There seems to be an underlying presumption here that the unvaccinated are unclean (regardless of natural immunity) and their presence will spread disease. What if, however, existing studies reveal that there is little to no difference between the COVID vaccinated and unvaccinated in terms of becoming infected, harboring the virus (viral load in the oral and nasopharynx), and transmitting it?
Despite the Canadian government having awarded hundreds of millions of dollars in contracts to North American manufacturers, Parliament Hill has been giving out masks made in China to MPs, their executive assistants and other employees.
As some people have now been vaccinated for more than half a year, evidence is pouring in about Covid vaccine efficacy. When evaluating vaccine efficacy, it is important to distinguish between efficacy against infection, symptomatic disease, and transmission versus efficacy against hospitalization and death. For infection and symptomatic disease, the COVID-19 vaccines are not as efficacious as hoped, with immunity gradually waning after a few months. For hospitalization and death, immunity is stronger, lasting for at least six months.
The gestalt of the findings implies that the infection explosion globally that we have been experiencing– post double vaccination in e.g. Israel, UK, US etc. –may be due to the vaccinated spreading Covid as much or more than the unvaccinated.
The head of the Ontario Hospital Association says hospitals in the province are moving to urgently reactivate mass vaccination programs as the Omicron variant – the most contagious COVID-19 variant discovered so far – quickly moves to become the dominant variant in the province.
Preliminary data indicate that the new omicron COVID-19 variant is apparently highly contagious, doubling infections every two days or so. In addition, early U.S. data find that the virus variant can cause breakthrough infections in people who have received two and even a third booster dose of current COVID-19 vaccines. The good news from a new South African study is that while two shots of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine provide 33 percent protection against infection from the omicron variant, the inoculation offers 70 percent protection against being hospitalized from it.
After all, what’s the worst that could happen?
The Covid-19 pandemic has sparked “chaos” and “turmoil” stemming not only from the “lacking knowledge” about the transmissibility and danger of the virus itself, but from the will of the super-rich to “snatch an opportunity to bring people in line,” Gerhard Ludwig Mueller said in an interview with Austria’s St. Boniface Institute last week. He is a high-ranking judge at the Vatican court.
Ministers may claim that ever-tightening Covid rules are proportionate and reasonable, but if enough members of the public disagree, then the government could have a real problem on its hands. Non-compliance to another lockdown wouldn’t need to be rampant: if even 10 per cent decide not to adhere it could blow a hole in lockdown’s effectiveness.
Last month, Professor Chris Whitty expressed concern over ‘behavioural fatigue’. At the weekend, senior behavioural experts questioned the government’s prospects of successfully imposing new measures after ‘party-gate’. One told The Observer that ‘trust has been eroded to a very significant level… If you don’t trust the government, why would you do what [it] asked you to do?’
The attacks on free speech and science are unrelenting. Academic publisher Elsevier’s suppression of an article documenting the myocarditis risk of the COVID-19 vaccines, with no excuse or pretext offered, is incredible enough. Viewed alongside Twitter’s censorship of the American Heart Association, YouTube’s suppression of a panel discussion of vaccine mandates on Capitol Hill, and the Orwellian call by National Institutes of Health Director Francis Collins for critics of the government’s COVID-19 policies to be “brought to justice,” the trend is positively chilling.
Renaldo Agostino has gotten used to the roller coaster ride that is the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Windsor entrepreneur, owner of Turbo Espresso Bar and events company Element Entertainment, is familiar with the negative impacts lockdowns have on his businesses, and the benefits loosened restrictions bring.
But with the Omicron variant spreading in Canada, and with some jurisdictions moving to impose restrictions to limit its impact, Agostino is readying to ride another wave.
Not sure the Government has the stomach to impose another lockdown but you never know…
Top health official says that province may need ‘consistent’ approach to public health measures amid threat posed by Omicron
Speaking with reporters, Moore said that Omicron is likely to account for 100 per cent of Ontario’s new COVID-19 cases by the end of the month and that there will need to be “a discussion in the coming days about what additional measures we may need” to protect Ontarians.
“It does appear to be much more transmissible than Delta and much quicker spread, almost with a doubling time of two to three days. I’m sure you’re hearing that from many of the science table analysts and scientists and it is a threat and we need to urgently understand its severity and potential impact on the health system,” he said of the new variant. “But we do want a consistent approach if measures are put in play across Ontario.”
