child who is fully vaxxed will not have to do these 10 day quarantines after exposure in school, which will be nice, but we're not quite there yet.


(*) Extra emphasis on "BUILDING" for those afflicted with VSIS.

afaik they dont do this in nyc schools this school year. only if kids are symptomatic.

[Vlajos]

Originally Posted by mrnyc

afaik they dont do this in nyc schools this school year. only if kids are symptomatic.

Lucky for NYC, unfortunately in Chicago, we have one of the most militant far left teachers unions and they will do anything to work less.

[the urban politician]

Originally Posted by Steely Dan

this individual classroom protocol is disruptive and annoying (anytime one or both of my kids aren't at their the school BUILDING on a school day is disruptive and annoying), but it is what it is, and with my kids getting fully vaxxed within the the month, it is hopefully a policy not long for this world (or at least one that will not affect our family).

^ The goalposts will shift and this protocol will remain in place even after your kids are vaccinated.

Mark my words. Remember this post, because I will quote and repost it in a few months to remind you that my prediction is right.

[suburbanite]

As soon as a breakthrough infection occurs with a kid in school I'm sure we'll be right back where we started.

[Steely Dan]

Originally Posted by the urban politician

^ The goalposts will shift and this protocol will remain in place even after your kids are vaccinated.

Mark my words. Remember this post, because I will quote and repost it in a few months to remind you that my prediction is right.

that's always possible, but the new standard already applies to 12+ kids who are fully vaxxed.

my good friend has a CPS highschooler who had a covid exposure in her class, and because she is fully vaxxed, she did not have to do a 10 day remote "learning" quarantine.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by suburbanite

As soon as a breakthrough infection occurs with a kid in school I'm sure we'll be right back where we started.

I agree with you guys generally but I think that there will be considerably more pushback if they try to re-tighten measures significantly. And this time it will come from more "respectable" people.

If only for that I think governments will tread a lot more cautiously.

[suburbanite]

Originally Posted by Acajack

I agree with you guys generally but I think that there will be considerably more pushback if they try to re-tighten measures significantly. And this time it will come from more "respectable" people.

If only for that I think governments will tread a lot more cautiously.

There will always be something to fall back on. "A vaccinated kid still has the potential to pass it on to an older person who hasn't gotten a booster yet."

I agree that regulatory authorities are running out of goodwill though. People around here who were generally cautious with Covid pre-vaccine, followed the measures, etc. are running out of patience and are converting to the mindset of eventually having to "let er rip".

[someone123]

Originally Posted by Acajack

If only for that I think governments will tread a lot more cautiously.

This is already quite noticeable around here. Cases went up around August or so but the new measures were almost all directed at specific areas or unvaccinated people. I'm not sure they had much discernible impact one way or the other. Maybe the vaccine passports got 0.4% more people vaccinated.

I still read comments online about how officials here are incautious etc. but they are typically ultra low information (e.g. based on case numbers, and we never really had very good data in Canada anyway) and they're clearly diverging from what the province here is actually doing.

At this point I think the only real annoyance to me is the requirement that Canadians get a negative covid test before entering the country. I hope this will be dropped in the coming months.

[suburbanite]

Originally Posted by someone123

This is already quite noticeable around here. Cases went up around August or so but the new measures were almost all directed at specific areas or unvaccinated people.

I still read comments online about how the province here is incautious etc. but they seem pretty low information (people just looking at case numbers and not really understanding how those are distributed or what they mean) and they're clearly diverging from what the province here is actually doing.

At this point I think the only real annoyance to me is the requirement that Canadians get a negative covid test before entering the country.

I flew back from vacation in Scottsdale yesterday. Paid $40 for an antigen test to fly into the States, wasn't checked once. Was about to pay $140 for a PCR test (supposedly required to get back into Canada) but luckily found a place that did it for free in Phoenix. Only person to ask for my PCR test was a guy who I was assume an airport employee at the gate in Phoenix. Not a single immigration officer on either side of the border asked for proof of vax or negative test, but obviously you still have to do it on the off-chance they will.

Coming back from a long weekend in Arizona has put me in a bitter mood regarding current Covid regulations here.

[someone123]

Originally Posted by suburbanite

Coming back from a long weekend in Arizona has put me in a bitter mood regarding current Covid regulations here.

My worry is mostly about testing positive and having to isolate in another country for 2 weeks.

I suspect Canada is a bit out-there these days compared to most of the world. If you look at just wealthy developed nations they are all over the place in terms of policies implemented (masks, school closures, vaccines, testing). Most did about the same even though they didn't accept the full slate of Canadian life-or-death measures. A subset of people are getting hysterical about smaller and smaller initiatives as the absolute risk of covid generally stays low or declines.

These days we're around 0.7 deaths per million per day. Our death rate here in BC over the pandemic has been about 0.025% of the population per annum. These simple facts aren't mentioned much, and you definitely won't see people contemplate what it might have meant to accept 0.05% mortality or get to 0.01% mortality. You are more likely to see the media focus on anecdotes of dead unvaccinated people.

The vaccine debate is getting extreme with narrower and narrower goals that are now about getting that last 10% or 1% of people vaccinated (some of these populations that mandates are being pushed in are 96% or more vaccinated). We can debate if the mandates are appropriate but I'm not sure how that last few % is going to change things. The vaccines do not confer lifelong sterilizing immunity.

[Acajack]

Every couple of days we get news reports about COVID "coming back" in country X, Y or Z, but I don't have a full sense of what's being done in these places in response to upticks in cases.

Though I did hear this week that Austria was "locking down" again but I like most people have no idea what that means? Schools closed? Kids wearing masks in class? In-dining in restaurants verboten? Curfews? Essential shopping only?

Without more details (yes I know I could find them, but who does this?), it's impossible to know if their "lockdown" is any worse than the current status quo where we are.

The result for most us is just more COVID anxiety, like a sword of Damocles hanging over heads.