That's about the same we decided here as well. All the grandparents decided not to come for christmas, with a vaccine on the horizon it doesn't make sense to risk it.

The number of people out and about doing christmas shopping or errands is off the chart, so we've decided to do another personal lockdown until after the new year. We stocked up a few weeks ago in anticipation of this.

Stay safe everyone, let's make it through the new year and we will hopefully all be getting vaccinated when it's safe to do so.

So, instead of moving you into the hall to die, they send you home.

That will be a big time saver for the hospitals to not have to deal with the dead bodies.

Now, the family will get to deal with calling the funeral home and make the arrangements.

Funeral director: "I am sorry madam. We have no room for your husband at this time. You will need to make arrangements with the refrigerated trucks. I'll give you their phone number. Do you have a pencil ready? Good. Now, you just keep calling us back to see when we will have an opening."

This big wave of infections is probably from Thanksgiving gatherings 2 1/2 weeks ago. The next couple big holidays will show up as hospitalizations/deaths by January.

Why am I not surprised.

"United passenger who died may have had Covid-19 symptoms, airline says"

https://www.cnn.com/2020/12/19/us/united-passenger-died-covid-symptoms/index.html

"The passenger's wife was overheard telling the EMT that her husband had Covid-related symptoms, including loss of taste and smell, according to the spokeswoman."

"When he checked into the flight, the passenger acknowledged on the airline's Ready-to-Fly checklist that he had not been diagnosed with Covid-19 and did not have Covid-related symptoms, the spokeswoman said."

"After receiving more information about the health of this passenger, "it is apparent he wrongly acknowledged this requirement," the spokeswoman said."

"In California, wealthy patients are offering top dollar to cut the line for a Covid-19 vaccine"

https://www.cnn.com/2020/12/19/us/covid-vaccine-wealthy-california-patients/index.html

At least the selfish rich bastards are being told they have to wait in line with everyone else.

To celebrate my return, I will start with a laugh. Just like I have been doing while on the ban. Lighten up peoples.

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Pretty much a daily occurrence at my wife’s clinic. Always will be a patient who fills out the forms saying no covid symptoms and then when the poor med assist is doing the preliminary work up in the room the patient says they are there for covid symptoms.

I think people are afraid they will be given a Scarlett letter if they admit to it. Makes everything that much worse.

A medical doctor must certify the death. A nurse from a hospice can relay the info to a doctor who signs the death certificate.

He should be prosecuted.

The good news is that it is very safe right here in Fullerton. For your parents. Not to mention the hospital right here in Fullerton is brand new. Honestly I could not think of a better Place for your parents to live. Which reveals why I live here. I know the vaccines will make a serious dent in this. But of course time is needed. I look forward to next Christmas, and I am trying to enjoy this one...

If you read the article at the link you would have read that he died on the plane. There is no one to prosecute.

How does it compare labor wise with the hospital when someone dies in the hallway as opposed to someone being sent home to die?

The dead dude is lying on a gurney in the hallway. The hospital gets stuck with moving the body so it can get loaded in a van for a trip to the morgue, except that the morgues are full so now hospital staff have to make arrangements for a freezer truck. And I don't know what else.

But if the dude croaks at home, hospice can come in and make some calls, but the family is right there having to make the decisions. The hospital has time to move onto other more pressing needs besides having to mess around with some dead guy.

Sending them home to die saves the hospital gobs of time is the way I see it.

What would the punishment be?

Death? Already checked that box.

Jail time? Rotting corpse in a cell would draw attention.

Fines? Can't collect from the dead.

How about a law named after him? That would give future offenders a Scarlett Letter of sorts.

I did indeed read the article.

Can't anyone understand humor anymore?

Yes, we can understand humor. But translating humor into the written word takes a little extra work. On pinside, we can use these icons to denote humor.

. .

There are some other icons you can use but these will give you an idea on how to interject some humor into your prose.

Well, you missed mine, apparently! It's all in the delivery.

Saves the hospitals time and resources, but also, and I mean this honestly, Allows the family time with the patient that they wouldn't get in the hospital before they pass (if that is the outcome). I have had relatives pass from Covid. Alone. In the hospital. All their family wanted to do was see them once more before they passed. Yes they were aware of the risks. Yes they can take precautions. But they weren't allowed to.

There are so many other far reaching effects from both this disease and lockdowns / quarantines. The after effects will last long after the virus is under control.

Chris

Absolutely disgusting, Calgary police arrest a 21 year old kid playing hockey OUTSIDE. These people in position of authority need to de-escalate situations not make it worse. If this type of thing continues normal citizens will fight back and there aren't enough cops to deal with it. The mayors of cities need to take control of their gestapo.

Civil suit against his estate for infections incurred in other passengers by lying to board plane.

First off, a 21 year old is an adult, not a child.

Second, he refused to comply with bylaw officers, as he was in violation of a public health order. They asked him several times to comply, he refused.

Police were called, and they asked him for his name so he could be issued a ticket for the violation. He skated away and refused. He was given ample opportunity to give his name when asked, and he refused. So, they attempted to arrested him for obstruction (for refusing to give his name), and when he resisted, they also charged him with resisting arrest.

