Quebec, Ontario, Manitoba and British Columbia reported record high COVID-19 case counts on Christmas Eve as Nunavut ordered a full lockdown to prevent further spread of the virus.
Health officials across the country warned the latest numbers are an underestimation and a sign of what is yet to come, and again urged people to rethink large gatherings over the holidays.
New modelling shows B.C. could reach 10,000 new COVID-19 cases a day within two weeks, causing hospitals to become overwhelmed with patients, say a group of B.C.-based scientists.
And they believe the only way to prevent that is by shutting down all restaurants and indoor public events for the next three weeks.
The Covid-19 vaccines do not stop the spread of the disease. They do not slow the spread of the disease. The prevailing narrative is that they help keep recipients from getting as sick as they would have been if they’d contracted Covid-19 without it. This is unprovable, but some studies indicate there may be some truth to the notion that the jabs are somewhat effective as treatments by mitigating symptoms. Other studies say otherwise, and a recent study even points to the highly likely reality that the jabs make people more susceptible to Omicron.
These are a few of the things that will likely infuriate the world’s foremost authoritarian on COVID catastrophe porn – Dr. Anthony Fauci.
The Public Health Agency of Canada accessed location data from 33 million mobile devices to monitor people’s movement during lockdown, the agency revealed this week.
The Omicron variant is providing scientists with more evidence that COVID-19 is now capable of evading the current antibody treatments and vaccines available, a new study warns. Researchers from Columbia University suggest that new versions of the coronavirus vaccine may be necessary sooner rather than later to end the pandemic.
In 2022, we must defend bodily autonomy.
‘You’re looking at a winter of severe illness and death for yourselves, your families, and the hospitals you may soon overwhelm.’ That was the stark, dystopian warning US president Joe Biden issued to the ‘unvaccinated’ earlier this week.
While the first few rounds of lockdowns, social distancing and other restrictions applied to more or less all people in the societies in which they were introduced (with only the elites able to exempt themselves), in the last few months of 2021 ever-tighter restrictions have been targeted at the unvaccinated.
A new report from Britain’s Health Security Agency found that the Covid booster shots being pushed by Joe Biden and other governments are effective against contracting the omicron variant of Covid-19 for only 10 weeks.
The effectiveness of the booster shot in preventing serious disease and death from omicron is unknown, but previous experience suggests it will provide significant protection.
Discussion surrounding Merck’s newly-authorized COVID-19 pill, molnupiravir, has mostly concerned the risk it might pose to pregnant women. But some experts worry it could also lead to the outbreak of a new variant of the virus it’s designed to treat.
Small businesses have taken a hit to the chin because of COVID lockdowns, with a loss of more than 740,000 jobs, according to the Department of Industry.
The extent of the damages and losses will take time to be fully known, reported Blacklock’s Reporter.
Millions of people are facing travel disruption and increased Covid restrictions over Christmas, as the surging Omicron variant sees flights cancelled and safety curbs tightened.
Italy, Spain and Greece have made face masks compulsory outdoors again.
Catalonia, in northern Spain, has imposed an overnight curfew, and the Netherlands is in a strict lockdown.
In the US, daily Omicron cases have risen beyond the peak of the recent Delta wave, and hospitals are filling up across the country.
Thousands of Americans will be forced to spend the holidays alone after airlines cancel nearly 500 flights and delay another 750 on Christmas Eve because of crew shortages due to Omicron surge
This sucks.
The Marine Corps discharged 66 Marines in the past week for refusing to get the coronavirus vaccine as mandated by the military, outpacing the other services at discipline related to the shots.
Kenney’s Wuhan bat soup comment draws criticism, premier’s office claims ‘scientific theory’ far from racist
An off-hand remark in a recent year-end interview has the office of Alberta’s premier defending Jason Kenney’s comments and maintaining they were not of a hateful nature.
In an interview with Rick Bell of Postmedia, Premier Kenney addressed the issue of COVID-19 variant uncertainty with mention of the city of Wuhan, China, where the first known case of the virus was detected.
“Who knows what the next variant that gets thrown up is? I don’t know,” said Kenney in the interview. “And what’s the next bat soup thing out of Wuhan? I don’t know.
Kenney spoke like a normal human speaks the faux outrage brigade hates that.
Ontario reports nearly 10K new COVID-19 cases, ICU numbers stay flat
Ontario is reporting 9,571 new COVID-19 cases on Friday, the highest daily total since the start of the pandemic.
The daily total shatters the previous high of 5,790 new infections that came a day earlier. It is more than triple the 3,124 new cases reported on Friday last week.
Experts believe the testing backlog in the province means the true number of infections caused by the Omicron variant is actually much higher than being reported. The province saw a record high test positivity rate of 16 per cent on Thursday.
Omicron’s prevalence should shake off COVID-19’s lingering stigma, experts say
Alexandra Floyd said her friends and co-workers were generally understanding when she called and texted them to say she had tested positive for COVID-19 — but still, she worried about being judged.
“I think there’s definitely that stigma related to, ‘Well, where were you? Who are you with the last couple of days? What did you do? Who are you around? Who did you expose?’ ” she told CBC News.
“I understand those questions need to be asked, for sure … but I definitely think that there is still that stigma related to … judging people and what they did.”
The 29-year-old Toronto law clerk said that she was shocked that she contracted the virus and found it “ironic,” given how careful she’s been. She said she’s double vaccinated.
No such consideration will be extended to the unvaxxed by CBC I suspect.
The Overton window of political possibility is the concept that there are a limited range of ideas the public is willing to consider and accept. That politicians can only be effective by advocating policy that fits within the Overton window and that disruptive groups are the ones who can expand or contract the Overton window. In the case of COVID-19, the use of the noble lie has been used by government and world health officials as well as legacy media sycophants to restrict and even close the Overton window regarding issues such as mask use, vaccination strategies, and lockdowns. To be explicitly clear, the Overton Window is a political concept which is being actively manipulated to constrain scientific discourse.
