Coronavirus All Purpose Thread: moving on?

[GGG]

Originally Posted by PeteMoss

We can clearly reduce the impact of covid in the population. But I think at this point, the cost/benefit scale is a lot different than pre-vaccine or even Omicron/later variants.

You can put in the same lockdown restrictions we had pre-vaccine but the benefits are going to be a lot less. And if you really want to contain something as contagious as these new variants - you'd need to go even stricter on the restrictions than previous and try the China like restrictions which just wouldn't fly here (and also are stupid).

Does that reduce impact or just delay the impact? The previous concept was reduce spread because a vaccine would significantly reduce harm as the disease worked its way through the population. Now you aren’t delaying for anything so does flattening reduce total infections?

[PeteMoss]

In theory you could reduce it. It wouldn't be palatable to anyone - but it could be done.

[Sliver]

Hey, what's the deal with Covid in Calgary these days? I'm literally the only guy I see in a mask in public settings 90% of the time. Still not going to dine-in restaurants since Omicron came out in mid to late December (with a couple exceptions here and there...just not doing it casually or frequently). I just don't want to catch it because my small business is so reliant on my presence (just hired a guy to help to mitigate this risk, but it'll take a bit to train him).

I took my hand off the wheel for about a month in monitoring the actual risk of getting it and now I have no clue how prevalent it is in our area. Is it party time now? I mean, the dome looks packed. Bars look full. I don't want to miss out on the fun if the risk is reasonable. Business is booming right now and I need to stay healthy as it's not like I can just call in sick and not have repercussions. The inconvenience of avoiding big public gatherings and wearing a mask are small compared to the #### show I'll face if I miss a couple weeks of work right now, but if we're in a wave's valley I'm ready to loosen the reigns.

[Fuzz]

Mixed bag. Hospitalizations are still at 1225, which is not all that far off the peak of around 1600. Test positivity is 22%, which doesn't tell you much, since testing requirements changed so much. So the best indicator we have is wastewater.

Spoiler!

https://covid-tracker.chi-csm.ca/


We are clearly dipping. New data should show up tomorrow, so see what is says then. If you are fully vaxed your risk of a long absence is low, but it woudl still be a PITA even if it is "mild".


FWIW I still mask everywhere, and don't go out to bars/restaurants. But we are also immune compromised.

[Lubicon]

Originally Posted by Sliver

Hey, what's the deal with Covid in Calgary these days? I'm literally the only guy I see in a mask in public settings 90% of the time. Still not going to dine-in restaurants since Omicron came out in mid to late December (with a couple exceptions here and there...just not doing it casually or frequently). I just don't want to catch it because my small business is so reliant on my presence (just hired a guy to help to mitigate this risk, but it'll take a bit to train him).

I took my hand off the wheel for about a month in monitoring the actual risk of getting it and now I have no clue how prevalent it is in our area. Is it party time now? I mean, the dome looks packed. Bars look full. I don't want to miss out on the fun if the risk is reasonable. Business is booming right now and I need to stay healthy as it's not like I can just call in sick and not have repercussions. The inconvenience of avoiding big public gatherings and wearing a mask are small compared to the #### show I'll face if I miss a couple weeks of work right now, but if we're in a wave's valley I'm ready to loosen the reigns.

I think this nicely describes the situation. It looks like we have evolved to the point where people are going to manage their behavior to match their own risk tolerance rather than the government mandating behavior through restrictions. That's the path forward in my opinion. The health system seems to be coping. For some Covid is over, for others they are still taking a cautious approach.

[Fuzz]

Originally Posted by Lubicon

I think this nicely describes the situation. It looks like we have evolved to the point where people are going to manage their behavior to match their own risk tolerance rather than the government mandating behavior through restrictions. That's the path forward in my opinion. The health system seems to be coping. For some Covid is over, for others they are still taking a cautious approach.

