Coronavirus outbreak

[BPA]

Flight ban may not be working.  Not sure if true but I'm hearing (rumor) airlines are helping them circumvent the ban. 

 

Say direct flights from India to Canada is banned.  The airlines route them to multiple airports and then final destination is Canada.  Thus people from India still getting into Canada. 

 

 

 

[JM_]

11 minutes ago, BPA said:

Flight ban may not be working.  Not sure if true but I'm hearing (rumor) airlines are helping them circumvent the ban. 

 

Say direct flights from India to Canada is banned.  The airlines route them to multiple airports and then final destination is Canada.  Thus people from India still getting into Canada. 

 

 

 

I think thats why the focus has been on testing and quarantine measures. People will always find a way around rules. 

[Jaimito]

16 minutes ago, BPA said:

Flight ban may not be working.  Not sure if true but I'm hearing (rumor) airlines are helping them circumvent the ban. 

 

Say direct flights from India to Canada is banned.  The airlines route them to multiple airports and then final destination is Canada.  Thus people from India still getting into Canada. 

 

 

 

Not sure how well they are enforcing it, but the gov said those that come in indirectly, but originated in India or Pakistan, would need to test negative again from the immediate destination prior to entering Canada.  Say if they fly into US, then take a connecting flight, the negative test needs to be taken in US, they will not accept the one taken in India for example.  

 

But ultimately things still get through due to false negatives, and also getting infected en route on train, taxi, airport, on the plane etc. Quarantine in hotel for 3 days is too short, but need to follow up with home quarantine and negative tests, contact tracing.  What seems to fail is that people can refuse and they just get a ticket. That is silly. 

[Warhippy]

22 minutes ago, BPA said:

Flight ban may not be working.  Not sure if true but I'm hearing (rumor) airlines are helping them circumvent the ban. 

 

Say direct flights from India to Canada is banned.  The airlines route them to multiple airports and then final destination is Canada.  Thus people from India still getting into Canada. 

 

 

 

 

10 minutes ago, Jimmy McGill said:

I think thats why the focus has been on testing and quarantine measures. People will always find a way around rules. 

Over 20k and climbing...it's not the "kids" either...

 

The Feds need to close this loophole immediately.  I don't care if people claim "the us is safe" or "the virus is already here"

 

Brazlian and Indian strains are showing to have zero weakness to the vaccine, they are showing to be far more lethal and far more infectious.  They don't seem to have an age group that suffers more than another.

 

While the "bengali strain" is already now in Ontario, Alberta and BC, the new strains they are seeing or so called "triple mutants" will eventually make it here due to the selfishness of the few who feel they don't HAVE to follow the rules.

 

After a year of this I am utterly sick of this crap.  This needs to end now.  Full 60 to 90 day border closure, you're either in or you're waiting to get in period.  After a full year, every single death from one of these "new strains" is now at the feet of the federal governments inaction regarding border closures and half arsed measures

 

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/border-land-crossings-1.5994627

 

Greg Peacock walked across the Rainbow Bridge in Niagara Falls, Ont., and back into Canada with his three puppies in hand, pausing to take some selfies, but he didn't cross here for the view.

He chose this particular point of entry from the United States to avoid the mandatory three-day stay at a quarantine hotel that applies to air travellers entering Canada.

 

"I don't want to spend three days or whatever it is locked up at a hotel when I'm back in Toronto to do work," he said.

He's one of the many Canadians flying into U.S. airports close to the U.S.-Canada border and crossing by foot or hiring car services to drive them across in order to avoid staying at the quarantine hotels that are mandatory for air travellers. 

Instead of flying directly to Toronto's Pearson International Airport, Peacock flew from Los Angeles to Buffalo, N.Y., took a cab to the border, walked into Canada and took the train to Toronto.

"It takes a little bit longer, but it's an adventure," he said.

Peacock told CBC News that he would quarantine once he got home.

 

Since the three-day hotel quarantine rule took effect in February, Peacock has walked across the border into Canada twice on his way home from Los Angeles, where his wife lives. (Greg Peacock)

Close to 20,000 crossed by land since Feb. 21

Walking across the border isn't new or illegal, but it does contravene non-essential travel advisories and allows travellers to avoid staying in one of the federally sanctioned quarantine hotels that can cost up to $2,000 for a three-day stay — a requirement for those arriving by air.

The temporary measures and the Canada-U.S. land border closure, which went into effect in March 2020, have both been extended to May 21.

