You’ll notice below that I’ve added Saskatchewan to the numbers and graphs. While their absolute numbers aren’t looking too bad, their trend isn’t great… and, unfortunately, they’ll soon be a relevant part of the national picture. But what’s worse is that they’re sandwiched between Alberta and Manitoba, and looking at how things are going in those two places, it’s starting to turn that corner from concerning to frightening.
Let’s recap a bit, starting with the fact that a Covid-19 infection takes up to two weeks to kick in, and that Thanksgiving in Canada was a couple of weeks ago. What effect was there from everyone who somehow thinks they’re above getting sick or being infectious or “having their freedom taken away”? To hell with this hoax, it’s just a flu, it’s just the government trying to control us, etc etc. Let’s get together and celebrate; it’s no big deal.
Listen… I don’t mind being that guy, the one that you consider to be nagging or preaching or whatever. Standing on my little soapbox, inciting panic by spewing the government lies. Telling you what to do like I’m holier than thou. Maybe that’s the way you see it.
I really don’t care how you view this message… but, to be clear, I’m no different than you – I can get just as sick and infectious as anyone else. I’m trying hard to avoid becoming either of those things, but, evidently, many of you are not trying as hard. Here it is again, in the plainest English possible: if you don’t wear a mask when you should, and if you don’t socially distance, and if you don’t wash your hands and sanitize and do everything you’ve heard 1,000 times from everyone around you that understands the implications of not doing so, this thing will spread. And it will spread exponentially. And we will *all* suffer as a result.
Last three days in Alberta: +410, +477, +622
Last three days in Manitoba: +169, +193, +480
Winnipeg will soon be starting a full-on lockdown; shutting it all down till this can once again be brought under control. The tipping point is unfortunately near, with ICUs at over 90%. When you spill past 100%, that’s where you have patients in hallways, in lobbies and out in the street, dying. Listen to first-hand accounts from ER doctors… pleas of despair from places like Italy, Spain and New York, when that’s what happened. And that was in the spring… let’s not try to imagine what this looks like when it’s 25 below zero… as it’ll be in Calgary, Edmonton and Winnipeg in the not-too-distant future. Yes, in the past, this was far away… the other side of the Pacific, then the other side of the Atlantic, then south of the border. It is now knocking on the door… “it” being the point of no return.
Sure, call me alarmist. Feel free to point fingers back at me and laugh in a few months when the world didn’t fall apart. Don’t worry, I can take it. And, if in any small way, getting this message out actually helped prevent that emerging disaster, great. I guess we’ll never know; I don’t care. I’ll happily join in your mask-burning bonfires, happily admitting I was wrong… even if perhaps I wasn’t. But that’s not the point… the point is, we can’t afford to be wrong in the other direction.
BC had 234 new cases and our Medical Officer is begging us to restrict our parties to immediate family. Alberta had 622 cases for the same period. What is going on there?
I imagine that most of your FB friends and readers are sane, informed, conscious folks. I’d be interested to know what % of your readers might be anti-maskers, and disregarding stringent science-based protocols. But you probably don’t have a sense of that. Just wondering if there’s some way to reach people who haven’t accepted the bottom line message.
Eastern Saskatchewan and Western Manitoba are effectively the same region.
As for this:
>Last three days in Manitoba: +169, +193, +480
About 95% of these cases are are ones that were diagnosed this week but not included in the total for that day. Putting 5 days of cases on one single day paints an inaccurate picture of what is really happening on the ground.
>Of the 480 news cases, two were identified Sunday, four were identified Monday, 44 were identified Tuesday, 193 were identified Wednesday and 237 were identified Thursday, the province said.
by my math that makes 2 new cases.
Not that I’m saying it’s good or anything, but still…
https://globalnews.ca/news/7432486/coronavirus-winnipeg-covid19-update-oct-30/
What blows my mind is seeing peoples post on social media of gatherings and hugging one another.
I doubt people consider your posts to be “nagging “. You present numbers that allow people to see what’s going on differently than just from reading headlines.
Compare Covid to the 9/11 attacks. Both are very real. Both caused panic. Both resulted in huge expansions of government. As real as the post 9/11 threat of Islamic terrorist attacks was, I think most people would look back now and see that “we” overreacted. Sure the emergence of the surveillance state might have prevented a few attacks and saved a few lives but was it worth it? Can anybody dispute that some liberties and freedoms were lost as a result? IMO this is what concerns some folks today. Governments always use crisis to expand their power and this needs to be checked. And then there’s a simple political aspect, all the more evident because this is an election year.
Frankly nobody knows how this will all play out, but the numbers that you present area helpful tool in navigating the crisis (IMO)!
Awesome post again.
I am no immunologist, but if we have a full-on lockdown (Wuhan Style) for 2-3 weeks and bring the R down to as close as zero as possible, I believe we can get rid of this in a short time. The loss of GDP, productivity, and overall economic impact would be less than all these so called “half-assed” locked downs, let alone the effect a long pandemic can have on mental health, etc. As a society, we can control this. Inevitably small clusters will appear here and there, but with adequate testing and contact tracing, we could take care of that. Look at South Korea and Taiwan! Both Free democracies. We do not need to be an authoritarian state like China to achieve this.
Its not about the hammer and dance, its about the HAMMER!
Great post! I find that most people have firmed up their opinion on Covid and how they wish to navigate through it. But everyone needs to be honest with family and friends on what that opinion is. And respect each other’s personal choice. No one has the answer or knows the outcome. We shouldn’t be afraid to ask others who they see, where they go and how they conduct themselves. And if you feel uncomfortable at all — do what you feel is right. For your own health and safety.
Agreed