I think that's up for debate. Typically pre-covid these wait times would be in the 1.5-3 hour range(which really meant most people were waiting 6+ hours). Right now:

4 hr 5 min Alberta Children's Hospital

6 hr 14 min Foothills Medical Centre

4 hr 5 min Peter Lougheed Centre


3 hr 0 min Rockyview General Hospital

4 hr 52 min South Health Campus

https://www.albertahealthservices.ca...waittimes.aspx


You are probably looking at a 10 hour wait unless you are really in trouble. Our EMS system is near collapse, experiencing red alerts regularly. I've been waiting well over a year to see an ENT specialist, with no appointment in sight. My assessment is that our healthcare system is at crisis levels, so it depends on your interpretation of the word "coping".

[Knut]

I was chatting with an ER doc. Essentially now is not the time to have a Heart Attack.

One of the issues he notes is that people had small issues during the pandemic that they never got checked out (eg. Angina) that have now progressed to something more critical. This means more bedtime and a higher amount of care required. On top of that there is a lack of critical care nurses, and doctors, right now. Some of the excess deaths from the pandemic will be from this.

There was a couple days last week where there was no access to a Cardiologist in all of Central Alberta (Red deer and area).

Not sure how to solve the problem though.

[sa226]

This is less directly related to covid. On Sunday we called 911 for a suspected allergic reaction and potential anaphylaxis with our 3 year old. We used his epipen. 911 operator said the ambulance was on its way. 35 minutes later the dispatcher called us to say that an ambulance actually wasn't coming and wouldn't be for a long time, so they patched us through to an on call ER doc who suggested we bring him in to the hospital ourselves.

911 call made 130pm. Saw the Doctor at 630pm

Now a lot of factors influenced the hospital triage etc. He is fine now and it didn't turn out to be anaphylaxis, but had all of the early signs of it. (Turned out to be a very weird surreal day)

Long story short, kid is okay but right now is not a good time to require any sort of critical care.

Oh and eff Kenney .

[Lubicon]

Originally Posted by Fuzz

I think that's up for debate. Typically pre-covid these wait times would be in the 1.5-3 hour range(which really meant most people were waiting 6+ hours). Right now:

https://www.albertahealthservices.ca...waittimes.aspx


You are probably looking at a 10 hour wait unless you are really in trouble. Our EMS system is near collapse, experiencing red alerts regularly. I've been waiting well over a year to see an ENT specialist, with no appointment in sight. My assessment is that our healthcare system is at crisis levels, so it depends on your interpretation of the word "coping".

I won't disagree with this but our system was in trouble before Covid. I'm not sure these things can be directly attributed to the pandemic, things were coming to a head long before that. By coping I meant that Covid is not overwhelming our system like it was threatening to do before.

[#-3]

I'm surprised we are dipping right now, within my circle of contact, right now is almost as bad as it has been, people are just using rapid tests, but I know a ton of people who have been sick / had a positive rapid test lately.

this morning my kids school sent out a reminder, because they've had so much illness in the school.

[calgarygeologist]

I know it isn't possible in some cases but I would avoid any sort of hospital visit at this point based on the reports that have been out recently. But we did have a quick and easy visit to the Children's hospital on Friday which was very surprising. My kid cut her lip open and my first reaction was that it was fine and would heal but the significant other thought that stitches would be necessary. Fortunately our family doctor was able to provide an online examination in a timely manner and did recommend a visit to the hospital for their opinion. I was dreading this because I didn't want to deal with a potentially lengthy wait (many hours.) But the check-in was quick and the stitches expert was available right away to do an examination and overall the visit was under an hour. It was very relieving to be taken care of so quickly but I know many other folks are not always so lucky and it is a pretty ####ty feeling to have to even question whether or not to go to the hospital because of wait times.

[Ashartus]

Originally Posted by calgarygeologist

I know it isn't possible in some cases but I would avoid any sort of hospital visit at this point based on the reports that have been out recently.

I think avoiding going to the hospital or doctor if you need to is a mistake that contributes to the situation we're in now (not getting earlier treatment can make problems worse). Rather I would phrase as "hope you don't need a hospital visit" or take precautions to look after yourself so you don't need one.

[Fuzz]

Originally Posted by Lubicon

I won't disagree with this but our system was in trouble before Covid. I'm not sure these things can be directly attributed to the pandemic, things were coming to a head long before that. By coping I meant that Covid is not overwhelming our system like it was threatening to do before.