Peacock is not alone. Since the hotel rules came into effect on Feb. 21, nearly 20,000 people crossed the border by land (not including essential workers), according to a CBC News analysis of numbers provided by the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA).

• Canada-U.S. border restrictions extended as U.S. congressman pushes for reopening plan

Whether Canadians return by land or air, if they are not essential workers or otherwise exempt, under federal guidelines, they must quarantine for 14 days, with air travellers spending the first three days at a hotel until they get the result of a COVID-19 test. Land travellers must go directly to their quarantine destination after crossing the border.

Special rules for snowbirds?

Scott and Caryl Rutledge of Toronto opted to fly to Buffalo Niagara International Airport and hire a limousine to take them across the border rather than to fly home from Tampa, Fla., where they have property and spent the last two months

"We've been vaccinated. We showed up with negative COVID tests," Scott Rutledge told CBC News as he and his wife sat in the back of the limousine on the Canadian side of Rainbow Bridge in Niagara Falls.

"We believe ourselves to be 100 per cent healthy so far as COVID is concerned, and so anything else was an unnecessary duplication. It's excessive in the extreme, at least as it applies to us."

The couple paid about $350 Cdn for the trip from the Buffalo airport, plus $200 US each for their COVID-19 tests.

 

Scott and Caryl Rutledge arrive back in Canada after spending two months in Tampa, Fla., where they own property. The Toronto couple hired a limousine service to take them from the Buffalo airport back home. They both received a COVID-19 vaccine in Florida. (Laura Clementson/CBC)

They said there should be different rules for snowbirds like them.

"I think there should have been two tiers of entry: one for snowbirds — vaccinated people who have been gone for in excess of months — and ... different rules perhaps for people who have gone on a holiday for two weeks. It's a completely different thing," Caryl Rutledge said.

• More than 200 travellers fined for refusing to quarantine in hotels after landing in Canada

Although land borders are closed to non-essential travel, all Canadian citizens have the right to enter Canada. But like air travellers, they need to present a negative COVID-19 test taken within 72 hours of arriving at the border and have a quarantine plan.

For those who travel from abroad via the United States, a negative test needs to be presented upon arrival in the U.S., according to the U.S. government, and again at the land border when entering Canada.

Travellers are also given a take-home test to be done on the 10th day of their return.

There are no exemptions for those who have already been vaccinated.

 

After pedestrians cross into Canada, they are escorted into a tent, shown here at the Rainbow Bridge in Niagara Falls. There they are screened and told about COVID-19 protocols. (Greg Bruce/CBC)

Local authorities monitoring quarantine compliance

The CBSA told CBC News that it is not keeping track of Canadians who return to the country after getting a COVID-19 vaccination abroad.

But the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) does keep track of travellers who have tested positive for COVID-19.

From Feb. 22 to April 18, the agency told CBC News, it received 50,905 test results from land travellers on the day they arrived in Canada. Of those, 128, or 0.25 per cent, tested positive for COVID-19.

During the same period for air travellers, the agency said it received 144,177 test results, of which 2,541 — or 1.76 per cent — were positive for COVID-19.

The agency is also monitoring quarantine compliance for both air and land travellers with the help of local law enforcement agencies, the RCMP and third-party security companies.

Between Feb. 21 and April 19, more than 111,000 air travellers and 43,000 land travellers had received a compliance verification visit from a third party, according to PHAC. 

And during the same time frame, both the RCMP and local law enforcement agencies followed up on 13,500 air travellers and 5,900 land travellers — 95 per cent of whom were found to be in compliance with the quarantine orders.

Prices for flights to Buffalo on the rise

In an email to CBC News, Canada's public health agency said that "compliance with the border measures has been high."

CBC News asked for comment from Health Canada on why people travelling by air are required to go to a hotel while those entering the country by land are not but did not get a direct response. 

Health Canada did say in an email that "the government of Canada is continually evaluating the impacts of border measures."

Land border crossings could get more attention in light of Canada's decision Thursday to ban passenger flights from India and Pakistan for 30 days in response to rising COVID-19 case counts and the spread of new variants. 

Airlines seem to have also caught on to the land border loophole. Prices for flights to Buffalo from popular snowbird destinations such as Tampa, Orlando, Fla., Phoenix, Ariz., and Los Angeles have all seen a hike since the quarantine hotel rules went into effect in Canada.

