skategal

2020 has been a year like no other, I'm happy to see any slivers of hockey regardless of length of season, formats, whatever. I'm much more appreciative of the basics these days I suppose, recognizing what an effort is required in planning and preparing to put on the show. Shortened season this year, hopefully in fall 2021 we will be all systems go for a full regular season again - dare I say "normal"? Butts in seats, Kraken in the league, regular divisional alignment....so much to look forward to!

Why the 'sucker's payoff' is one of B.C.'s biggest obstacles this Christmas | CBC News Bonnie Henry is asking families to make smart choices — but that can mean different things to different people "There's a few scenarios I'd like to ask you about." That was the beginning of a question to B.C.'s chief health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry this week, her face visibly flinching as a reporter asked about three hypotheticals where people really want to hang out with people outside the house they live in during Christmastime and are wondering if it's OK. "I've been inundated with hundreds of 'what about my specific situation?'" said Henry, her voice hinting at a bit of frustration. "The intent is to reduce transmissions that we can have when people get together. Bottom line is, we want to, as much as possible, stick with our households." And yet, just a minute later, Henry acknowledged that seniors could visit their children and grandchildren — at least some of them. "People need to find what they need to do for themselves … but not each of your children, not going to multiple houses. Pick one," she said. It's much the same mix of broad advice and specific caveats the government has been giving us for nine months: look at the guidelines, use common sense, air on the side of caution. But after nine months of trying to thread the needle of managing but not eliminating the virus, nine months of stress and constant prisoner dilemmas, and the biggest annual occasion for large family gatherings fast approaching, there's more people with questions they want answered than ever before. Across British Columbia in the past two weeks, people have been having "the talk": older millennials with their baby boomer parents, Gen Xers with elderly parents and university-aged children, people who live alone and people who live in multi-generational households. People want a firm yes or no on whether their holiday plan is "safe." For the most part, they aren't going to get it. If you can't look outward to the government for advice though, you can always look inward. Because in a way, we're all living out a Dickensian Christmas dilemma this year. Rights vs. duties "There's some good we all need to achieve, but we can only achieve it if we all work together." It's called a collective action problem, and it's the heart of the dilemma British Columbians have been facing for months, says Simon Fraser University philosophy professor Evan Tiffany. Tiffany highlighted a particular problem in decision theory called the "sucker's payoff": you do something for the greater good, but you see another group making a different choice, receiving a bigger immediate payoff and overall case counts and restrictions continue to rise. It's a hard temptation at any time but particularly during the holidays. "If people start looking at it, they say I don't want to be the sucker," said Tiffany. "You have to change how people think about the problem … one way is instilling a sense of duty. You're not just thinking about it from the sense of self-interest." At the same time, Tiffany highlighted a few challenges to that "sense of duty," particularly around Christmas. One is isolated seniors and people with mental health challenges greatly suffering if families can't find ways of making this holiday season work. The other is how many people are more geared than ever to a "rights based" approach in decision making. "It can go a little bit too far: 'it's my right to decide what I put on my face or to have my family over for a celebration,'" he said. "If we just start thinking completely focused on rights, we lose sense of this other important category: virtue. Thinking about other people for their own sake." What is the meaning of Christmas? Which is all well and good for a philosophy class, but how should people approach those talks, decisions and conflicts with family this Christmas? One way is to dramatically expand our conception of people that we care about. "Stop thinking of people as strangers, but start thinking of people as one giant family: we should be doing things because we recognize that it's benefiting them," said Tiffany. If you think that's a bit over the top while considering plans for the next two weeks, think about the most timeless holiday specials. A Christmas Carol, perhaps, or maybe It's A Wonderful Life. Possibly something a bit more cartoony, like The Grinch Who Stole Christmas. They're all stories about people realizing the effect they have on others, and how their individual actions can collectively make the world a better place. These aren't easy decisions to make. But few things about 2020 are easy. "It's been a hard year, but there does seem to be hope," said Tiffany. "If the alternative is we just keep making things worse, is it worth having that Christmas party?"

IIRC part of the problem with the rapid testing was that there weren't adequate supplies of them to test all of the LTC workers even once, never mind more frequently. Then there is also the issue of testing accuracy. But sure, it's all because DBH didn't want to. For no reason other than her whims.

I know there was an awful flu strain of some sort going around during the winter. My friend came back from Mexico in March and was really sick, all the symptoms of what we knew at that point about COVID. She got tested and it wasn't COVID but rather some strain of virus or flu. She said she had never been that sick, took her about 4 weeks to fully recover but no lasting effects.

