Coronavirus outbreak

[JM_]

Just now, Canuck Luck said:

turdeau has to be the most stupid, ignorant, and self proscribed "leader" I have ever seen.

I think someone has a man crush 

[JM_]

18 minutes ago, bishopshodan said:

So 2 weeks in and I still have fatigue and some head pressure.

I'm being a moaning wuss around the house because I am normally very active and I feel like an out of breath sloth.

 

Wife and mum are 100% so that makes me very happy.

 

I think I am slowly getting back to normal, just wake up every morn expecting a to be a bit better than I am, getting impatient. Really wished I had the chance to get the booster before this. 

sorry to hear it, but I'm glad you're not watching your mom and wife go through it, I think that would be very hard on you. I know I'd rather have it than watch my wife go through it.

 

 

[bishopshodan]

Just now, JM_ said:

sorry to hear it, but I'm glad you're not watching your mom and wife go through it, I think that would be very hard on you. I know I'd rather have it than watch my wife go through it.

 

 

100%.

Mum got the booster about a month ago. At 76 she has handled it better than any of us. She just had a sore throat. 

 

And yes, I am very happy my wife is ok. She didn't want to go the xmas event, so when she got sick she was not impressed. Also, she is an angry person when she gets sick....like it's my fault. Have I mentioned her parents are Iranian and German? I don't win many arguments. 

[JM_]

24 minutes ago, bishopshodan said:

100%.

Mum got the booster about a month ago. At 76 she has handled it better than any of us. She just had a sore throat. 

 

And yes, I am very happy my wife is ok. She didn't want to go the xmas event, so when she got sick she was not impressed. Also, she is an angry person when she gets sick....like it's my fault. Have I mentioned her parents are Iranian and German? I don't win many arguments. 

damn. Perfection and vengeance in one small package. 

 

My wife is Italian, her parents from Milan-area. We have to dress up to go over for coffee. 

 

 

[johngould21]

2 hours ago, D.B Cooper said:

Obviously I’d prefer my family get care, but that’s just my opinion.  
Im also well on record for saying your feeling, my feelings, no ones feelings matter.  
What matters is we have all been failed by our government.  
They weren’t prepared to deal with anything like this, and over 2 years later, they are no better positioned.  
 

We should have learned we aren’t doing good enough and spend the billions we did on improving what is most important, Healthcare.  Not this back and forth are we open are we not bs.   
We watch these bozo’s make the same mistake over and over again, yet we are supposed to still follow blindly and trust them they are being honest and doing us right?   Nah. 
 

There it is again, the "lets blame everyone but ourselves" logic that anti vaxxers are using. If everyone got vaccinated we wouldn't be having this conversation. But, let's go to Global TV and hold a protest over health mandates. Or, let's have several protests in front of hospitals in the middle of a pandemic, then blame the medical professionals for a virus that's gone round the globe twice. One thing I will add, is that unless the third world Countries on this planet get vaccinated, we'll never see the end of it.

[stawns]

1 hour ago, JM_ said:

I think someone has a man crush 

Melania or Canuck Luck?

 

[Alflives]

@canuckluck has competition from the Trump women.

[D.B Cooper]

32 minutes ago, johngould21 said:

There it is again, the "lets blame everyone but ourselves" logic that anti vaxxers are using.

Again, I’m vaccinated.  Hahaha
What are you even talking about?   
Are you saying the government has been perfect with how they have handled this?  

They haven’t done anything different in any of the waves and we keep running into the same issue.   
Are you even reading what I’m saying before you respond?   
It doesn’t seem like it because your posts are irrelevant to what I’m saying. 
 

32 minutes ago, johngould21 said:

 

If everyone got vaccinated we wouldn't be having this conversation.
 

That’s not going to happen.  
Period.  Not everyone is just going to all of a sudden agree with you. 