• U.S. taxi services see business boost helping Canadians avoid hotel quarantine

"I felt pretty clever at first, but apparently, more people are catching on," said Peacock, who travels back and forth on a monthly basis to be with his spouse in Los Angeles.

"The flights to Buffalo were packed. The prices are going up."

WATCH | How some Canadians are getting around quarantine rules for air travellers:

 

 

Travellers avoid hotel quarantine by crossing at Canada-U.S. land border

4 days ago

2:16

Travellers coming to Canada from the U.S. are avoiding hotel quarantine by taking flights close to the border, then walking or driving into Canada. Some snowbirds say there should be different rules for people who spend months at a time in the U.S. and are fully vaccinated. 2:16

Car services seeing steady business

Ground transportation services are also getting a boost.

About 30 kilometres from the Rainbow Bridge, at the Peace Bridge in Fort Erie, Ont., Bethea Reznik sits in her van in the nearest parking lot to the border.

She reads while waiting for a Canadian passenger to be dropped off by an American car service. She'll then drive the Canadian to Toronto.

 

Bethea Reznik, who owns a private car service, picks up passengers from a parking lot closest to the U.S. border after they're dropped off by an American taxi. Reznik says she's making about two round trips from Toronto each week. (Greg Bruce/CBC)

American bus and taxi drivers are considered essential service providers, which allows them to shuttle Canadians over the border.

"I've been quite busy," she said of her own business. "I just try to help people as much as I can."

• SECOND OPINION
  Coronavirus variants are testing the limits of what we once thought was safe in Canada

• New hotel quarantine rules for air travellers are now in effect. Here's what you need to know

Reznik said she's making about two round trips from Toronto a week.

She said she feels for her passengers who are affected by the extra steps now required to get to where they want to go.

Parked near Reznik's van, Alison Noble waits for her son, Eric Noble-Marks, to be dropped off by an American taxi. The Boston law student was returning home to Toronto.

Noble-Marks said he's vaccinated but given how little is still known about the ability to transmit the virus post-vaccination, he opted for a land crossing because it seemed safer than flying.

 

Eric Noble-Marks, a Boston law student from Toronto, took an American taxi across the border to a parking lot near the Peace Bridge in Fort Erie, Ont., where his mother was waiting to drive him home. (Laura Clementson/CBC)

"I wanted to do something where I minimized changing hands as much as possible," he said.

He plans to quarantine at home with his mother, he said.

Noble-Marks said he isn't opposed to requiring travellers to stay at a quarantine hotel if it helps slow the spread of COVID-19, but it shouldn't come at a cost.

"It's one thing to stay in a hotel for a few days. It's another thing to be on the hook for it," he said.

'I was not going into a hotel'

For some travellers who spoke to CBC News, avoiding a hotel stay wasn't about the cost but about health.

Betty Bennett, who winters in Arizona, took an American car service from the Buffalo airport back to her home in Orillia, Ont., because she was adamant about going straight home.

"I would not go to any congregate settings after hearing what's happened with the nursing homes," she said. "So there was not even a choice for me ... I was not going into a hotel."

PHAC told CBC News that as of April 18, 45,194 hotel rooms had been booked at government-authorized accommodation using the Global Business System, which does not include rooms that travellers have booked directly through hotels. Each of those bookings could include multiple rooms and/or guests.

The majority of rooms have been booked in Toronto with 26,454, followed by Vancouver with 10,921.

• VIDEO
  This family built a massive dinosaur out of take-out containers during their hotel quarantine

About 49,000 air travellers, representing 11 per cent of the total, have been exempt from staying in a hotel.

As for fines for those dodging a hotel stay, PHAC told CBC News that as of April 19, it is aware of 404 tickets given to travellers who didn't book a hotel or refused to stay in one.

The fine for refusing to go to a hotel is $3,000.

 

[BPA]

3 minutes ago, Jaimito said:

Not sure how well they are enforcing it, but the gov said those that come in indirectly, but originated in India or Pakistan, would need to test negative again from the immediate destination prior to entering Canada.  Say if they fly into US, then take a connecting flight, the negative test needs to be taken in US, they will not accept the one taken in India for example.  

 

But ultimately things still get through due to false negatives, and also getting infected en route on train, taxi, airport, on the plane etc. Quarantine in hotel for 3 days is too short, but need to follow up with home quarantine and negative tests, contact tracing.  What seems to fail is that people can refuse and they just get a ticket. That is silly. 