Dr. Anthony Fauci sat down with “Meta” CEO Mark Zuckerberg and finally said out loud what many people have been warning for over a year about the rushed mRNA vaccines: They may actually make the Covid pandemic worse.
Atlantic opinion columnist David Frum is sick and tired of this pandemic and all of the disruptions it’s causing for everyone. That’s a position that most sensible people could agree with, I’m sure. He just wants things to get back to normal. But with these new variants cropping up and government mandates still being issued, how do we go about that? Frum offered up what he clearly saw as a “reasonable” list of options this weekend, leading to some rather swift blowback on social media.
Merry white coat supremacy Christmas, everybody.
“Anyone on your team conducting gain of function studies, recombination studies or any other studies that may have resulted in the creation of the nCoV?” That was James LeDuc, director of the Galveston National Laboratory (GNL) in a February 9, 2020 email to Juan Zhiming at the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV) in China. LeDuc, who earned a PhD in epidemiology from UCLA, had trained staff at the WIV, yet the GNL boss had little clue what was going on there.
“Where is coronavirus research conducted?” LeDuc wanted to know. “What level of biocontainment? How many different laboratories actually handle live virus? Where are coronavirus stocks stored?” In addition, “When was the nCoV first handled in your laboratory? What was the source of that virus?” and “what are the coronaviruses in your possession that are most closely related to nCoV based on genetic sequences and are able to replicate in culture?”
The heavily mutated Omicron variant has led to a serious dent in the ability of vaccines to protect us from catching the Covid virus.
Two doses of some vaccines offer almost no protection from an Omicron infection, although they should still greatly reduce the risk of becoming so ill you need hospital care.
The vaccines were all developed to fight the first form of the virus that emerged two years ago.
So can a third or “booster” dose of those original vaccines make the difference or has Omicron already outwitted the protection they can give?
I remain skeptical
Yikes! – If we continue waiting for more evidence about omicron, it will already be too late
People think fairly linearly, and we like to feel rational by making decisions on the basis of large quantities of data, gathered carefully over time.
It is unintuitive to think exponentially. Yet, understanding exponential growth of infection is absolutely key to responding to and mitigating pandemics. This is because the amount of harm increases so quickly, and the economic and social costs of mitigating that harm rise alongside it.
Ontario reports 1,429 new COVID-19 cases, 5 more deaths
Ontario reported more than 1,400 new COVID-19 cases and five more virus-related deaths on Tuesday as the test positivity rate hit a high not seen in nearly seven months.
Another 1,429 new coronavirus infections were reported today, down from 1,536 on Monday but up from 928 a week ago.
With case counts on the rise over the past month, the seven-day rolling average continues to climb and hit 1,400 today, compared to 975 a week ago.
European country bans booze to tackle Omicron
Norway has banned the sale of alcohol in bars and restaurants in an effort to curb the spread of the Covid-19 Omicron variant, which continues to push infections in the country on a sharp rise.
New Covid-19 rules will prohibit the sale of alcohol at bars, restaurants, and other service-based venues from Wednesday, while Norwegians are also being urged to work from home if possible.
“Infection rates in Norway are increasing sharply, and we have now gained new knowledge about the omicron variant and how fast it can spread. We are in a more serious situation,” declared Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre, who claimed that the “stricter measures” were necessary “to maintain control of the pandemic.”
Why omicron is overtaking delta — and what that means for our fight against COVID-19
In the battle of the variants, omicron is poised to win.
While delta has long dominated the bulk of Canada’s coronavirus cases, the latest variant of concern is set to overtake other variants both here and abroad as it spreads through more than 60 countries around the world.
Early evidence suggests omicron is more adept at infecting people who’ve already had COVID-19 or multiple doses of leading vaccines, and the heavily mutated variant also has an uncanny knack for transmitting between people in the same home.
Full disclosure. I booked a Booster shot – earliest I could get is Dec 23 by which point if predictions are correct we will be dominated by Omicron. Fab. I was invited to Christmas at my brother’s. He is holding on but his condition continues its now accelerated, unrelenting assault. At this point I wonder if exposing him to the risk of infection is wise. We’ll abide by his decision.
Canada’s top doctor is urging the federal government to transform its public health system so the country is better equipped to handle future and present health threats.
Chief public health officer Dr. Theresa Tam says the COVID-19 pandemic was a wake-up call on the need for “public health renewal” in Canada.
Part of that involves improving Canada’s public health data collection and surveillance.
