COVID-19 and the Canadian healthcare system

[robkelk]

Woodward's Trump revelations raise questions about Canada's response to COVID-19

What we did wrong (e.g. ignoring the German evidence about asymptomatic transmission), what we did right (e.g. going into lockdown at the time that the Nicknamer-in-Chief gave Woodward that interview).

It looks like we did more things right than the USA did, since the death rate per 1000 people is 2.3 times higher in the USA than in Canada.

[robkelk]

CBC business news: Why most Canadians support the Canada-U.S. border closure, despite the costs

[LynnInDenver]

This is a realistic and expected response.

Indeed, I expect that it should stay closed until the U.S. reports zero new cases for at least six whole months, every single state, every single city. Or a minimum vaccination rate of 85%.


Some little podunk town in Texas reports a hospitalization? Keep it closed. Vaccination rates at 84%? Keep it closed. Make us work at it to compensate for the fact that we decided nationally that a "little" extra death was worth trying to reopen the place.

[robkelk]

Nova Scotia university expels student who failed to self-isolate

[robkelk]

Looks like there are three sets of rules in Ontario: One for the common folk, one for the politicians in power, and one for the politicians in power after they get caught following the second set of rules instead of the first set.

The Finance Minister set up his social media feeds to look like he was at home while he went off to the Caribbean. He got caught.

He came back early - today, in fact. He made a speech apologizing for making a non-essential trip.

Then the third set of rules kicked in. A couple of hours later, the Premier accepted the resignation that the now-ex-Finance Minister refused to offer in his speech.

So, he's going into 14-day isolation right after losing his Cabinet position.

Meanwhile, Steven Del Duca, leader of the Ontario Liberal Party, said Phillips has rightly resigned "for deceiving Ontarians for weeks while he was secretly vacationing in St. Barts."

But he said Ford admittedly knew about Phillips's vacation and did nothing to stop it.

"The premier of Ontario is expected to lead by example, but Doug Ford has consistently bent the rules for himself and his MPPs. In Doug Ford's Ontario, it's do as I say, not as I do," Del Duca said.

On Wednesday, Phillips's office also told CBC News that the minister had taken a trip to Switzerland in August.

Del Duca said Ford needs to come clean about why he thought the mid-pandemic vacation and deceitful staged videos were acceptable, and why Phillips faced no consequences for his August vacation.

[robkelk]

Senator co-signed order barring international travel during pandemic — then went to Mexico

[hazard]

And of course he's not going to resign, or get kicked out of the Senate. Or even the party.

[robkelk]

A note for folks outside of Canada: the Conservatives are the only ones who still have a party in the Senate. Everybody else is independent.