Coronavirus outbreak

[86Viking]

10 hours ago, stawns said:

I know a tattoo artist in Kelowna who's young son just tested positive.  I think Kelowna and Vernon are going to be the Fraser Valley of Interior Health.  I feel like we're on the crest of a big wave that's going to hit us very soon

I hope your wrong, the entire Interior Health region has had just over 100 cases in a day as its high as far as I know, the region covered is vast so geographically I think IH is no where near as bad as areas in the lower mainland. Most cases likely coming from Kelowna/Kamloops other main cities in Okanagan. But 1 slip up and Revelstoke has near 3 dozen cases from 1 infection.

 

It likely is only going to get worse, I saw the photo of all the Covidiots standing on the highway protesting, no masks etc...not sure if cops did anything about it or just let them do their thing.

 

I personally think we should have a Government issued document that is available for people who choose to: 

 

-Not wearing masks/protesting against Covid as a whole

-Think Covid is fake/restrictions are ruining my life...cry cry millenials have it so bad...

-Feel their Immune systems will fight it like it was nothing

-Refuse to get vaccinated when it is available/safe

 

Let these people above sign a legal document refusing them ANY Covid related health care/treatment if they are to fall ill from Covid.

 

 

 

[Russ]

9 hours ago, stawns said:

The hits keep on coming. Just got an email that we have a positive case in my school and with a class I do lessons with.  

 

Edit:. Just got my "must self isolate until Dec 8" letter from Interior Health.

Is there a reason you can't just go get tested to see if you're actually affected?  Why do you have to isolate?  What if you didn't stock up enough groceries for a week+ of isolating?  Is there a reason they don't just send you to a test so by Tuesday you could know if you're clear or not?

[Russ]

10 hours ago, kingofsurrey said:

Now imagine if we could just cut out Surrey out of the picture it wouldn't look to bad.  Its a good thing you always brag that Surrey is the future of BC and everyone wants to move there

[Silent Man]

13 hours ago, Jimmy McGill said:

I hope they remember that when they need knee surgery and are told theres now a 3 year wait list thanks to the backlog in the system created by covidiots. 

I think the vast majority of people are following the safety rules- masks, distance, etc.  And if the stupid actions of tiny minority could bring the whole healthcare system to the brink of collapse- maybe it is the time to ask our Government- what was done to prepare country/province to the second wave?

[higgyfan]

14 hours ago, wloutet said:

I thought Trump said it was "Herd Community"

 

He actually called it 'herd mentality' a few times.  If you consider his supporters, it's very fitting indeed.

[stawns]

1 hour ago, Russ said:

Is there a reason you can't just go get tested to see if you're actually affected?  Why do you have to isolate?  What if you didn't stock up enough groceries for a week+ of isolating?  Is there a reason they don't just send you to a test so by Tuesday you could know if you're clear or not?

I don't know, we have an emergency staff meeting this morning and I'll also likely get a call from interior health.

[Russ]

2 minutes ago, stawns said:

I don't know, we have an emergency staff meeting this morning and I'll also likely get a call from interior health.

I was more less just wondering.  I haven't had to worry at all so far but I was just wondering like "stay home and isolate" and its like "ummmm does everyone stock a week+ worth of food at a time to just sit home?"

[stawns]

1 minute ago, Russ said:

I was more less just wondering.  I haven't had to worry at all so far but I was just wondering like "stay home and isolate" and its like "ummmm does everyone stock a week+ worth of food at a time to just sit home?"

I'm hoping that the isolate letter was just a precaution until they can do the contact tracing.  The class was in my library on one of the days, where I did a science lesson and book exchange with them, but everyone was masked.  However, I talked to the teacher later in the week without a mask, but socially distanced

[stawns]

3 minutes ago, Russ said:

I was more less just wondering.  I haven't had to worry at all so far but I was just wondering like "stay home and isolate" and its like "ummmm does everyone stock a week+ worth of food at a time to just sit home?"