Maybe it depends on the demographic of people one knows. I just had a friend in Calgary who lost her Dad to COVID. I have a friend whose brother almost died, was in the hospital for 2+ months, now needed people to crowd fund for a lift assist for his home as he doesn't have the strength to go upstairs to his second level and has had to sleep downstairs where there are no bedrooms. Not able to work anymore, no idea if or when he will be able to again. Kyla Lee (@IRPlawyer is her twitter handle) is in her 30's, caught COVID in March and is still dealing with symptoms. She just posted on Twitter in the past week that she was dealing with symptoms again. I've never thought playing Russian Roulette was a good idea, think that's what we're doing with COVID. No idea yet what/why some people get mild symptoms, some people get severely ill, strokes, organ failures, death. Age is a factor, other health issues is a factor, but there are some unexplained reasons as to why some people get so sick.

WRT gyms....Club 16 where I go (very infrequently these days as I workout mostly at home) requires masks whenever you are in the facility. The requirement changed when the new restrictions came in a couple weeks ago, prior to that it was wear a mask while moving around in the gym. In the two small corporate gyms I work at, we require masks anytime people are in the facility. The fitness studio I was going to has basically shut down and moved to online classes. The owner is considering giving up the lease on her space as its a cost she can't afford to continue paying.

Wow, couple of pages of posts on an emoji - who would have thought? In defense of the "confused" emoji, I have been known to use it not because I don't understand the post but because I don't agree and there isn't anything else to use. No neg post, no thumbs down, so it's the closest thing we have. Back to regular COVID programming! I too miss hockey.

KOS constantly twists the narrative to support his anti Horgan anti DBH narrative. He seems to be in a heightened sense of "triggered". That's why I blocked him, it was a constant barrage of 10+ posts per 2 hour time slot spewing the same negativity.

I couldn't agree with you more. There are reasons why every decision is made, it's not like DBH and Dix are sitting in a board room somewhere tossing darts at a board. I'm sure there is a lot of discussion and agonizing over some of the decisions, the orders, the non orders, there is input from several levels of management at the PHO office. DBH doesn't make decisions in isolation. She and her team consult with colleagues across the globe regarding what has worked, what hasn't, impacts, the latest study outcomes, the changing science. Is there political pressure? Maybe, but I'd bet far less than what the PHO in AB has had to deal with. I like that Horgan has taken a back seat and let the communication come from PHO. I'm sure he is involved in discussions but he is showing as a leader who has confidence in his team.

I always thought of passion as a positive attribute. This thread has become an interesting sample of all the different positions. We have Alt Right Anti Covid, Anti Mask We have "I hate the government because they aren't doing anything right" We have people who have a genuine concern for their and their loved ones health and would like to see more clarity in PHO orders, and take the time to articulate their positions. We have moderates of all stripes who have varying levels of trust in what is happening, the actions being taken, the PHO and the government. Many of us have moved from/to various positions since January when we all started on this journey. The science has evolved, communication has evolved, COVID fatigue has set in, health care is more and more overwhelmed, PPE at the health care level is an ongoing concern and we are well and truly into the second wave that we were expecting. Vaccines are on the horizon, we just need to stand together a bit longer. Let's try not to chew each other up in the interim, some day we will be on the other side of this and all we will have to talk about is all things hockey. I can't wait!

I understand the frustration with what we see as rule abiding citizens when there is a group of people that apparently flaunt the law and don't abide by orders and regulations. I can also understand the VPD (or any police force) reluctance to move in and try to enforce the law with these protesters. We've all seen video from Hong Kong where police are in riot gear in the streets with batons, water cannons, running into crowds and dragging peaceful protesters away and throwing them in jail. IMHO if that were to occur in the streets in Vancouver that would throw a huge magnifying glass onto the protesters and give them a much desired platform to escalate their rhetoric. While people might not be swayed to their thinking, they would potentially garner some sympathy for the way they were treated, police brutality blah blah blah. It's not like things would go calmly should the police want to enforce the order. People wouldn't just hold out their hands for cuffs to be put on, wouldn't just quietly walk to the paddy wagon for transport to jail. It's not a lot different than the idiots that go into an establishment refusing to wear a mask, get all confrontational and then film the interaction and put it on social media. Its a tough spot for the police to be in. Damned if they do, damned if they don't. I'd rather they just ensure the risk to public safety is low and let the protesters have their small moment in the sun rather than raise the platform by taking action.

