Coronavirus outbreak

[Gurn]

https://health-infobase.canada.ca/covid-19/?stat=rate&measure=active#a9

 

Figure 5: Text description

Outcomes of confirmed COVID-19 cases reported to PHAC by vaccination status, as of August 28, 2022

Status	Cases	Hospitalizations	Deaths
Unvaccinated	41.2%	48.8%	48.9%
Primary series completed	32.6%	20.1%	17.1%
Primary series completed and 1 additional dose	18.3%	21.2%	22.1%
Primary series completed and 2 or more additional doses	1.6%	2.2%	3.6%

[Warhippy]

So you didn't want to do the barest of minimums ot save others.  Now you refuse to do the barest of minimums to save yourself or your children.

 

 

These are the people on dating apps claiming to be "pure bloods"

 

K

 

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/alberta-blood-transfusions-resistance-covid-1.6613841

 

Spoiler

Alberta physicians are raising the alarm about a dangerous trend — fuelled by misinformation — that could cost lives.

Dr. Stephanie Cooper, an obstetrician specializing in high-risk births at Foothills Medical Centre, said a patient recently refused to consent to a blood transfusion if it came from a donor who had received the COVID-19 vaccine.

"I see people with severe hemorrhage due to childbirth on a regular basis. And for me, the idea that this is out there is somewhat mind-boggling."

It came up in a routine conversation while she was counselling the patient before a C-section. The patient did not end up needing a blood transfusion.

Shocked by what she'd encountered, Cooper shared her experience on Twitter and was inundated with responses, including from other health-care providers who reached out with similar stories.

"I'm quite concerned about it," she said, noting Canada's blood supply does not register the COVID vaccination status of donors.

"There isn't a choice to receive COVID vaccine-negative blood. So by declining blood, it means you will die."

Parents request unvaccinated blood

This is not an isolated incident in Alberta.

"We're seeing it about once or twice a month, at this stage. And the worry is of course that these requests might increase," said Dr. Dave Sidhu, the southern Alberta medical lead for transfusion and transplant medicine. 

That includes parents of sick children.

"We do see a few, certainly in our bone marrow transplant patients in particular. You have to remember these kiddos are immuno-compromised and there's always more sensitivity around these patients, and some of them can be quite frail," said Sidhu, who is also an associate professor in the Cumming School of Medicine at the University of Calgary.

"Any caution or questions around that, we encourage our parents to ask."

According to Sidhu, requests for so-called directed blood donations, taken from an unvaccinated parent or legal guardian, come with a number of risks and have not been accommodated.

So far, parents have agreed to proceed after he's talked with them, he said.

And while some adults have ultimately refused blood transfusions, doctors were able to treat them in other ways.

"The real worry is situations where blood is needed and it is life and limb," he said.

"There is currently no medical or scientific evidence to suggest that there are changes in people's genetic composition due to these mRNA vaccines or any other issues with safety around blood from either vaccinated or unvaccinated donors."

Internalized misinformation

According to Timothy Caulfield, a Canada Research Chair in Health Law and Policy at the University of Alberta, these situations are becoming increasingly common.

"It's happening not just in Canada but really all over the world.… This is a really good example of a behaviour — of a request — that is the direct result of the spread of misinformation," he said.

"This is based on the idea that either the blood is contaminated, the blood is going to give them COVID, that they believe the risks associated with the COVID vaccines are going to have some adverse impact on them. So basically they've embraced and internalized the misinformation associated with the COVID vaccines and fear the blood as a result of that."

Caulfield said competent adults have the right to refuse treatment even if the decision could harm them.

"This really highlights, I think, how powerful misinformation can be. It can really have an impact in a way that can be dangerous," he said.

"There is no evidence to support these concerns."

 

[JM_]

Just now, Warhippy said:

So you didn't want to do the barest of minimums ot save others.  Now you refuse to do the barest of minimums to save yourself or your children.

 

 

These are the people on dating apps claiming to be "pure bloods"

 

K

 

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/alberta-blood-transfusions-resistance-covid-1.6613841

 

  Reveal hidden contents

Alberta physicians are raising the alarm about a dangerous trend — fuelled by misinformation — that could cost lives.

Dr. Stephanie Cooper, an obstetrician specializing in high-risk births at Foothills Medical Centre, said a patient recently refused to consent to a blood transfusion if it came from a donor who had received the COVID-19 vaccine.

"I see people with severe hemorrhage due to childbirth on a regular basis. And for me, the idea that this is out there is somewhat mind-boggling."

