Omicron

MyOpinion

Time Out
Dec 3, 2021
625
213
43
If you look closely at the numbers you will see that most aren’t being hospitalized . Our hospitals are so underwhelmed that we were able to let go 20% of health care workers .
Where do you get all these conspiracy theories??? LOL
In Ontario, hospitals are full of covid patients as are the ICU's to the point that surgeries are postponed.
 

MyOpinion

Time Out
Dec 3, 2021
625
213
43
Really , it is bad , how much capacity has been added in the last two years ? Zero ? Why ?
Because the hospitals are only so large and have only so many rooms. Hallway medicine is not just 2 years old.
I had major cancer surgery 5 years ago which required a 3 week stay and there were patients in the hallways back then.
We may have had doctors and nurses quit as a result of COVID but, hospital facilities have been limited for decades.
 

taxslave

Hall of Fame Member
Nov 25, 2008
36,362
4,336
113
Vancouver Island
At the present rate of mutations the new shots will be available for the variant that is 3 months old. Be like taking a flu shot that is only 40% effective. Good for the Pfizer shares so many politicians bought, but not much else.
 

pgs

Hall of Fame Member
Nov 29, 2008
26,542
6,923
113
B.C.
Because the hospitals are only so large and have only so many rooms. Hallway medicine is not just 2 years old.
I had major cancer surgery 5 years ago which required a 3 week stay and there were patients in the hallways back then.
We may have had doctors and nurses quit as a result of COVID but, hospital facilities have been limited for decades.
Who’s fault is that ? Can you blame the untaxed ? Is it a lack of dollars ? Why are there so many administers in our health care systems ? How do you vote ?
 

MyOpinion

Time Out
Dec 3, 2021
625
213
43
Who’s fault is that ? Can you blame the untaxed ? Is it a lack of dollars ? Why are there so many administers in our health care systems ? How do you vote ?
Where are you going? I responded to your points "Really , it is bad , how much capacity has been added in the last two years ? Zero ? Why ?" by telling you the hospitals have been this way for a long time, not just because of COVID.
As for administrators in hospitals, a large percentage of these "administrators" are medical personnel. My daughter is a department head administrator and she is a nurse. It is career progression for those that want it.
And who I vote for is immaterial as no party has done anything to alleviate hospital issues.
Are you actually so lame that you cannot think for yourself?
 

pgs

Hall of Fame Member
Nov 29, 2008
26,542
6,923
113
B.C.
Where are you going? I responded to your points "Really , it is bad , how much capacity has been added in the last two years ? Zero ? Why ?" by telling you the hospitals have been this way for a long time, not just because of COVID.
As for administrators in hospitals, a large percentage of these "administrators" are medical personnel. My daughter is a department head administrator and she is a nurse. It is career progression for those that want it.
And who I vote for is immaterial as no party has done anything to alleviate hospital issues.
Are you actually so lame that you cannot think for yourself?
Lol you are funny . Why does Germany have one administrator per 15,000 population to Canada’s one administrator per 1,500 Population ? How do you vote ?
 
  • Like
Reactions: taxslave

MyOpinion

Time Out
Dec 3, 2021
625
213
43
Lol you are funny . Why does Germany have one administrator per 15,000 population to Canada’s one administrator per 1,500 Population ? How do you vote ?
Funny?? Germany??? I am not comparing anyone, anything or any organization. I am not going to compare one governments health service to another. we do not even have harmony here in Canada between Provinces. Comparing a foregn country to ours is BS.
Without knowing exactly how one organization operates, you cannot be critical of another. I's like Volkswagen is better than GM or Toyota. Each has a management organization to satisfy it's structure.
 

taxslave

Hall of Fame Member
Nov 25, 2008
36,362
4,336
113
Vancouver Island
Funny?? Germany??? I am not comparing anyone, anything or any organization. I am not going to compare one governments health service to another. we do not even have harmony here in Canada between Provinces. Comparing a foregn country to ours is BS.
Without knowing exactly how one organization operates, you cannot be critical of another. I's like Volkswagen is better than GM or Toyota. Each has a management organization to satisfy it's structure.
Don't rock the boat. Wouldn't want to change things for the better.
 