32 minutes ago, johngould21 said:

 

 

But, let's go to Global TV and hold a protest over health mandates. Or, let's have several protests in front of hospitals in the middle of a pandemic, then blame the medical professionals for a virus that's gone round the globe twice.
 

Those people are jackasses.  
And IMO so are the antivaxers. 

32 minutes ago, johngould21 said:

One thing I will add, is that unless the third world Countries on this planet get vaccinated, we'll never see the end of it.

Again, probably not going to happen.  

 

The world doesn’t need to be 100% vaccinated before the virus stops being a threat.   It’s already proving to be weakening.

[Sapper]

On 1/8/2022 at 2:37 PM, KKnight said:

You can't wholeheartedly say Justin Trudeau and every Canadian main stream network he's payed off, the World Health Organization, FDA, Bilderberg group, Rockefeller Foundation, CNN, have your best interest in mind. The corruption is front and center. If you want to believe what they say, by all means. I am personally unvaxxed, but I am not your enemy, it's not me placing these stipulations upon you. It's these beuracrats convincing you that you and I are a walking biohazard. Now when you inevitably get sick, they will blame me, saying I was the cause of your sickness. NO, the mutation of the spike protein was the cause. I mean we can argue all day, but I have no ill wishes for any of you. We literally haven't been able to go to any sporting event and half the league is having covid. Soccer players are suffering heart attacks and going in to cardiac arrest at alarming rates. This isn't questionable to you? At all? Call me stupid or an anti-vaxxer, but all I ask is to pay attention. 

for this to be true Justin Trudeu woould have to be the best , skilled, planning , leader in the history of our planet

 

I for one dont agree - the man is an idiot and wouildnt be capable of that much orginization. We cant get world leaders to even agree on which shade of blue the sky is and people think they can plan a globally conspiracy 

 

you have a much higher opinion of politicans,  news media and Trudeau than i do lol

[gizmo2337]

24 minutes ago, D.B Cooper said:

The world doesn’t need to be 100% vaccinated before the virus stops being a threat.   It’s already proving to be weakening.

The South Africa data doesn't look so good anymore. Everybody cheered about the less virulence too early. Their max first peak is over, but the deaths keep rolling in, and there is plenty of transmission continuing. 

As for what happens next? I had that discussion yesterday with some of my colleagues, and we all agreed. The most likely outcome after omicron is a new variant that further evades the vaccine immunity. If we are lucky, it won't increase in virulence, just higher transmission. 

[Gatzkek]

1 hour ago, gizmo2337 said:

The South Africa data doesn't look so good anymore. Everybody cheered about the less virulence too early. Their max first peak is over, but the deaths keep rolling in, and there is plenty of transmission continuing. 

As for what happens next? I had that discussion yesterday with some of my colleagues, and we all agreed. The most likely outcome after omicron is a new variant that further evades the vaccine immunity. If we are lucky, it won't increase in virulence, just higher transmission. 

Everything looks trending down as it should from what I see. 4000 cases down from 37000.  The 82 deaths is what I'd expect from the case peak 2 weeks ago. What's unexpectedly bad?

[gizmo2337]

18 minutes ago, Gatzkek said:

Everything looks trending down as it should from what I see. 4000 cases down from 37000.  The 82 deaths is what I'd expect from the case peak 2 weeks ago. What's unexpectedly bad?

It's not frighteningly terrible, but those deaths are still rising. Tough to tell which way the 7 day case average is going to trend? Could go either way, still too early to celebrate.

[Ghostsof1915]

 

[gizmo2337]

25 minutes ago, Ghostsof1915 said:

 

This is the approach the news needs to take. No forced vax, just the real stories of why not getting the vax is a bad idea.

[stawns]

1 hour ago, gizmo2337 said:

This is the approach the news needs to take. No forced vax, just the real stories of why not getting the vax is a bad idea.

Are you kidding?  Theyve been doing that blitz for a year and it doesn't work.  You can't educate or persuade these people because its not about a vaccine, it's just a big f-u to the government, to schools, to authority in general.

