An article posted on AP News a little while ago: "First COVID-19 vaccine tested in US poised for final testing." Preliminary results from a small test group look promising. Now they are doing a larger test with 30,000 people. Kor
Tasmania has been 60 days without a new case and almost as long without an active case. Our borders are closed except for returning Tasmanians and essential workers. If Tasmanians are returning from other states they have to quarantine in their home unless they have been in Victoria and then they have to quarantine in a hotel set up for that purpose. Tasmania is lucky because a) because being an island we only have to control our flights and the overnight ferry b) Tasmania does not have any international flights. We do technically have an international airport but the only international flights that has ever seen were to and from New Zealand and those flights were cut out a few years ago. Our tourist industry, which is one of our most important industries, has suffered terribly.
These are companies looking to cash in on a panicked population looking for something that was in short supply. QC is not part of their culture.
https://www.health.govt.nz/news-media/media-releases/1-new-case-covid-19-9 they get one case of covid 19 in 77 days and it makes the news OMG new zealand..
As @Owain Taggart mentioned above, most of my province entered into phase 3 on Friday. Effective today (Saturday), our regional medical officer of health has mandated mask usage in indoor public areas. At present, this is an instruction issued through the Emergency Management and Civil Protection Act, but it is expected that city council will pass a similar bylaw as early as this week. It will be interesting to see how the community reacts. The mask usage I've observed from week to week at the grocery store has varied, but I think it usually averages out around 20%, and has never exceeded 50%. On Friday, our city had one new reported case, and on Saturday, our second day in phase 3, we had two new reported cases, bringing our current active cases to 595. According to our local hospitals, our number of hospitalized cases is less than five. According to regional health unit data, 21% of all cases in the region involve people in their 20s, and 17% involve people in their 80s.
I thought that was a provincial order? Because ironically, that order became effective the same day our district had announced being Covid-free, so we've been wearing masks in public places even while our district doesn't have any active cases, which still hasn't changed. The one thing is, it's not strictly mandatory as stores aren't allowed to turn away anyone who doesn't have a mask, even though most stores are providing some. It will be really interesting to see how things play out with Phase 3. Restauraunts are allowed to offer indoor dining again, and gyms and movie theatres are allowed to re-open in limited capacities, but the interesting thing is, Cineplex, the largest movie theatre chain in Canada says it isn't ready to open yet because they've yet to figure out how they'll operate. I can see why, as they're limited to 50 people at any given time, and being that they're a multiplex chain, 50 people is just not going to cut it when trying to run a such a large business requiring lots of investment in time, not to mention the expense in running a large building. Everytime I'm in that area, I keep looking at their parking lot thinking they should set up a drive-in on the side of their building. The parking lot is big enough for cars to be spaced out, and the side of their building is big enough to project onto with a few modifications to make it project better, ie neutral surface, and I think if they could offer both indoor and outdoor viewing, they'd be in a better position.
I'm not aware of any provincial order... last I heard, the provincial government was not planning to implement such an order, and was going to leave it to the individual regional health units to determine their best course. (Although the Ministry of Health is of course recommending mask usage.) I did some Googling, and if you fall under the health region that I thought you did, it looks like your order did come from your regional health unit. (I don't want to identify it, since I'm not sure if you want that to be public, and I'm not really sure I have the correct health unit anyway. ) Our order does have exemptions, but it is apparently mandatory, and they do note that: One unusual thing about our order: they announced it Friday, and it came into effect on Saturday. They had previously issued an order requiring masks on public transit, but they gave us *two weeks* warning before that comes into effect, so the public transit one actually comes into effect on Monday, two days after the indoor public spaces one, even though it was announced much earlier. I could say that I am certainly not ready to go into a restaurant or a movie theatre, but to be honest, I rarely did that even before the pandemic, so it's kind of a hollow assertion.
Yeah, thanks. Although I'm sure it was fairly easy via process of elimination And you're right. I might have confused the provincial level health agency with the regional unit. Easy to confuse when everything is always changing.
Reminds of early attempts to identify covid-19. https://www.atlasobscura.com/articl...-71131593&mc_cid=3b6f59702c&mc_eid=31891445e5
Had one as a "pet" when I was a kid, his name was Bandit. And yes they do wash their paws in that way. After he matured he started to try to bite me when I fed him, and I have the scars to prove it. I let him go back into the wild, instead of turning him into a pelt.
So, today my district which was previously declared covid-free, now has a new case bringing my district up to 68 cases, a kid under 19 who traveled.
As expected, our city council passed a bylaw today requiring masks or face coverings, which must cover the nose, mouth and chin, in indoor public spaces. Fines for non-compliance range from $500 to $100,000.
Yeah, I do see lots of people not wearing them properly. Some likely wear it for a bit and lower it to below their nose when they feel they need a breather, and not realize that having the nose exposed makes one vulnerable. I've even seen it via a store employee, and I feel some even wear masks that are too small for them.