I'm also still waiting for you to let me know which level of government owns a piece of my business because I accepted COVID support from them.

You’d think after waiting in line for their kids college they’d have learned their lesson.

Here in Australia, all travellers arriving from overseas are tested even though everyone needs to be in hotel quarantine - the reason is to catch anyone with the virus, if someone returns a positive test they are moved to a special hotel for those returned travellers with Covid that is more equipped to handle them (both their health as well as even more stringent measures to ensure the people working there are protected and the virus doesn't escape). In addition contract tracing is done for that particular traveller that was found to be positive and those that have dealt with them need to be screened and go into isolation themselves.

Sydney now has 68 cases in 5 days, which is believed to have come from an international flight cabin crew member. Restrictions have been enacted although there are calls for all of greater Sydney to go into lockdown and all states have closed their borders to anyone from greater Sydney (or go into 14 day quarantine). A lot of Christmas plans are now up in turmoil but just hope that it's been contained ...

I hope they get over it quickly but I don't think they realise the gravity of the situation .
We haven't had community transmission for 52 days , yet it's still mandatory to wear a mask on public transport , in shopping centres , ect .
Their Premier just says " please " can you wear a mask .
After seeing what happened here , you would think they would have learnt from our mistakes .

Let’s get this straight—skating OUTDOORS now gets you a ticket. The cops are just doing their job, but if your health dept is so fing power hungry that they have to control an activity like that, in the face of all common sense, then that “law” needed to be broken. Absurd.

I find it ironic the covid denier politicians are getting their vaccines now.

He was not in violation of anything as per the premier and the mayor's own words. Last time I checked you aren't required to give a officer your name if you aren't in violation of anything. The lawsuit is being filed Monday as per Rebel News. I also have taken the govt. handout and have until the end of 2022 to repay 30 of the 40k received. If this is not paid in full the feds own a share of your company akin to the auto bailout from 2008-09. It's in the fine print, check with your lender. And sorry I have a 21 year old and anyone that age to me is a kid just for clarity.

It's all relative. Around here, kids have to be 21 to go into a nightclub and order a drink. At 21, the law considers you an adult. Even though you are basically still a snot nosed kid.

So, The UK is now dealing with a different variant of Covid. The other European countries and the rest of the world are restricting travel from the UK.

I hope the US also shuts down travel from the UK, as well.

https://www.cnn.com/2020/12/21/europe/new-variant-coronavirus-intl-hnk/index.html

"Countries cut UK off as Johnson holds crisis meeting on new coronavirus variant"

The health authority is trying to save lives by controlling the spread of a virus that is extremely contagious, and can kill you. What I find absurd is that some people have zero empathy for anyone else and only think about themselves. Public health orders are in place to protect the public.

You can go for a skate by yourself or with your 'bubble', avoiding contact with people outside your bubble. The rink had a max capacity of 40. People were not complying with the order, bylaw officers showed up to ask people to comply. Everyone did but one, and there were consequences for his refusal.

Do you have link to that? I heard what the mayor said at the news conference, and I didn't hear him say he was not in violation of anything. In fact, he said "If there are other people on the rink, you don't have to go home. You can still stay out there. You shouldn't really start lots of big games of pick-up hockey with people around you" which is exactly what they were doing and they were asked to stop.

If an officer is trying to give you a ticket, and you do not provide your name, expect to be arrested for obstruction. The law is there so that people cannot avoid tickets simply by refusing to give their name. If you disagree and believe you are not in violation of anything, we have a process in place where that can be resolved. It's called court. You can show up and plead your case to a judge, and see if he believes your 'right to skate with however many people I want to' trumps the public health order put in place to try and prevent the death and illness of thousands.

My companies loan must be different than yours. My company took an interest free loan from the bank that is insured by the federal government. If my company fails to satisfy the terms of the contract, they may take steps to collect the loan. It's a pretty bog standard loan agreement. At no point would anyone own any portion of the company besides myself.

I understand the slip. I have two myself, and I still call them my kids even though I do know they are adults.

This medical article from the University of Hong Kong, published Feb 2019, is interesting. This is clearly a recurring, highly predictable problem. The West ignored the SARS outbreak in 2003; maybe this year's SARS outbreak (Covid-19) won't be ignored? Note the last, highly prescient sentence! Chills down the spine there...