Pretty sure the system is not working as hoped.  Otherwise, we shouldn't have been seeing variants in Canada. 

[Warhippy]

3 minutes ago, Jaimito said:

Not sure how well they are enforcing it, but the gov said those that come in indirectly, but originated in India or Pakistan, would need to test negative again from the immediate destination prior to entering Canada.  Say if they fly into US, then take a connecting flight, the negative test needs to be taken in US, they will not accept the one taken in India for example.  

 

But ultimately things still get through due to false negatives, and also getting infected en route on train, taxi, airport, on the plane etc. Quarantine in hotel for 3 days is too short, but need to follow up with home quarantine and negative tests, contact tracing.  What seems to fail is that people can refuse and they just get a ticket. That is silly. 

Flight to New York.

 

Drive to the border.  Walk across.

 

Literally that simple now.

 

Can do it at Sea-Tac as well.  Fly to Seattle, drive to border, walk across....

 

Detroit?  Sure, get to the ambassador and walk/drive across

 

No quarantine measures on foot traffic re-entering Canada just a "promise" to do the right thing

 

The ticketing thing is a joke too I agree.  Heard a guy on TV in Alberta flat out say fine me again, i'll sign up for Trudeaus free handouts and pay you out of that.  A meagre fine is no detriment to these people

[JM_]

Just now, Warhippy said:

Flight to New York.

 

Drive to the border.  Walk across.

 

Literally that simple now.

 

Can do it at Sea-Tac as well.  Fly to Seattle, drive to border, walk across....

 

Detroit?  Sure, get to the ambassador and walk/drive across

 

No quarantine measures on foot traffic re-entering Canada just a "promise" to do the right thing

 

The ticketing thing is a joke too I agree.  Heard a guy on TV in Alberta flat out say fine me again, i'll sign up for Trudeaus free handouts and pay you out of that.  A meagre fine is no detriment to these people

I'm putting my faith in technology and not people at this point. We will need to vaccinate our way out of this, some people just don't care about following rules that can be so easily worked around .

 

[Gurn]

 All I get from those snowbirds is:

People want the rules followed..................... by other people.

[-DLC-]

15 hours ago, Cerridwen said:

Today was vaccination day for Cerridwen. Got the Moderna....and was told not to take Advil.

 

My pharmacist was taken aback when I told her as she has also had the Moderna vaccine and nobody mentioned not taking Advil to her. Needless to say, she took Advil for side effects and is fine..

 

.It rather threw me a bit and I asked my vaccinating nurse 3x about it as the OTC meds I take for horrendous allergies along with prescription meds are, of course, ibuprofen-based.

 

Rather interesting.....she even wrote Tylenol for side effects on my vaccination record sheet.

 

I realize that there are a few studies that suggest that perhaps ibuprofen/pain killers can possibly affect the efficacy of Moderna but there's nothing seemingly carved in stone about it.

A case of CYA or 'Just in case'?

Anybody else receive this "Do not take Advil" admonition along with their Moderna vaccine?

 

 

My Dad got the Moderna and....nope, nothing.  Which sucks because he has arthritis and other ailments and Advil's one of the meds he swaps in and out of his line up.

[-DLC-]

This is terrifying...

https://globalnews.ca/news/7786158/india-coronavirus-patients-oxyegen-shortage/?utm_source=GlobalBC&utm_medium=Facebook&fbclid=IwAR3WbkLBUiutmRbhAIRhl_cyh7gFmPmfTzLp4mhpb7dGLCtfkhdL6F3brkQ

 

Quote

‘It’s over’: India COVID-19 patients suffocate as cases surge during oxygen shortage

By Aijaz Hussain  The Associated Press

Posted April 24, 2021 6:46 am

 

Indian authorities scrambled Saturday to get oxygen tanks to hospitals where COVID-19 patients were suffocating amid the world’s worst coronavirus surge, as the government came under increasing criticism for what doctors said was its negligence in the face of a foreseeable public health disaster.

For the third day in a row, India set a global daily record of new infections. The 346,786 confirmed cases over the past day brought India’s total to more than 16 million, behind only the United States. The Health Ministry reported another 2,624 deaths in the past 24 hours, pushing India’s COVID-19 fatalities to 189,544. Experts say even those figures are likely an undercount.