It came up in a routine conversation while she was counselling the patient before a C-section. The patient did not end up needing a blood transfusion.

Shocked by what she'd encountered, Cooper shared her experience on Twitter and was inundated with responses, including from other health-care providers who reached out with similar stories.

"I'm quite concerned about it," she said, noting Canada's blood supply does not register the COVID vaccination status of donors.

"There isn't a choice to receive COVID vaccine-negative blood. So by declining blood, it means you will die."

Parents request unvaccinated blood

This is not an isolated incident in Alberta.

"We're seeing it about once or twice a month, at this stage. And the worry is of course that these requests might increase," said Dr. Dave Sidhu, the southern Alberta medical lead for transfusion and transplant medicine. 

That includes parents of sick children.

"We do see a few, certainly in our bone marrow transplant patients in particular. You have to remember these kiddos are immuno-compromised and there's always more sensitivity around these patients, and some of them can be quite frail," said Sidhu, who is also an associate professor in the Cumming School of Medicine at the University of Calgary.

"Any caution or questions around that, we encourage our parents to ask."

According to Sidhu, requests for so-called directed blood donations, taken from an unvaccinated parent or legal guardian, come with a number of risks and have not been accommodated.

So far, parents have agreed to proceed after he's talked with them, he said.

And while some adults have ultimately refused blood transfusions, doctors were able to treat them in other ways.

"The real worry is situations where blood is needed and it is life and limb," he said.

"There is currently no medical or scientific evidence to suggest that there are changes in people's genetic composition due to these mRNA vaccines or any other issues with safety around blood from either vaccinated or unvaccinated donors."

Internalized misinformation

According to Timothy Caulfield, a Canada Research Chair in Health Law and Policy at the University of Alberta, these situations are becoming increasingly common.

"It's happening not just in Canada but really all over the world.… This is a really good example of a behaviour — of a request — that is the direct result of the spread of misinformation," he said.

"This is based on the idea that either the blood is contaminated, the blood is going to give them COVID, that they believe the risks associated with the COVID vaccines are going to have some adverse impact on them. So basically they've embraced and internalized the misinformation associated with the COVID vaccines and fear the blood as a result of that."

Caulfield said competent adults have the right to refuse treatment even if the decision could harm them.

"This really highlights, I think, how powerful misinformation can be. It can really have an impact in a way that can be dangerous," he said.

"There is no evidence to support these concerns."

 

I hope they keep running with misinformation, run with it like scissors. 

[JM_]

20 hours ago, gurn said:

Bumped into this fellow again today.

He went on about the 400,000 people that were at the protest in Ottawa, and having to see how the 8th shot works out.

I replied with " When every single non vaxxed person is dead, we won't have to worry about covid anymore"

He looked at me strangely and I clarified " Well, if you are going to start with gross exaggerations, I will respond in kind."

Sadly, he seems like an ok guy, just terribly misinformed about science.

don't even try to stop him or change his mind, in fact I'd encourage him to keep fighting the good fight, be an inspiration to all of us.

[-Vintage Canuck-]

 

[Warhippy]

LAdies and Gentlemen,

 

Alberta

 

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/danielle-smith-vaccine-human-rights-analysis-1.6615900

 

There's been much said, and justifiably so, about new Premier Danielle Smith's remarks that the unvaccinated have been more discriminated against than any other group in the last half-century — a 50-year spell that's been marked by systemic racism against various groups, the rise of Islamophobia and transphobia, ongoing homophobia and anti-Semitism, continued mistreatment of Indigenous people, and on and on.

She tried to clean up her remarks, but that might not mean those unsettled by what she said will forget or forgive.

Far less attention has been paid, however, to unpacking the reason she was prompted to share her thoughts on the extent of discrimination against people who've chosen not to get COVID-19 inoculations. 

One of Smith's key leadership campaign promises, which she's apparently determined to carry through, is to enshrine protections in the Alberta Human Rights Act for people based on vaccination status.

Doing so would put whether or not one chose a COVID jab on par with gender, sexual orientation, race, country of origin and religious beliefs in the province's landmark anti-discrimination law. But beyond the inherent controversy of equating vaccination with those other aspects, there are other real-life consequences at play if the Alberta legislature makes this change.

The human right that could do wrong to others

Smith's proposed move could have significant ramifications for the state of Alberta health care, well beyond this pandemic.

Because as hard as it may be for some of us, more than two years on, let's set aside COVID for a second, even if it is what motivated Smith to campaign on this move.