 

Let's not pretend they have medical concerns, they don't.

Edited January 10, 2022 by stawns

[thedestroyerofworlds]

38 minutes ago, stawns said:

Are you kidding?  Theyve been doing that blitz for a year and it doesn't work.  You can't educate or persuade these people because its not about a vaccine, it's just a big f-u to the government, to schools, to authority in general.

 

Let's not pretend they have medical concerns, they don't.

Oh, they try to portray that they have medical concerns.   Just when they get shown their tinfoil paranoia is trash, they double down or ignore. 

[Gurn]

https://www.msn.com/en-ca/news/canada/3-ontario-nurses-disciplined-for-social-media-posts-related-to-pandemic-launch-1m-libel-suit/ar-AASCbSQ?ocid=msedgntp

Three Ontario nurses who have faced discipline for their stances on the pandemic are suing the Canadian Nurses Association (CNA) and a media outlet in British Columbia, with the libel suit seeking $1 million.

Kristen Nagle of London, Kristal Pitter of Tillsonburg and Sara Choujounian of Toronto have been investigated by the College of Nurses of Ontario (CNO) for sharing their controversial views about the pandemic on social media.

All three nurses are entitled to practise in Ontario without restrictions.

Pitter, a nurse practitioner and former nursing home inspector for the Ontario Ministry of Long-Term Care, has been cautioned by the CNO, along with Nagle, about spreading misinformation on social media about the pandemic.

Nagle, a former neonatal intensive-care nurse at London Health Sciences Centre, was fired last January after she was charged by law enforcement for failing to comply with Ontario's emergency pandemic health restrictions in November 2020. She was charged again in April 2021. 

3 are members of Canadian Frontline Nurses

Choujounian, a former practical nurse with a Toronto home-care agency, will face a CNO disciplinary hearing this June for professional misconduct in connection with a dozen social media posts related to the pandemic, including claims surgical masks increase the risk of cancer, the COVID-19 pandemic is a hoax and COVID-19 vaccines are "unsafe."  

Nagle and Choujounian were also investigated by the Ontario nursing regulator for making a trip to Washington with a group of peers, during last January's non-essential travel ban, for allegedly promoting theories that the pandemic is a hoax and hospitals had a role to play in misrepresenting it.

All three nurses are part of Canadian Frontline Nurses (CFN), an offshoot of Global Frontline Nurses, that was created to "empower health-care workers who disagree with lockdowns," according to the CFN's Facebook page. 

The statement of claim was filed in a Toronto court on Dec. 13, 2021, by the CFN on behalf of Pitter, Nagle and Choujounian, and names four defendants:

• The CNA.
• CNA president Tim Guest.
• CNA's chief executive officer, Michael Villeneuve.
• The B.C. media company Together News Inc., which has four small-town newspapers in the Comox Valley.  

The lawsuit claims the defamatory statements against the plaintiffs were made by each organization separately in September 2021, against a backdrop of anti-lockdown demonstrations at hospitals across Canada.

CNA article didn't refer to nurses by name

In its allegations against the CNA, the lawsuit claims the organization made defamatory statements about Pitter, Nagle and Choujounian on its website on Sept. 9, 2021, in an anonymous opinion piece titled "Enough is enough: professional nurses stand for science-based health care."

The article does not name Pitter, Nagle or Choujounian. Instead, it makes reference to "the reckless views of a handful of discredited people who identify as nurses," saying they "have aligned in some cases with angry crowds who are putting public health and safety at risk."

The CNA post also refers to the demonstrators at the September hospital protests as "surly mobs" who "harass, threaten, and even assault health-care workers coming and going in the business of saving lives."

The lawsuit says that while the CNA article did not explicitly refer to the plaintiffs by name, it "was intended" and "could be understood to refer to them," claiming the CNA "knew or ought to have known" the statements were libel. 