A day in the life of a COVID ward doctor in AB - for anyone that still thinks this virus isn't a big deal, being blown out of proportion, not much to worry about, please read this. A thread. Day in The Life of a COVID ward doctor. Wake up, anxious of the unpredictability of the day. Start day, 7:30am. Survey ward, check how many new admissions, ward transfers, and deaths occurred overnight. Receive handover from overnight covering doc. Ensure PPE in check. Start rounding. Get interuppted for more handovers of new admitted patients. Coordinate with other COVID teams as to who will become MRP (most responsible provider) for new patients as they come in. Continue rounding. Get urgent call to see patient suddenly needing 60L of oxygen. Try to quickly but safely put on all appropriate PPE, including N95. While in room, someone yells in that patient across the hall is also desaturating. Ask nurse to call rapid response team to help. Call ICU on patient you are currently seeing, hoping there is capacity. Try to call family of crashing patient while frantically giving orders for the other crashing patient. Receive message that ER is at capacity, can we try to get our discharges out? Try to discharge in between crashing patients so we can empty beds for new patients coming in. Call community doctor to give handover, but get interuppted to review results of 2nd crashing patient. Lose train of thought, and forget to call community doctor. Send 1 patient to ICU. Call family of next patient who was crashing and change goals of care to palliation and try to arrange FaceTime so they can say goodbye if time allows. Go back to trying to discharge patient. Receive call from ICU to take patient from them onto ward So they can create capacity for their next critical patient. Have 10 minutes of repreive, and realize you still have 21 patients to see and it's already 13:00. Continue rounding, but now patient having stroke while covid+. Initiate rapid response again. Manage this patient, and finally get to round. Update families after each patient. It is now 16:00, and I am unclear if I've even gone to the bathroom all day. Finish the day at 21:00, not having eaten. Go home, shower, decontaminate, and get ready to repeat tomorrow. #COVID19AB

Just watched Keith Baldrey on Global, he had an interesting bit of info that is positive.....the comparison of infections over a 2 week period is down in both Fraser and Vancouver Coastal Health compared to the previous 2 week period. Unfortunately it's going up in the rest of the Health Authorities, and they are certainly not equipped to manage high numbers of COVID where there are small hospitals (or in small communities no hospitals), fewer doctors and fewer specialized pieces of equipment. I can't imagine the level of trauma that health care workers will carry with them well beyond the far reaches of this pandemic. What they have seen, how hard they have worked, having to deal with non believers....read a story from a Jewish doctor working in ER dealing with a patient who arrived by ambulance, suffering from COVID. When they pulled his shirt open he was covered with swastika tattoo's. The doctor talked about his feelings in seeing that while doing his best to keep the patient alive.

Sigh...you're right. Your response is much more reasoned than mine. Thank you for that more adult perspective.

I hope he's never employed at any job in Canada again. Mind you, if he gets COVID he may never be able to work at singing again anyway, would be karma to some degree. I'm seriously shocked that he would take such a shocking stance. He's dead to me now. And if the Canucks don't fire him and he ever sings at a game I'm at, I'll boo as loud as possible when he's introduced.

Just listening to comments from the new Conservative federal leader I realize how difficult it would be to get anything meaningful done in government if there weren't measures that could be used in emergency. Look at what is happening in the US with the latest proposed relief bill.

I'm continually fascinated/frustrated by people, many of whom I think are doing some level of following of guidelines, but also looking for loopholes. The most recent expansion of the public health order to put a temporary halt on adult team sports - and how many twitter posts I've seen about - well, my sport isn't mentioned so I should be able to play x y or Z. Complaints that orders aren't specific enough. For weeks now if not longer the guidelines have been to stay at home and not group together. Many people stopped playing sports as a result. For the rest, it's like....yeh, we all need to do all these things except....when it impacts me personally in the one thing I love. We'd get through this perhaps more quickly if we shut down everything that didn't generate a job or revenue to someone. People seem to think they can't live without (insert activity here) for a month or two. Listened again yesterday to the Burnaby RCMP report of how many houseparties they had to break up and ticket in November. WTH?????? What most of us are not privy to is the data and information that Public Health has that their decisions are based on. I'm sure there have been outbreaks as a result of team sports because adults aren't always good at policing themselves and avoiding the social gatherings that come with team sports. Or hey, traveling to a COVID hotspot out of province then bringing the disease back with the team and infecting copious amounts of other people. I read an article last night about how COVID patients are now being transferred out of Northern BC to hospitals in the south because they don't have enough equipment or staff to deal with the increasing numbers.

Wow, an Oldtimers hockey team travels to AB to play (against guidelines to limit travel) and come back with several sick, spreading to others. Clearly older doesn't equal wiser.