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30791586

Viruses. 2019 Feb 20;11(2):174.
Global Epidemiology of Bat Coronaviruses

Abstract

Bats are a unique group of mammals of the order Chiroptera. They are highly diversified and are the group of mammals with the second largest number of species. Such highly diversified cell types and receptors facilitate them to be potential hosts of a large variety of viruses. Bats are the only group of mammals capable of sustained flight, which enables them to disseminate the viruses they harbor and enhance the chance of interspecies transmission. This article aims at reviewing the various aspects of the global epidemiology of bat coronaviruses (CoVs). Before the SARS epidemic, bats were not known to be hosts for CoVs. In the last 15 years, bats have been found to be hosts of >30 CoVs with complete genomes sequenced, and many more if those without genome sequences are included. Among the four CoV genera, only alphaCoVs and betaCoVs have been found in bats. As a whole, both alphaCoVs and betaCoVs have been detected from bats in Asia, Europe, Africa, North and South America and Australasia; but alphaCoVs seem to be more widespread than betaCoVs, and their detection rate is also higher. For betaCoVs, only those from subgenera Sarbecovirus, Merbecovirus, Nobecovirus and Hibecovirus have been detected in bats. Most notably, horseshoe bats are the reservoir of SARS-CoV, and several betaCoVs from subgenus Merbecovirus are closely related to MERS-CoV. In addition to the interactions among various bat species themselves, bat⁻animal and bat⁻human interactions, such as the presence of live bats in wildlife wet markets and restaurants in Southern China, are important for interspecies transmission of CoVs and may lead to devastating global outbreaks.

Was listening to the radio ( yes you remember what one of those are, was just on "You know you are old thread") and they stated that suicides are up with everybody staying inside. So I have to ask what is worse the disease or being inside a little to long?

Also seeing that super COVID that is running around Great Britain kind of puts the fear in you. 70% chance of catching it was the percentage rate the national news said.

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I read it was all of congress, because they're essential. LOL

I am pretty sure they don't deny the beer virus exists, just have a different point of view to you as how to live with it.
Thus you call them deniers like an attack.
True?
BTW I thought talking politics was banned?

False, there is no beer virus.

As of this morning, there was no plan to restrict travel from Britain to the USA. It’s “ on the table” though.

Given how rapidly this variant supposedly spreads, (which is based mostly in modeling), and the good chunk of daily flights that occur...I suspect the variant is already here or will be prior to them finalizing the decision.

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keep smiling world

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Damn Covid! “Take that you mutated some-bitch!” 151530C3-7979-4B29-9DF8-449FF23F4842.jpeg
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No worries, we can't eat in restaurants or drink in Bars in Michigan*, but starting today, we can go back to bowling alleys, movie theaters and even commercial casinos. No food or beverage service allowed until January 15th though in any of those places so we'll be safe. Must wear a mask which all of us do.

* Restaurants and bars are open for business in most Indian casinos in Michigan.

Oh, some movie theaters have already said they won't bother reopening since they can't open their concession stands.

Curious what anyone knows about covid-19 cases spiking due to holiday gatherings?

We were told to expect a big spike after Thanksgiving, yet in SD cases have dropped over 50% since mid-Nov. I was pleasantly surprised by this complete reversal of expected outcomes. I'm hoping that since we didn't see any post-Thanksgiving spike, that we also won't see a post-Christmas spike.

It's been quite relief to have our cases continue to drop each week. I hope the trend continues, but we'll see. I'm also wondering if the rise in cases in other parts of the country has been mistakenly attributed to holiday gatherings, or maybe people took more risks in those parts of the country? It's hard to decipher the data.

It's 70% greater chance of transmitting than Classic Covid, but apparently no greater death rate and vaccines still work on it. The UK does a lot of genomic sequencing, and politicians were blaming the new strain (which has 28 spike protein mutations) for their incompetence, so have been hoisted by their own petard by using terms such as 'out of control' (leading to other countries closing borders, d'oh).

My understanding is that many countries have similar variants with the New, Improved Spike Protein now with Enhanced Transmission, but have, perhaps understandably, kept quiet about it (or don't test for it). There is also a political dimension, as European nations such as France leverage a Brexit trade deal by scaring the shit out of the UK by closing the borders. Not really closed though, as 80% of freight is unaffected (only the 20% 'roll on, roll off' trucker stuff is), and a solution (e.g. hauliers confirm recently tested then let in) should emerge following the EU ambassadors meeting today. All very exciting for the histrionic media though.

But anyway, Happy Christmas

We go into province wide lockdown again boxing day. Other provinces are doing it too.Toronto and area went into lockdown again Friday. Movies bars etc closed. Limits to number of people indoors etc. Which we had from the start, but businesses and gov relaxed those rules. Which caused the numbers
to start to creep up.

Masks have been mandatory everywhere indoors here since july 7th. Ontario restaurants are still take out only. And have been since the summer. Ontario elementary schools are going to 100% all online classes for 1 week after Xmas holidays. Secondary school is 3 weeks. My step son has been online only since school started. Because we have an in-law setup and I have MS. Ontario is shutting down problem outbreak areas in various cities. But then people travel outside that area to do Christmas shopping or to do things that aren't open in their area. Causing community spread.

Canada was down to very few new cases in the summer. But yesterday 7500 new cases nation wide and 104 deaths. We did get down to less than 300 new cases a day for awhile in the entire country untill school started in sept. Then saw a spike, Thanksgiving made another spike, and that one has been slowly increasing with the holidays. And people being indoors together with the cold weather. There is now roughly an average of 5000+/- new cases a day. And 75-100 deaths per day.

I understand it's frustrating and people are tired. Here's hoping folks are smart, don't lapse safety protocols. But stay safe and home this Christmas and New year's. It's one year out of many more to come, let's keep it that way for everyone.

Merry Christmas!

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