spaminator

Hall of Fame Member
Oct 26, 2009
35,667
3,002
113
Scientists on alert over rising cases caused by Omicron cousin BA.2

Author of the article:
Reuters
Reuters
Julie Steenhuysen
Publishing date:
Jan 30, 2022 • 16 hours ago • 3 minute read •
13 Comments
A man wearing a face mask walks in a street in Madrid on Jan. 27, 2022.
A man wearing a face mask walks in a street in Madrid on Jan. 27, 2022. Photo by GABRIEL BOUYS /AFP via Getty Images
Article content

CHICAGO — The highly transmissible Omicron variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus – the most common form of which is known as BA.1 – now accounts for nearly all of the coronavirus infections globally, although dramatic surges in COVID cases have already peaked in some countries.
Advertisement
Story continues below
Article content

Scientists are now tracking a rise in cases caused by a close cousin known as BA.2, which is starting to outcompete BA.1 in parts of Europe and Asia. The following is what we know so far about the new subvariant:

“STEALTH” SUBVARIANT

Globally, BA.1 accounted for 98.8% of sequenced cases submitted to the public virus tracking database GISAID as of Jan. 25. But several countries are reporting recent increases in the subvariant known as BA.2, according to the World Health Organization.

In addition to BA.1 and BA.2, the WHO lists two other subvariants under the Omicron umbrella: BA.1.1.529 and BA.3. All are closely related genetically, but each features mutations that could alter how they behave.

Trevor Bedford, a computational virologist at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center who has been tracking the evolution of SARS-CoV-2, wrote on Twitter on Friday that BA.2 represents roughly 82% of cases in Denmark, 9% in the UK and 8% in the United States, based on his analysis of sequencing data from the GISAID database and case counts from the Our World in Data project at the University of Oxford.
Advertisement
Story continues below
Article content

The BA.1 version of Omicron has been somewhat easier to track than prior variants. That is because BA.1 is missing one of three target genes used in a common PCR test. Cases showing this pattern were assumed by default to be caused by BA.1.

BA.2, sometimes known as a “stealth” subvariant, does not have the same missing target gene. Instead, scientists are monitoring it the same way they have prior variants, including Delta, by tracking the number of virus genomes submitted to public databases such as GISAID.

As with other variants, an infection with BA.2 can be detected by coronavirus home tests kits, though they cannot indicate which variant is responsible, experts said.

MORE TRANSMISSIBLE?

Some early reports indicate that BA.2 may be even more infectious than the already extremely contagious BA.1, but there is no evidence so far that it is more likely to evade vaccine protection.
Advertisement
Story continues below
Article content

Danish health officials estimate that BA.2 may be 1.5 times more transmissible than BA.1, based on preliminary data, though it likely does not cause more severe disease.

In England, a preliminary analysis of contact tracing from Dec. 27, 2021, through Jan. 11, 2022, by the U.K. Health Security Agency (HSA) suggests that household transmission is higher among contacts of people infected with BA.2 (13.4%) compared with other Omicron cases (10.3%).

The HSA found no evidence of a difference in vaccine effectiveness, according to the Jan. 28 report.

A critical question is whether people who were infected in the BA.1 wave will be protected from BA.2, said Dr. Egon Ozer, an infectious disease expert at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago.

That has been a concern in Denmark, where some places that saw high case counts of BA.1 infections were reporting rising cases of BA.2, Ozer said.

If prior BA.1 infection does not protect against BA.2, “this could be sort of a two-humped camel kind of wave,” Ozer said. “It’s too early to know if that will happen.”