Bit risky? https://globalnews.ca/news/7497303/coronavirus-b-c-family-posts-ad-exposure-covid-19/ In what can only be called bewildering, it appears that a B.C. family is requesting to be exposed to COVID-19. Last week, an online ad appeared on a classified advertising website in the small interior city of Revelstoke. “We are a healthy family and we would like to safely expose ourselves to the virus, to help build our natural immunity,” the ad said. “We can house you for a night or however long it takes, and will provide all of your meals.” Article continues on with copy of actual post

Agree with this as well. If we can reduce the mortality rate and risk to the most vulnerable, we can see a lot of relief. Far fewer hospitalizations, relief for the LTC homes and families of those that live in them. We still have a long way to go, but some relief for those populations would be fantastic. I'm guessing it will be a at least another year before we can say that for the majority this virus is behind us. Just to see a reduction in both the level of anxiety most of us are dealing with and the level of stress on the health care and education systems would be so positive.

I do too! Although I'm a gal, not as tall or heavy as you, but honestly, I'd like to take a couple of shots before I got the crap kicked out of me. It would feel sooooooo good! Well, until I got the crap kicked out of me.

Personally I think whatever face covering one wears helps. Some help a bit, some help more. Not everyone can afford N95 type respirators and they need to be saved for health care and first responder use so that those people who need to wear them almost all the time aren't limited to having to wear the same mask for several days at a time. The reporting I've seen shows that there are definitely different qualities of mask for general use and the 3 layer or 2 layer plus filter are the best but again, not everyone has the ability to procure those. I applaud anyone making an attempt to wear a mask of any sort. It will reduce the amount of viral particles they expire which helps to reduce the viral load that someone else around them might be exposed to. I agree that people still need to be aware of social distancing even with masks for those reasons. Short of fencing off the area in the store and having a security guard monitor how many people are let in / out at a time, I'm not sure how much the store can do. Signage only helps if people adhere to it and sadly it comes back to that level of personal accountability. At least they aren't fighting over packages of toilet paper.

Sadly it wasn't that long ago when I remember feeling relief that we were under 100 per day.

I was surprised to hear that VPD had to shut down at least 6 parties this weekend and a limo that had broken down - had 6 or more people inside. I wish they would fine the limo driver out of business because they have complete control over whether they choose to violate the orders shutting them down. The churches that are still holding in person services (am I the only one that noticed all 3 that were identified would be considered closer to the far right of Christianity?) I wish they would fine far more than the paltry $2300. I've only heard of the one in Langley being fined, not sure what happened with the two in Chilliwack. I'm beyond fed up with people, have to keep reminding myself that the vast majority are following the asks that are being made of us, it's a select few that keep flaunting the regulations. I'm so saddened to hear about the number of deaths over the weekend. Yes, the majority were older and in long term care, but they didn't deserve to die this way, without family, losing precious months and years of life that meant something to their friends and loved ones.