Vaccine mandates and rules aren't something that suddenly burst into the world in 2021, when Pfizer, Moderna and other companies devised shots to protect against the coronavirus. Such requirements have long been common for health-care workers, health sciences students and others in that realm. Requirements have remained in place for other vaccinations — Hepatitis B, measles, tetanus and other easily-preventable diseases with well-established immunization programs.

Here, for example, is the University of Alberta health faculty's form. And a job notice to be a registered nurse at Covenant Health's hospital in Camrose, citing the requirement that successful applicants have the annual influenza vaccine.

And outside of health care, Lakeland College in Vermilion has required that students in their hairstyling and esthetician programs show proof of vaccination for Hep B and measles, mumps and rubella.

In the Alberta that Smith promised United Conservatives, it wouldn't even be acceptable for bosses to ask for vaccination records. In an Aug. 31 news release, her campaign promised a policy "prohibiting employers from requiring the vaccination and other health information of Albertans."

With such pledges, Smith appealed to the minority segment of Albertans who either weren't vaccinated for COVID — that's only nine per cent of those older than 12 — or were aggrieved that they were pushed to do so, lest they face consequences at their workplace, or be limited in their ability to fly, dine in restaurants or visit long-term care homes.

But if you're establishing a human right to refuse vaccines and not face employment or consumer consequences, Smith presumably cannot design a protected class only pertaining to immunization from one disease. One assumes it would have to apply to all vaccinations.

The Alberta Human Rights Act would effectively be protecting a newly-created freedom of one group of citizens, and in so doing limiting protections against disease for the other Albertans in their midst. That is, health-care workers would be free to be unprotected against an array of other diseases as they work in hospitals.

"You're opening the door to having resurgences of vaccine-preventable diseases potentially spread in a health care setting," said Dr. Lynora Saxinger, an infectious diseases specialist at the University of Alberta.

Hep B, for example, is a chronic liver infection that can lead to cancer or liver failure, and is transmitted easily through blood. That vaccine, Saxinger said, has largely removed the previous risks of Hep B outbreaks in hospitals or other health facilities.

As with the COVID vaccine rules, the health-care sector's policies for other vaccination rules or disclosures had been well developed and considered, with discussion of impacts to liberties and workers' personal choice weighed against the consequences of higher risks to hospital patients. Smith's plan would yank that decision out of the hands of health administrators and have it fall squarely on the "freedom" side of that equation.

"It's basically saying that the science and the ethics behind what we're doing right now don't matter anymore, and that you can have someone in health care who could potentially be carrying a transmissible infectious disease and exposing patients to it on an ongoing basis and not do anything about it," Saxinger said.

New-wave thinking 

It's clear Smith has the health-care sector in her sights for this hard crackdown on ability to prevent unvaccinated workers. She has repeatedly linked the system's strain to the fact that health employers had required COVID vaccinations.

But the overwhelming majority of AHS workers complied with the requirement — over 97.7 per cent of part- and full-time staff, and 99.8 per cent of doctors. And when AHS was ordered by the Kenney government to rescind its mandate for employees in March, the agency expected to add back a mere 750 workers. More than 121,000 are on staff at AHS and its subsidiaries.

And remember, those vaccine rules came into effect during the Delta wave, before Omicron changed the stakes with regards to protection against transmission. Employers from the federal government to Alberta Health Services have dropped their COVID vaccination mandates, and Smith clearly doesn't want to enact any new passport system. 

But it's also worrisome for a premier to provide such clear blocks against new vaccination rules for anybody, should the virus evolve further or some other new virus emerge that a vaccine can firmly mitigate, said Saxinger.

When the new premier pledged no more lockdowns, at a time when nobody in the Western world was imposing COVID restrictions on restaurants or places of worship, she was making a promise that would only have consequences if things tipped back into extreme pandemic peril. But it's not the same at all with her plans for the Alberta Human Rights Act. 

Given how far-reaching such a move would be, you don't have to be a COVID pessimist to be concerned it could put lives at risk.

[JM_]

2 hours ago, Warhippy said:

LAdies and Gentlemen,

 

Alberta

 

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/danielle-smith-vaccine-human-rights-analysis-1.6615900

 

There's been much said, and justifiably so, about new Premier Danielle Smith's remarks that the unvaccinated have been more discriminated against than any other group in the last half-century — a 50-year spell that's been marked by systemic racism against various groups, the rise of Islamophobia and transphobia, ongoing homophobia and anti-Semitism, continued mistreatment of Indigenous people, and on and on.