The good news, he said, is that vaccines and boosters still “keep people out of the hospital and keep people from dying.”
 

spaminator

Hall of Fame Member
Oct 26, 2009
35,667
3,002
113
Omicron subvariant BA.2 more infectious than 'original,' Danish study finds
Author of the article:Reuters
Reuters
Publishing date:Jan 31, 2022 • 20 hours ago • 2 minute read • 13 Comments
Test tube labelled "COVID-19 Omicron variant test positive" is seen in this illustration picture taken January 15, 2022.
Test tube labelled "COVID-19 Omicron variant test positive" is seen in this illustration picture taken January 15, 2022. PHOTO BY DADO RUVIC /REUTERS
Article content
COPENHAGEN — The BA.2 subvariant of the Omicron coronavirus variant, which has quickly taken over in Denmark, is more transmissible than the more common BA.1 and more able to infect vaccinated people, a Danish study has found.

Advertisement
STORY CONTINUES BELOW

Article content
The study, which analyzed coronavirus infections in more than 8,500 Danish households between December and January, found that people infected with the BA.2 subvariant were roughly 33% more likely to infect others, compared to those infected with BA.1.

Worldwide, the “original” BA.1 subvariant accounts for more than 98% of Omicron cases, but its close cousin BA.2 has quickly become the dominant strain in Denmark, dethroning BA.1 in the second week of January.

“We conclude that Omicron BA.2 is inherently substantially more transmissible than BA.1, and that it also possesses immune-evasive properties that further reduce the protective effect of vaccination against infection,” the study’s researchers said.

Advertisement
STORY CONTINUES BELOW

Article content
The study, which has not yet been peer-reviewed, was conducted by researchers at Statens Serum Institut (SSI), Copenhagen University, Statistics Denmark and Technical University of Denmark.

“If you have been exposed to Omicron BA.2 in your household, you have 39% probability of being infected within seven days. If you instead had been exposed to BA.1, the probability is 29%,” lead study author Frederik Plesner told Reuters.

That suggests BA.2 is around 33% more infectious than BA.1, he added.

BA.2 cases have also been registered in the United States, Britain, Sweden and Norway, but to a much lesser extent than in Denmark, where it accounts for roughly 82% of cases.

The study also showed that BA.2 was relatively better than BA.1 at infecting vaccinated and booster-vaccinated people, indicating greater “immune evasive properties” of the subvariant.

But vaccines still played an important role, the study underlined, since both booster-vaccinated and fully vaccinated individuals were less like to get infected and transmit either subvariants, compared to those not vaccinated.

Preliminary analysis by SSI has shown that there is no difference in the risk of hospitalization for BA.2 compared to BA.1.

The study also confirms preliminary analysis from England, which showed BA.2 appears to have a substantial growth advantage over the BA.1 type, according to Britain’s UK Health Security Agency.
 

IdRatherBeSkiing

Satelitte Radio Addict
May 28, 2007
14,591
2,335
113
Toronto, ON
The guy does not know how to answer a direct question. All he does for an answer is recite well rehearsed talking points.

It's kind of fitting the next video suggested by youtube after that exchange was "Weird Al" Yankovic.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Ron in Regina

Ron in Regina

"Voice of the West" Party
Apr 9, 2008
22,827
7,779
113
Regina, Saskatchewan
I would presume that if True Dope were actually "bragging" about immigration, he'd be talking about legal, proper immigration only.

On the other hand, I call him True Dope for a reason. Sadly, I can easily see him talking about how great it is that Canada is receiving record number of immigrants, and having it just somehow slip his mind that X% are. . . well, let's just call 'em "unauthorized" to avoid another whinge-fest.
In the first six months of this year, more people crossed illegally into Canada at Roxham Road in Quebec than in all of 2019. The asylum seekers fast-track route may have all but shut down for much of the pandemic, but now it’s back in business with gusto.
This is nothing short of the Liberals attempting to import another American political issue into Canada to wedge the Conservatives. In Canada, Conservatives support high numbers for legal immigration, something we saw throughout the Harper years.