The government ramped up its efforts to get medical oxygen to hospitals using special Oxygen Express trains, air force planes and trucks to transport tankers, and took measures to exempt critical oxygen supplies from customs taxes. But the crisis in the country of nearly 1.4 billion people was only deepening as overburdened hospitals shut admissions and ran out of beds and oxygen supplies.

“Every hospital is running out (of oxygen). We are running out,” Dr. Sudhanshu Bankata, executive director of Batra Hospital, a leading hospital in the capital, told New Delhi Television channel.

In a sign of the desperation unfolding over the shortages, a high court in Delhi warned Saturday it would “hang” anyone who tries to obstruct the delivery of emergency oxygen supplies, amid evidence that some local authorities were diverting tanks to hospitals in their areas. The court, which was hearing submissions by a group of hospitals over the oxygen shortages, termed the devastating rise in infections a “tsunami.”   (cont'd...)

 

[babych]

11 hours ago, Jaimito said:

Canada has administered more doses than Israel (11.2 million doses vs 10.4 million). 

 

 

Yay? I guess?

 

Comparing the populations Israel has administered more than 1 dose per person (on average), while Canada has (on average) administered doses to less than 30% of its population. 

 

I suppose that's better than nothing, but I'm getting really tired of the incompetence shown at both the provincial and federal levels during this pandemic.

 

On a more positive note, I'm booked for my first shot next Thursday - the first day I'm out of isolation due to a close contact.

[Warhippy]

10 minutes ago, babych said:

Yay? I guess?

 

Comparing the populations Israel has administered more than 1 dose per person (on average), while Canada has (on average) administered doses to less than 30% of its population. 

 

I suppose that's better than nothing, but I'm getting really tired of the incompetence shown at both the provincial and federal levels during this pandemic.

 

On a more positive note, I'm booked for my first shot next Thursday - the first day I'm out of isolation due to a close contact.

In defense,

 

Israels entire population is essentially in a place about 2.5 maybe 3.5x the size of Vancouver island.

 

Knowing that Canada has such a massive land mass and so many layers of officials to go through i'm actually impressed we've gotten this far.  Especially with the endless hate and finger pointing some provinces give to the feds

[babych]

1 minute ago, Warhippy said:

In defense,

 

Israels entire population is essentially in a place about 2.5 maybe 3.5x the size of Vancouver island.

 

Knowing that Canada has such a massive land mass and so many layers of officials to go through i'm actually impressed we've gotten this far.  Especially with the endless hate and finger pointing some provinces give to the feds

That's fair. In my defense I'm cranky bc I'm in my THIRD isolation due to close contact this year... and the second one this month.

[Warhippy]

9 minutes ago, babych said:

That's fair. In my defense I'm cranky bc I'm in my THIRD isolation due to close contact this year... and the second one this month.

I'm right there.

 

After having to deal with this Chris Sky idiot after turning down covering his event, and reading about the boomer groups skipping quarantine laws and watching tens of thousands of dollars walk away in business again this year

 

I'm fed up.

 

I will say though for as dysfunctional as our nation is, from federal to provincial to regional health board and then private pharmacies and clinics i'm surprised we've gotten this far

[Jaimito]

 

Rules only work when people follow it.  But the hotbed is Fraser Health and Vancouver Coastal. 

[-DLC-]

My idiot neighbours loaded up the car yesterday....even their bird in the bird cage. I asked if he was sick/going to the vet?

 

"No, we're heading to Kelowna for the weekend"

 

!!

 

Hope they get hit on the way back by a highway check.  They have taken no precautions and entertain constantly with different groups from out of town.

[-DLC-]

 

[JM_]

1 hour ago, BPA said:

Pretty sure the system is not working as hoped.  Otherwise, we shouldn't have been seeing variants in Canada. 

unless they always thought seeing variants was unavoidable, which is my guess. 

[JM_]

28 minutes ago, debluvscanucks said:

My idiot neighbours loaded up the car yesterday....even their bird in the bird cage. I asked if he was sick/going to the vet?

 

"No, we're heading to Kelowna for the weekend"

 

!!

 

Hope they get hit on the way back by a highway check.  They have taken no precautions and entertain constantly with different groups from out of town.

at least they didn't lie, I guess thats something. I'm tired of hearing "oh I forgot my mask" in our elevator, by the same people, over and over....

 

 

Edited April 24, 2021 by Jimmy McGill

[thedestroyerofworlds]

Got my Pfizer 5G tracking microchip implantation today.