She tried to clean up her remarks, but that might not mean those unsettled by what she said will forget or forgive.

Far less attention has been paid, however, to unpacking the reason she was prompted to share her thoughts on the extent of discrimination against people who've chosen not to get COVID-19 inoculations. 

One of Smith's key leadership campaign promises, which she's apparently determined to carry through, is to enshrine protections in the Alberta Human Rights Act for people based on vaccination status.

Doing so would put whether or not one chose a COVID jab on par with gender, sexual orientation, race, country of origin and religious beliefs in the province's landmark anti-discrimination law. But beyond the inherent controversy of equating vaccination with those other aspects, there are other real-life consequences at play if the Alberta legislature makes this change.

The human right that could do wrong to others

Smith's proposed move could have significant ramifications for the state of Alberta health care, well beyond this pandemic.

Because as hard as it may be for some of us, more than two years on, let's set aside COVID for a second, even if it is what motivated Smith to campaign on this move.

Vaccine mandates and rules aren't something that suddenly burst into the world in 2021, when Pfizer, Moderna and other companies devised shots to protect against the coronavirus. Such requirements have long been common for health-care workers, health sciences students and others in that realm. Requirements have remained in place for other vaccinations — Hepatitis B, measles, tetanus and other easily-preventable diseases with well-established immunization programs.

Here, for example, is the University of Alberta health faculty's form. And a job notice to be a registered nurse at Covenant Health's hospital in Camrose, citing the requirement that successful applicants have the annual influenza vaccine.

And outside of health care, Lakeland College in Vermilion has required that students in their hairstyling and esthetician programs show proof of vaccination for Hep B and measles, mumps and rubella.

In the Alberta that Smith promised United Conservatives, it wouldn't even be acceptable for bosses to ask for vaccination records. In an Aug. 31 news release, her campaign promised a policy "prohibiting employers from requiring the vaccination and other health information of Albertans."

With such pledges, Smith appealed to the minority segment of Albertans who either weren't vaccinated for COVID — that's only nine per cent of those older than 12 — or were aggrieved that they were pushed to do so, lest they face consequences at their workplace, or be limited in their ability to fly, dine in restaurants or visit long-term care homes.

But if you're establishing a human right to refuse vaccines and not face employment or consumer consequences, Smith presumably cannot design a protected class only pertaining to immunization from one disease. One assumes it would have to apply to all vaccinations.

The Alberta Human Rights Act would effectively be protecting a newly-created freedom of one group of citizens, and in so doing limiting protections against disease for the other Albertans in their midst. That is, health-care workers would be free to be unprotected against an array of other diseases as they work in hospitals.

"You're opening the door to having resurgences of vaccine-preventable diseases potentially spread in a health care setting," said Dr. Lynora Saxinger, an infectious diseases specialist at the University of Alberta.

Hep B, for example, is a chronic liver infection that can lead to cancer or liver failure, and is transmitted easily through blood. That vaccine, Saxinger said, has largely removed the previous risks of Hep B outbreaks in hospitals or other health facilities.

As with the COVID vaccine rules, the health-care sector's policies for other vaccination rules or disclosures had been well developed and considered, with discussion of impacts to liberties and workers' personal choice weighed against the consequences of higher risks to hospital patients. Smith's plan would yank that decision out of the hands of health administrators and have it fall squarely on the "freedom" side of that equation.

"It's basically saying that the science and the ethics behind what we're doing right now don't matter anymore, and that you can have someone in health care who could potentially be carrying a transmissible infectious disease and exposing patients to it on an ongoing basis and not do anything about it," Saxinger said.

New-wave thinking 

It's clear Smith has the health-care sector in her sights for this hard crackdown on ability to prevent unvaccinated workers. She has repeatedly linked the system's strain to the fact that health employers had required COVID vaccinations.

But the overwhelming majority of AHS workers complied with the requirement — over 97.7 per cent of part- and full-time staff, and 99.8 per cent of doctors. And when AHS was ordered by the Kenney government to rescind its mandate for employees in March, the agency expected to add back a mere 750 workers. More than 121,000 are on staff at AHS and its subsidiaries.

And remember, those vaccine rules came into effect during the Delta wave, before Omicron changed the stakes with regards to protection against transmission. Employers from the federal government to Alberta Health Services have dropped their COVID vaccination mandates, and Smith clearly doesn't want to enact any new passport system. 