The statement of claim said the CNA article was "meant and was understood to mean" the plaintiffs "are not nurses," are "anti-science," "put public health and safety at risk" and "formed part of a crowd that was intent on causing trouble or violence" through harassing and threatening health-care workers. 

Suit claims plaintiffs faced 'ridicule, hatred'

In its allegations against Together News Inc., the lawsuit claims, the company made defamatory statements in an anonymous opinion piece published on Sept. 11, 2021, entitled "Quack! Quack! These pro-virus nurses have dangerous ideas."

The article explicitly names Canadian Frontline Nurses, Pitter, Nagle and Choujounian. 

The statement of claim alleges the article paints the three registered nurses as "disgraced," "highly disturbed and unstable" and that all three women were "terminated because their employers did not trust them." 

The lawsuit also claims the TNI article suggests "Pitter was responsible for COVID deaths in long-term care facilities," and paints Nagle and Choujounian as participants in the Jan. 6, 2021, protest that resulted in an attack on the U.S. Capitol Building.

The lawsuit says Pitter, Nagle and Choujounian have been subjected to "ridicule, hatred and contempt," and have been "injured in their feelings, their personal and professional character and reputation."

Court documents also say the three registered nurses "continue to suffer personal embarrassment and humiliation, and have experienced great emotional anxiety" as a result of the publications. 

Lawsuit asks for $1M in damages

The plaintiffs are asking for $750,000 in general damages and $250,000 in punitive damages.

CBC News contacted the CNA on Friday. Through a spokesperson, the organization said via email it couldn't comment because it "had no knowledge of this lawsuit and has yet to be served."

Also Friday, Together News Inc. said in an email that it would not comment on the matter as it had yet to receive court documents.

"We have not been served, so don't have sufficient detail to comment at this time," the email said. 

CBC News also spoke with Alexander Boissonette-Lehner, the lawyer for the plaintiffs, on Friday. 

"As the matter is before the courts, it would be inappropriate for me to comment at this time," he said.

[Gurn]

^ I think those losers are going to lose again.

Hope the court bills them for the costs.

Pretty nervy to sue a 4 outlet newspaper in B.C. for an opinion piece about unnamed nurses being disciplined in Ontario.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 Correction- update- as mentioned by RUPERTKBD-

the newspaper did mention the 3 nurses by name- it was the Nursing association, CNA,  that did not use names.

Edited January 10, 2022 by gurn

[Gurn]

23 hours ago, gizmo2337 said:

I saw the deltacron variant mentioned a little while back. That's been proved to be sample contamination error, and hence not real.
 

 

A bit more info on this:

A researcher in Cyprus has reportedly discovered a new strain of the coronavirus that combines the Delta and Omicron variants. But some experts say the cases are more likely to be the result of lab contamination or co-infections of Delta and Omicron.

Leondios Kostrikis, a professor of biological sciences at the University of Cyprus, said he dubbed the strain "Deltacron" because of Omicron-like genetic signatures within the Delta genomes, according to a report from Bloomberg News.

 

Kostrikis and his team of researchers have reportedly identified 25 such cases.

"There ate currently Omicron and Delta co-infections and we found this strain that is a combination of these two," Kostrikis said in an interview with Sigma TV on Friday.

"We will see in the future if this strain is more pathological or more contagious" than Delta and Omicron, Kostrikis said, but added that he believes the highly contagious Omicron variant will remain the dominant strain.

Kostrikis has been contacted for additional comment.

The researchers have sent their findings to GISAID, a data-sharing hub that tracks viruses, according to Bloomberg.

Some experts have suggested the cases are more likely to be from lab contamination or co-infections of Delta and Omicron.

Dr. Tom Peacock, a virologist at Imperial College's Department of Infectious Disease, said on Twitter: "The Cypriot 'Deltacron' sequences reported by several large media outlets look to be quite clearly contamination - they do not cluster on a phylogenetic tree and have a whole Artic primer sequencing amplicon of Omicron in an otherwise Delta backbone."

