Covid-19

[zagox]

For what it’s worth, this is the new IHME model for Alberta:

 

[Surrealplaces]

They show quite a spike in the number of deaths, jumping from 2 deaths to 16 on April 22 and 17 deaths on April 23, and predicting another 17 deaths today. We had 5 deaths on the 22nd and 2 on the 23rd, so hopefully this model is incorrect on the high side. Very interesting looking through the models for different places.

 

[JonnyCanuck]

As of Wednesday, there were 70 hospitalizations with 18 in ICU. If you assume the deaths are coming out of ICU cases, then the above projection is way high. Unless the nursing home cases do not show up in hospitalizations. Perhaps these people are being treated and unfortunately dying in place.

 

[AJX]

Bylaw officers to start ticketing people not practicing physical distancing

Keeping a safe distance while enjoying the outdoors will be more strongly enforced in Calgary.

calgary.ctvnews.ca

 

[Mountain Man]

So phase 1 of the re-opening kicks off in Calgary on Monday, I for one will be headed to the Ship for a burger and a pint! assuming they actually decide to open.

 

[Rollerstud98]

Worker from Westman Village tested positive this week. Was at work Friday, fortunately I was not in the same building but one of our workers was.

 

[Beazley66]

I know of 2 contracting companies, including their subs that had to shut down their projects yesterday, with workers being diagnosed as positive. And that sucks.

 

[Mountain Man]

Worker from Westman Village tested positive this week. Was at work Friday, fortunately I was not in the same building but one of our workers was.

Hope everyone recovers! Goes to show that even with some limited re-openings, we aren't even close to being done with this yet.

 

[Silence&Motion]

I've never seen anyone at any construction site in this city wearing a mask. I routinely see construction workers standing right next to each other chatting. Is the construction industry taking this pandemic seriously? Even if the workers have a sense of personal invincibility, don't employers have an interest in keeping their sites from having to shut down every time someone tests positive?

 

[Rollerstud98]

There are a handful of sites that require masks. Horizon housing on 45th street has gone to require face masks but I think that site is pretty close to complete. When I have to go inside of my service contracts I will wear a mask.

 

[AJX]

'We need to act quickly': Calgary doctor tells council mask mandate will help contain COVID-19 spread

The Calgary area is once again the hotspot for cases, with 553 of the total 1,109 active infections

calgaryherald.com

 

[JonnyCanuck]

I know this is something that Nenshi has been advocating particularly for public transit and public buildings. The recent increase in cases in our city is far from what I would call a surge given our population. The big problem as I am observing is that there is still a significant percentage of people not practicing 'physical distancing' particularly in public spaces. Either they don't care or are not paying attention. Will people being forced to wear masks become more self-conscious of that?

 

[Silence&Motion]

Globe and Mail: Alberta COVID-19 testing system overwhelmed as infections spike

This is very troubling. As long as cases are rising, it means the R value is greater than one. If the R value is greater than one, it means that things will quickly get out of hand if we just maintain the status quo. What's even more troubling is that this time of year should be the easiest time to keep the virus suppressed. We've been lucky to have been having wonderful weather all spring and summer. No forest fires. No 30+ degree weather. Just enough rain to keep everything looking green. What happens in the fall when people start heading inside?

Instead of suppressing the virus, we are rising fast enough to overwhelm our ability to test, track, and trace. Once we're no longer able to do that, the virus will have gotten away from us and we'll have to start going back to full shutdown. We are at great risk of not being able to open schools again in September.

At the same time, our city council is dithering over a very limited mask requirement while jurisdictions across the world have already imposed blanket mask requirements. We've heard almost nothing from the Provincial government since the cases started to increase. In fact the UCP seems to have dedicated itself to using this crisis as cover to push through a wish list of right-wing legislation targeted at unions, protesters, environmental regulations, and doctors. The aggressive stance that Shandro is taking against the doctors is completely insane!

This is a moment when we need all hands on deck to try to get our society back up and running while keeping the virus in check. Our single biggest priority should be to get the schools opened in September and the government should be pulling out all the stops to make sure that can happen. Instead, not only are they completely silent on schools, they've actually been CUTTING funding to the schools.

 

[darwink]

I know this is something that Nenshi has been advocating particularly for public transit and public buildings. The recent increase in cases in our city is far from what I would call a surge given our population. The big problem as I am observing is that there is still a significant percentage of people not practicing 'physical distancing' particularly in public spaces. Either they don't care or are not paying attention. Will people being forced to wear masks become more self-conscious of that?

I'd like to think so. But I think it might even be more important to mask regardless of being able to physically distance given what we know now. Changed my thinking recently about indoor masks even when able to be physically distant, for two reasons. 1) the study which talked about how long droplets/aerosols seemed to remain suspended in the air and 2) personal observation of how in elevators and common spaces in my building how often I can smell perfume from someone who passed long before. Those two things combined just clicked for me that to avoid transmission in that environment, everyone needs to be masked as everyone is a potential source of those droplets.

I think there are a couple other things can do if we want to keep as open: 2 drink maximum at bars or restaurants or a 2 hour maximum; and a mandate (it is only suggested now) for restaurants to collect contact information of at least one member of every table for tracing purposes.

 

[Disraeli]

Globe and Mail: Alberta COVID-19 testing system overwhelmed as infections spike

At the same time, our city council is dithering over a very limited mask requirement while jurisdictions across the world have already imposed blanket mask requirements. We've heard almost nothing from the Provincial government since the cases started to increase. In fact the UCP seems to have dedicated itself to using this crisis as cover to push through a wish list of right-wing legislation targeted at unions, protesters, environmental regulations, and doctors. The aggressive stance that Shandro is taking against the doctors is completely insane!

I agree, but the city shouldn't even be put in the position of having to use bylaws on a public health matter of provincial significance. I imagine the UCP is trying to avoid rustling the feathers of their more libertarian constituents, but still, it's a no brainer at this point.