While this is a US perspective, I fear that our health care professionals may share similar experiences before we are able to flatten the curve with the COVID Pandemic. I took this off Twitter so apologize for the lack of formatting. It's a long read and heartbreaking. Kari Jerge, MD, FACS (she/her) @kari_jerge For months, healthcare professionals have been hanging on to the guardrails of the top deck of the Titanic. We have been screaming at the top of our lungs that there is an iceberg dead ahead and begging the captain to turn the wheel. We have had other passengers who are in the food hall and can’t see the iceberg from where they are standing mocking us accusing us of lying about the iceberg. “There is no iceberg. You’re seeing things” “Even if there is an iceberg it is smaller than predicted based on available models” “You’re getting paid to claim there is an iceberg.” We are on the ship too. So we are watching the ship approach an iceberg knowing full well that we are going down with the ship. Do we keep screaming? Even though nobody is listening? Do we jump ship and save ourselves? The water is freezing and we don’t want to desert our fellow passengers. Do we gather up the other passengers who can see the iceberg and form a human shield to take the impact on ourselves? Do we bum rush the captain and demand he turn? Or do we stand still, silent, frozen in a state of fight or flight? Paralyzed with sheer terror. Never in a 14 year career would I have imagined I would see this day. How are we supposed to feel when a critically ill patient has survived cardiac arrest and needs emergency kidney replacement with a dialysis machine but there are no nurses left to run the machine? How do we explain that the hospital policy allows for 1 family member to come in for 1 hour only as we withdraw care so the family of 15 who has traveled for hours to be with their father/brother/grandfather as he leaves this earth has to sit outside and watch on FaceTime? What do we say when they beg us to make an exception to the hospital policy, exclaiming in tears that they don’t care if they catch COVID, they just want to be with him one last time? What do we say to the patients’s wife when a patient who was fine 48 hours ago is now maxed on 4 pressors, too unstable to flip on his belly to help his lungs get enough oxygen? He is in his 50’s, maxed on full life support. How do I explain that despite all of the medicines and machines available, he is dying, in front of my eyes? And there is nothing we can do to stop it. She cannot see what I see. She cannot feel how helpless this feels. How should I respond when I have explained the above to his poor wife over the phone and she starts crying, begging the universe to help her understand how this could have happened to him when they had “stayed home for months and done everything to avoid getting the virus”? What do I say to the APP from a rural area in my state who is calling to transfer a critically ill patient because they don’t have any ICU beds left when we don’t have any either? Does it matter that the patient has a very treatable condition? If we had a bed available, we could save this patients life. I am sure of it. But my hands are tied and we have to turn them down. I wonder often what happened to that patient. I am a surgeon. I fix problems. When patients come in after having been shot and their heart stops in the ER, I am trained to open their chest, clamp the aorta, and buy enough time to get the patient into the OR where we can fix whatever is bleeding. I am not afraid of much. In the most chaotic and hopeless of scenarios, when patients come in near-dead, trauma surgeons pick up the bat and swing for the fences. We run large teams of healthcare professionals, coordinating care of our patients like Aaron Rodgers in overtime during a Super Bowl game. There is nothing that ruffles us. Nothing that scares us. No case that we won’t try to save. When any rational player would bunt, just to get on base, we swing for the fence deep center field. It’s who we are. It’s what we do. Surgeons take out cancers. We fix broken things. We save lives. We are used to big sensational grand slam home runs. We are used to winning in double OT. We throw the Hail Mary when we should kick. It’s who we are. So when I tell you that there is very little in the scope of medicine that truly scares me, it is not hyperbole. And when I tell you that I am humbled and terrified by what I have seen in the COVID ICU, it is also not hyperbole. What is coming in many states across the country is akin to the Titanic. It is another Hurricane Katrina. This was predicted. It was preventable. So, you tell me... how do I tell a husband that his wife is going to die tonight when he can’t see the tears welling in my eyes? How do I express my sorrow to him without looking him in the eyes and gently putting my hand on his? How do I show him how much I care and how hard we tried to save her when he cannot see me or feel my warmth? He came in to see his wife as we transitioned her to comfort care. He was only allowed to stay for an hour. I never met him in person. I never gave him a tearful hug. We made his wife comfortable and she passed away that night, pain free. I wanted to be there to meet him but one of my 30+ other patients was getting sicker and I needed to be with him. Do you want to know what this dear man said to me when I explained that his wife was dying? He asked me, a stranger on the phone, what I advised him to do so that she would not suffer anymore. When I explained what comfort care meant, he agreed immediately. She had had a very poor quality of life and she did not want to suffer anymore. So without many questions and without ever having met me, this man trusted a stranger to help walk him through end of life decisions... on the phone. And then, he asked me to please please let the whole healthcare team know how grateful he was for all we had done for her. He said “nobody really thanks you guys anymore.” He made me promise to tell the whole team how grateful he was. Because as he was preparing to lose his wife, a woman he had loved for 50 years, it was the well-being of the healthcare team that was important to him. I made sure to pass on the message to the bedside nurse and the charge nurse as I ran upstairs to another critically ill patient. Sometimes I wonder which of these situations will haunt me in 5 years. The hug that I missed? The patient who couldn’t transfer to us? The woman who couldn’t get the dialysis machine she needed? Sometimes I wonder which of these nightmares will stick with me. But then I remember that I go back on shift in a few days. And I am finally home with my parents, celebrating a small delayed Thanksgiving after finishing my quarantine. I realize that if my mind stays at work with my patients and co-workers, it will keep me from enjoying a small slice of normal life in between shifts. And I won’t do that. There is not enough of this time and I can’t waste it. For those who are wondering... I put my heart into this but in case you’re worried, I promise I am good. I’m taking good care of myself. It also is worth mentioning that I have very carefully worded this post to avoid any HIPAA violations. If any patients or families would read this thread, there are no identifiable details and I have purposely delayed writing this post with no stated time frame. Just reflections on past experiences. And I deeply and profoundly understand that while healthcare professionals are struggling, it is so so much worse for our patients and their families. This disease is harming so many and I am not trying to center this dialogue on myself. I just wanted to give folks a glimpse into the hauntingly persistent experiences that healthcare workers are having these days.