Sure, but these wait times look worse than in the past, and I don't remember ever hearing the EMS system in as much trouble as it is. And for y ENT, I've been told specifically it is because they are dealing with so many covid patients, which makes sense. Anyway, this should be telling us our government should be making every effort possible to shore up the system, which they are not doing. They should have done it a year ago, but instead they threatened pay cuts which had nurses leaving:

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calga...rses-1.6114721

Godamn bumbling #######s. So now we pay the price for that, too.

[calf]

Originally Posted by calgarygeologist

I know it isn't possible in some cases but I would avoid any sort of hospital visit at this point based on the reports that have been out recently. But we did have a quick and easy visit to the Children's hospital on Friday which was very surprising. My kid cut her lip open and my first reaction was that it was fine and would heal but the significant other thought that stitches would be necessary. Fortunately our family doctor was able to provide an online examination in a timely manner and did recommend a visit to the hospital for their opinion. I was dreading this because I didn't want to deal with a potentially lengthy wait (many hours.) But the check-in was quick and the stitches expert was available right away to do an examination and overall the visit was under an hour. It was very relieving to be taken care of so quickly but I know many other folks are not always so lucky and it is a pretty ####ty feeling to have to even question whether or not to go to the hospital because of wait times.

The wait times at Children's always seems to ebb and flow too. Sometimes it's super quick to get in and be seen, and watching the wait times on the app, sometimes the waits are showing to be 6+ hours (and that's just what the app says, my experience is that it takes much longer). There's been lots of reports about lines being out the door, taking multiple hours just to see triage. Not a great situation to be in overall.

[vegasbound]

Originally Posted by #-3

I'm surprised we are dipping right now, within my circle of contact, right now is almost as bad as it has been, people are just using rapid tests, but I know a ton of people who have been sick / had a positive rapid test lately.

this morning my kids school sent out a reminder, because they've had so much illness in the school.

FWIW, my circle is small and probably 75% of it have had COVID in the past 6 weeks. It's insanity. Two of them have required hospitalizations (very short for both of them). One had underlying conditions, the other one I'm not sure on.



I'm also masking and not going into huge gatherings. Am now going into grocery stores and garden stores instead of curbside/online though. But again, I live in an immunocompromised household.

[#-3]

Originally Posted by vegasbound

FWIW, my circle is small and probably 75% of it have had COVID in the past 6 weeks. It's insanity. Two of them have required hospitalizations (very short for both of them). One had underlying conditions, the other one I'm not sure on.



I'm also masking and not going into huge gatherings. Am now going into grocery stores and garden stores instead of curbside/online though. But again, I live in an immunocompromised household.

Agreed, we kept it out of our house for 26 months of this, and this week lost the fight finally. To me it feels like it's everywhere right now, but that's a very personal prospective.

[Hemi-Cuda]

Are there any tests out there you can get for Covid antibodies, or will there ever be? Officially we've never had Covid in our house, but the kids have been sick plenty of times and there have been a couple of times I suspected I had it, though the rapid tests came back negative. I'm just curious if we have somehow managed to avoid it entirely or if we had it and didn't even know it

[Knut]

Originally Posted by Hemi-Cuda

Are there any tests out there you can get for Covid antibodies, or will there ever be? Officially we've never had Covid in our house, but the kids have been sick plenty of times and there have been a couple of times I suspected I had it, though the rapid tests came back negative. I'm just curious if we have somehow managed to avoid it entirely or if we had it and didn't even know it

Ichor Blood here in Calgary has some options.

First one is shorter term antibody protection while the other is longer term T cell.

https://ichorblood.ca/pages/Cities/Calgary+Alberta/28

https://ichorblood.ca/tcell

[MoneyGuy]

After you recover from COVID19 is there a period of immunity or are you able to get it again virtually immediately?

[Knut]

Originally Posted by MoneyGuy

After you recover from COVID19 is there a period of immunity or are you able to get it again virtually immediately?

There likely is a period of time from immunity but it is variable based on the individual 90 days and 6 months have both been cited.