 

n another tweet, Peacock explained that contamination is common when new variants are sequenced in labs.

"In this case potentially mixing up small amounts of RNA samples/swab material in the sequencing labs - which then makes it look like the virus has mixed in the real world (when it hasnt) - it happens quite commonly because tiny volumes of liquid can cause this issue...," he wrote.

Late last month, Peacock also explained that any alleged new strains should be detected in multiple labs before being classified.

He also expressed doubt about the timing because "true recombinants" do not tend to appear until a few weeks or months after there's been substantial co-circulation of multiple variants.

"We're only a couple of weeks into Omicron - I really doubt there are any [prevalent] recombinants yet...," he wrote on December 28.

Peacock also noted that "much of what we understand about what makes delta more transmissible/infectious, omicron already possess — it's currently unclear to me what omicron could have to gain from delta (with what we currently know at least)."

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"But some experts say the cases are more likely to be the result of lab contamination or co-infections of Delta and Omicron."

 

so more likely, but not definitely, at least not yet

I'm sure we'll see updates as this story goes on.

[gizmo2337]

21 minutes ago, gurn said:

A bit more info on this:

A researcher in Cyprus has reportedly discovered a new strain of the coronavirus that combines the Delta and Omicron variants. But some experts say the cases are more likely to be the result of lab contamination or co-infections of Delta and Omicron.

Leondios Kostrikis, a professor of biological sciences at the University of Cyprus, said he dubbed the strain "Deltacron" because of Omicron-like genetic signatures within the Delta genomes, according to a report from Bloomberg News.

 

Kostrikis and his team of researchers have reportedly identified 25 such cases.

"There ate currently Omicron and Delta co-infections and we found this strain that is a combination of these two," Kostrikis said in an interview with Sigma TV on Friday.

"We will see in the future if this strain is more pathological or more contagious" than Delta and Omicron, Kostrikis said, but added that he believes the highly contagious Omicron variant will remain the dominant strain.

Kostrikis has been contacted for additional comment.

The researchers have sent their findings to GISAID, a data-sharing hub that tracks viruses, according to Bloomberg.

Some experts have suggested the cases are more likely to be from lab contamination or co-infections of Delta and Omicron.

Dr. Tom Peacock, a virologist at Imperial College's Department of Infectious Disease, said on Twitter: "The Cypriot 'Deltacron' sequences reported by several large media outlets look to be quite clearly contamination - they do not cluster on a phylogenetic tree and have a whole Artic primer sequencing amplicon of Omicron in an otherwise Delta backbone."

 

n another tweet, Peacock explained that contamination is common when new variants are sequenced in labs.

"In this case potentially mixing up small amounts of RNA samples/swab material in the sequencing labs - which then makes it look like the virus has mixed in the real world (when it hasnt) - it happens quite commonly because tiny volumes of liquid can cause this issue...," he wrote.

Late last month, Peacock also explained that any alleged new strains should be detected in multiple labs before being classified.

He also expressed doubt about the timing because "true recombinants" do not tend to appear until a few weeks or months after there's been substantial co-circulation of multiple variants.

"We're only a couple of weeks into Omicron - I really doubt there are any [prevalent] recombinants yet...," he wrote on December 28.

Peacock also noted that "much of what we understand about what makes delta more transmissible/infectious, omicron already possess — it's currently unclear to me what omicron could have to gain from delta (with what we currently know at least)."

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"But some experts say the cases are more likely to be the result of lab contamination or co-infections of Delta and Omicron."

 

so more likely, but not definitely, at least not yet

I'm sure we'll see updates as this story goes on.

Wow, seems the original scientist that reported and sequenced deltacron is refuting the scientific peer review pushback. I guess the battle continues whether deltacron is real or not.

Lab contamination has been a problem for many papers. The Guangdong pangolin papers are among the worst offenders, but there are plenty of other examples.