I've been adding canned and dry goods to my grocery order every week, in case we went to lockdown or had to isolate, so we'll be ok.  I'll just get a friend to pick up my order and leave it on my deck if I have to isolate.

 

We should all be preparing for that event imo

[aGENT]

1 hour ago, Silent Man said:

I think the vast majority of people are following the safety rules- masks, distance, etc.  And if the stupid actions of tiny minority could bring the whole healthcare system to the brink of collapse- maybe it is the time to ask our Government- what was done to prepare country/province to the second wave?

The government is not to blame for a small groups of idiots not listening to what the government already laid out.

 

30 minutes ago, Russ said:

I was more less just wondering.  I haven't had to worry at all so far but I was just wondering like "stay home and isolate" and its like "ummmm does everyone stock a week+ worth of food at a time to just sit home?"

We've been keeping our pantry pretty well stocked since this began in case we need to isolate and/or there's an ACTUAL lockdown. Everyone probably should.

 

There's also numerous avenues to get groceries delivered to your house in the event you're caught unprepared.

[JM_]

1 hour ago, Silent Man said:

I think the vast majority of people are following the safety rules- masks, distance, etc.  And if the stupid actions of tiny minority could bring the whole healthcare system to the brink of collapse- maybe it is the time to ask our Government- what was done to prepare country/province to the second wave?

the problem is we can't just create a huge amount of new capacity in our healthcare system. Its not like we can suddenly have 100s more people in isolation and ICU and also keep handling our normal case load, The hospital space simply doesn't exist, nor the staffing. 

[86Viking]

7 minutes ago, Jimmy McGill said:

the problem is we can't just create a huge amount of new capacity in our healthcare system. Its not like we can suddenly have 100s more people in isolation and ICU and also keep handling our normal case load, The hospital space simply doesn't exist, nor the staffing. 

The only issue I know of in regards to health care is the lack of ventilators at hospitals, so if things got bad and more people needed to be on a ventilator then the health care system would be screwed. From where the GF has worked in the past and currently she said there aren't too many ventilators in Hospitals in the Okanagan.

 

As for staff shortages, I don't see that being an issue for a while, throughout this whole pandemic she has worked but not had to worked any more shifts than normal to cover, in fact I would say she has had more time off than normal as she usually would get more work as her position is a vacation relief line. Either way I think there are enough nurses with all the casuals and part timers out there.

 

The big area of need is care aides....There is a huge lack in that industry and companies don't seem to be hiring more staff in a part time or casual position to help fill holes when co workers are sick or have to be away from work due to being in close contact with someone who has Covid.

 

People who rely of care aides everyday and live at home have been impacted the most in the above department and the companies don't seem to care much to try and resolve it. We have family who needs 24hr care and more than a dozen times the company has NOT been able to supply a worker for various reasons, leaving family members who are not fully trained on everything to cover shifts.

 

Covid is real, if you haven't read a book in a while or need to binge some tv shows or movies this is the best time in your life to do it!

[JM_]

4 minutes ago, Canuckster86 said:

The only issue I know of in regards to health care is the lack of ventilators at hospitals, so if things got bad and more people needed to be on a ventilator then the health care system would be screwed. From where the GF has worked in the past and currently she said there aren't too many ventilators in Hospitals in the Okanagan.

 

As for staff shortages, I don't see that being an issue for a while, throughout this whole pandemic she has worked but not had to worked any more shifts than normal to cover, in fact I would say she has had more time off than normal as she usually would get more work as her position is a vacation relief line. Either way I think there are enough nurses with all the casuals and part timers out there.

 

The big area of need is care aides....There is a huge lack in that industry and companies don't seem to be hiring more staff in a part time or casual position to help fill holes when co workers are sick or have to be away from work due to being in close contact with someone who has Covid.

 

People who rely of care aides everyday and live at home have been impacted the most in the above department and the companies don't seem to care much to try and resolve it. We have family who needs 24hr care and more than a dozen times the company has NOT been able to supply a worker for various reasons, leaving family members who are not fully trained on everything to cover shifts.

