“China eats weird animals disease”

A few weeks ago I compared the emergence of the British variant of coronavirus to the twist at the end of a “Twilight Zone” episode. The entire planet spent 2020 waiting for a cure to the plague, and then it arrived to global jubilation just before New Year’s — only to be followed immediately by ominous news that a new strain of the virus had begun to circulate widely.

Every weekend — for months now — protesters gather at Calgary City Hall to protest the provincial and municipal restrictions on civil liberties meant to stem the spread of the coronavirus pandemic.

“Cuomo and de Blasio are destroying the city,” cried a local restaurateur in a recent radio ad calling on people to visit his homey Italian eatery, where they can “fuggedaboudit.” The sentiment would have fit well in New York, where countless restaurants are struggling to pay rent, and where indoor dining is again banned. The Brooklyn accent griping from my car radio seemed out of place, however, as the Palm Beach trees flew by. The restaurant is in Jupiter, Florida. I’ve never been tempted to make the half-hour drive north from Palm Beach to dine there, but deserting New York for Florida’s warmer climes is easier to understand these days.

The World Health Organization is beginning an investigation into the scientific origins of the coronavirus. They’ve assembled a blue-ribbon panel of doctors, researchers, and scientists to get to the bottom of the mystery.

As it turns out, investigative reporter Nicholson Baker did most of the work for them. Writing in New York Magazine, Baker reveals a horror story about an accidental release of the coronavirus deliberately created in a lab funded by U.S. tax dollars.

The real issue with so many politicians of all political stripes flying out of the country over the Christmas/New Year holiday isn’t that they ignored the advice of their own governments not to do so.

It’s that they’ve undermined the credibility of government-imposed public health measures and lockdowns to fight the pandemic, and handed their fiercest critics an argument about why they’re unnecessary and extreme.

Ontario is reporting another day with more than 3,100 new COVID-19 cases, along with 51 new deaths, as hospitalizations hit a record high and test positivity remained at worrisome levels.

“Locally, there are 778 new cases in Toronto, 614 in Peel, 213 in York Region, 172 in Durham, 151 in Middlesex-London and 151 in Hamilton,” Health Minister Christine Elliott wrote on Twitter.

Health authorities to start naming specific Toronto workplaces with significant COVID-19 outbreaks

…There are currently more than 250 active workplace outbreaks across the province, according to the latest provincial data — the second-highest source behind care settings. There are currently 16 active workplace outbreaks in Toronto, Dr. Eileen de Villa, the city’s medical officer of health, said Monday.

Three employers with outbreaks that “pose a significant public health risk” are now named on the city’s website: skin care manufacturer DECIEM, meat processor Sofina Foods and circuit board manufacturer TTM Technologies. The new cumulative data shows warehouses, manufacturing and distribution companies have had the largest number of outbreaks at 132, followed by bars and nightclubs with 41. Food processors have seen 31 outbreaks since the start of the pandemic, and the retail sector has registered 24.

I am very curious about what is considered an essential business and how you make the list.

One of Belgium’s most powerful politicians was caught with his pants down — with a mirror catching him in his undies during a live-streamed interview from his home.