But it's also worrisome for a premier to provide such clear blocks against new vaccination rules for anybody, should the virus evolve further or some other new virus emerge that a vaccine can firmly mitigate, said Saxinger.

When the new premier pledged no more lockdowns, at a time when nobody in the Western world was imposing COVID restrictions on restaurants or places of worship, she was making a promise that would only have consequences if things tipped back into extreme pandemic peril. But it's not the same at all with her plans for the Alberta Human Rights Act. 

Given how far-reaching such a move would be, you don't have to be a COVID pessimist to be concerned it could put lives at risk.

polarization is fun isn't it? 

 

This will send AB healthcare workers running for other provinces, so maybe this is great for BC. 

 

[Gurn]

41 minutes ago, JM_ said:

This will send AB healthcare workers running for other provinces, so maybe this is great for BC. 

This would be a great time to offer vaccinated health professionals a new career in B.C..

do an advertising blitz and see if we can 'poach' a couple hundred doctors and a couple thousand nurses, along with med techs.

[JM_]

3 minutes ago, gurn said:

This would be a great time to offer vaccinated health professionals a new career in B.C..

do an advertising blitz and see if we can 'poach' a couple hundred doctors and a couple thousand nurses, along with med techs.

yup, Alberta is doing it to us right now, just seems fair. 

 

Come to BC, where measles don't have rights. 

[J.I.A.H.N]

Me and my wife just caught Covid

Deap chest congestion, cough, and sneezing

wife is 6 days into it and getting better

I am 11 days into it, and feeling much better..still have chest congestion, but am able to get out and walk the dog........we are 65 and 61 respectfully

I feel pretty lucky to have waited this long to catch it

Quote

 

 

[GSP*]

Bivalent shot is crushing me right now, sore skin, aching joints, big old lymph node, super tired. I guess that means its working...

[JM_]

9 minutes ago, J.I.A.H.N said:

Me and my wife just caught Covid

Deap chest congestion, cough, and sneezing

wife is 6 days into it and getting better

I am 11 days into it, and feeling much better..still have chest congestion, but am able to get out and walk the dog........we are 65 and 61 respectfully

I feel pretty lucky to have waited this long to catch it

 

3 weeks today for the wife and me, able to get out for a short 5k hike and not want to collapse. Sense of smell is just starting to come back as well so thats a relief. 

 

[Warhippy]

1 hour ago, GSP* said:

Bivalent shot is crushing me right now, sore skin, aching joints, big old lymph node, super tired. I guess that means its working...

oh....yay...can't uh wait for mine 

 

(i hate needles)

[DS4quality]

Just got my bivalent. Didn't even notice a thing. When I got my 3rd Pfizer dose that one hurt. 

I'm feeling pretty good to be honest, hope I feel this way tomorrow.   

[zapperman]

1 hour ago, Warhippy said:

oh....yay...can't uh wait for mine 

 

(i hate needles)

Well if it’s any consolation, I got my bivalent and flu shot on Tuesday. Extent of effects for me was a slightly tender arm the next day. Wife also got both same day. Hit her a little harder - fatigue that night, headache and nauseous a little the next day. These things always hit her harder than me. For me it was similar to the other ones. Both Pfizer and Moderna. I’ve still yet to catch it (knocks wood) although we’ve had it in the house on two occasions. 

[stawns]

4 hours ago, JM_ said:

3 weeks today for the wife and me, able to get out for a short 5k hike and not want to collapse. Sense of smell is just starting to come back as well so thats a relief. 

 

almost 3 weeks for us too and it's actually almost worse now for us.  Our coughs are bad and we have no wind for exercise in any way.

[karvalegov]

4 hours ago, stawns said:

almost 3 weeks for us too and it's actually almost worse now for us.  Our coughs are bad and we have no wind for exercise in any way.

Ivermectin. 

[stawns]

8 hours ago, karvalegov said:

Ivermectin. 

[JM_]

13 hours ago, stawns said:

almost 3 weeks for us too and it's actually almost worse now for us.  Our coughs are bad and we have no wind for exercise in any way.

sorry to hear that. How's the sense of smell? I couldn't smell anything for about 2 weeks but its slowly coming back. 

[stawns]

1 hour ago, JM_ said:

sorry to hear that. How's the sense of smell? I couldn't smell anything for about 2 weeks but its slowly coming back. 

It came back after about 10 days, but it's definitely not the same as it was yet.  I can taste and smell, but not very strong.