What Conservatives don’t support is people who break the law.

This is where we get into word games. The Liberals claim no one is breaking the law, that these are asylum seekers and under Canadian — and international — law it is legal for them to seek asylum. The reality is, the government has giant signs warning people that it is illegal to cross at Roxham and the RCMP give verbal warnings that anyone doing so will be arrested for breaking the law.

They only claim asylum once arrested.

This whole thing started when Justin Trudeau put out a tweet welcoming the world to Canada as then newly elected president Donald Trump threatened to deport people back to Haiti from the United States. What was lost on most is that Trump was ending a program that allowed people to stay in the U.S. if they were displaced by the earthquake or at risk following Haiti’s 2004 coup. Canada had ended a similar program years earlier under the Harper government and Trudeau had kept the policy in place and was removing people even as he criticized Trump.

With Trump threatening to do what Canada had already done, many looked north, and Trudeau welcomed them with open arms.

“To those fleeing persecution, terror & war, Canadians will welcome you, regardless of your faith. Diversity is our strength #WelcomeToCanada” Trudeau tweeted on January 28, 2017.

Roxham Road has become a way for those looking to skip the long delays in legal, economic migration to get into Canada.

This isn’t how a properly functioning immigration and refugee system should work, but very little of what the Trudeau government is doing these days is working properly.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Dixie Cup

Tecumsehsbones

Hall of Fame Member
Mar 18, 2013
55,430
6,996
113
Washington DC
What Conservatives don’t support is people who break the law.
Unless they're Trucktards.

The "word games" are legitimate. Real refugees don't really have the option of standing politely at the door and asking "Mother may I?"

Sadly, that system, though necessary, is amenable to abuse. But the maximum deference is there for a reason. Refugees are often desperate (legitimately) and traumatized. On can hardly expect them to produce a clear, well-reasoned, footnoted claim at the border.

That said, in the current state of the world, almost all claims of "refugee" status are bogus. And we do nobody any favors by creatively interpreting the term.
 

Ron in Regina

"Voice of the West" Party
Apr 9, 2008
22,827
7,779
113
Regina, Saskatchewan
Unless they're Trucktards.

The "word games" are legitimate. Real refugees don't really have the option of standing politely at the door and asking "Mother may I?"

Sadly, that system, though necessary, is amenable to abuse. But the maximum deference is there for a reason. Refugees are often desperate (legitimately) and traumatized. On can hardly expect them to produce a clear, well-reasoned, footnoted claim at the border.

That said, in the current state of the world, almost all claims of "refugee" status are bogus. And we do nobody any favors by creatively interpreting the term.
Who are they Refugees “from” if they’re crossing into Canada at Roxham Road?

The LINK above says Nigeria is the biggest source of people crossing at Roxham and just 30% of the more than 16,000 who crossed there between February 2017 and March 2022 were accepted as valid refugees. For the more than 10,000 Haitians who crossed — the second-largest source country, just 23% were accepted…..& since Trudeau’s 2017 Tweet, more than 77,000 people entered Canada at Roxham Road from….the USA?

Originally this Tweet was a WOKE posturing against Trump so Trudeau could use him as a Boogieman, but from what I hear, Trump isn’t the President of the United States at this point and hasn’t been for a while now, so are these Refugees fleeing The US & Biden’s policies now? Is that why there’s such an uptick in numbers?

I do not claim to be a cartographer, but if Nigeria & Haiti are the largest groups of Refugees crossing into Canada at Roxham Road, Quebec, but they where actually crossing into Canada at, let’s say the port of Halifax, I could see that being the first place of refuge for these people, but not landlocked Roxham Road that only borders with America.
 

pgs

Hall of Fame Member
Nov 29, 2008
26,542
6,923
113
B.C.
We have also brought refugees into Canada from various camps throughout the world over the years starting after the Vietnam war . These people did not try to jump the line but applied in an orderly manner . Is it to much to ask to expect the same from refugees at this time as well ?