 

Covid is real, if you haven't read a book in a while or need to binge some tv shows or movies this is the best time in your life to do it!

thankfully the need for ventilators has decreased since this all began. 

 

Thousands of people in BC are now facing a 2 year surgical backlog, and that was before the 2nd wave (https://www.healthing.ca/news/b-c-completes-almost-66-per-cent-of-surgeries-delayed-by-covid-19). 

 

 

[Silent Man]

22 minutes ago, Jimmy McGill said:

the problem is we can't just create a huge amount of new capacity in our healthcare system. Its not like we can suddenly have 100s more people in isolation and ICU and also keep handling our normal case load, The hospital space simply doesn't exist, nor the staffing. 

I respectfully disagree. For 6 months that we had , with proper leadership and funds in place, the capacity of health care system- just for Covid patients- could be increased significantly.

[-DLC-]

 

[Russ]

38 minutes ago, aGENT said:

The government is not to blame for a small groups of idiots not listening to what the government already laid out.

 

We've been keeping our pantry pretty well stocked since this began in case we need to isolate and/or there's an ACTUAL lockdown. Everyone probably should.

 

There's also numerous avenues to get groceries delivered to your house in the event you're caught unprepared.

You can never lock down a food supply, that would just create chaos.  I got 2 chest freezers full so I am fine but i know lots probably arent in that situation.

[-DLC-]

31 minutes ago, Silent Man said:

I respectfully disagree. For 6 months that we had , with proper leadership and funds in place, the capacity of health care system- just for Covid patients- could be increased significantly.

Quote

“There’s a lot of other things that are required to look after these patients beyond the physical space to put them and even a ventilator. It requires a whole health care team.” 

Assembling those teams is already proving to be difficult. 

Many health care workers say staffing is an issue at the best of times, but with outbreaks ongoing at three Calgary hospitals, hundreds of workers are out sick or isolating at home. 

So Alberta Health Services (AHS) is hiring. 

A statement says the organization is “advancing aggressive recruitment and staffing strategies to ensure that we are able to staff the beds.”

That includes posting more than 1,100 clinically-related frontline jobs and looking to retirees, students and existing employees.

“I specialize in cardiology, however we have done a four-hour training session in our main ICU (recently),” said Cyrena Quinn, an RN at Foothills Medical Centre RN. “At any time we could be redeployed to any ICU that needs us.

“It’s not that we can’t do the job, but it’s definitely a daunting idea.”

And if someone like Quinn is moved, another procedure could suffer. 

“People are still having heart attacks,” she said. “They’re still having strokes, they’re still having traumas and they still need a bed as well. Staffing is definitely tight.”

Another issue with creating more beds could be space. 

The province has also promised 2,000 more acute care beds. They, along with the new ICU beds, will be made by moving patients from acute to continuing care facilities, transferring them to other areas in the province, repurposing other clinical areas for ICU care and postponing more elective surgeries.

Throughout the week, ICU capacity has held around 90 per cent, said AHS.

https://calgary.ctvnews.ca/covid-19-icu-admissions-on-the-rise-as-alberta-doctors-prepare-for-health-strain-1.5206702

[aGENT]

18 minutes ago, Russ said:

You can never lock down a food supply, that would just create chaos.  I got 2 chest freezers full so I am fine but i know lots probably arent in that situation.

I didn't suggest locking down food supply...?

 

And again, those people have options for food delivery and/or would be smart to be better prepared.

[stawns]

57 minutes ago, aGENT said:

I didn't suggest locking down food supply...?

 

And again, those people have options for food delivery and/or would be smart to be better prepared.

I'd say we have close to a month of supplies ready.........we'd be living like college students, eating ichiban, KD, soup etc, but we'd survive.

 

We also have canned veggies from our garden

[JM_]

2 hours ago, Silent Man said:

I respectfully disagree. For 6 months that we had , with proper leadership and funds in place, the capacity of health care system- just for Covid patients- could be increased significantly.

how so, specifically? where would you have put them, and still staffed our other healthcare needs?