Covid-19

[Tracker]

It ain't over 'til its over. Still wearing my mask when in stores and such. 

[MOBomberFan]

100% masked, staff and customer alike at my local Safeway this morning.

[Wideleft]

4 minutes ago, MOBomberFan said:

100% masked, staff and customer alike at my local Safeway this morning.

Non-maskers are still the exception from what I've seen, but I find myself making bets in the parking lot about who is not going to put on a mask before entering the store.

Trucker convoy stereotypes are about 50-50.  Older teenage boys, too.

[JCon]

I was at The Forks last night. My son and I were definitely outliers wearing our masks. Forks staff were but very, very few other patrons were. 

[MOBomberFan]

50 minutes ago, Wideleft said:

Trucker convoy stereotypes are about 50-50.

As I left the parking lot a human set of trucknuts parked his lift-kitted cliche right infront of the doors and went in without a mask. I'm sure he's 'just here for a sec' so no biggy

[Noeller]

So, in my little "Morden, Alberta" town that I currently live and work in, it's near 0 masks. I saw a couple staff in No Frills that still wore them when I popped in yesterday, but no customers and most of the staff didn't. Last weekend in Calgary, pretty much the same. I'd say about 10% masks right now. All this as the wastewater shows spiking Omi B.2 all across this redneck wasteland....

[JCon]

3 minutes ago, Noeller said:

So, in my little "Morden, Alberta" town that I currently live and work in, it's near 0 masks. I saw a couple staff in No Frills that still wore them when I popped in yesterday, but no customers and most of the staff didn't. Last weekend in Calgary, pretty much the same. I'd say about 10% masks right now. All this as the wastewater shows spiking Omi B.2 all across this redneck wasteland....

Take an Alberta break...

[Noeller]

1 minute ago, JCon said:

Take an Alberta break...

Need one so bad......June 10th weekend for sure.....end of August for sure........need more. 

[17to85]

7 minutes ago, Noeller said:

So, in my little "Morden, Alberta" town that I currently live and work in, it's near 0 masks. I saw a couple staff in No Frills that still wore them when I popped in yesterday, but no customers and most of the staff didn't. Last weekend in Calgary, pretty much the same. I'd say about 10% masks right now. All this as the wastewater shows spiking Omi B.2 all across this redneck wasteland....

Yeah there are very few people wearing masks anymore.  About the only place I'll put one on is the university of calgary because they still require it until the end of the term. Everywhere else there is no point. No one else wears one it doesn't make a difference. Government has stopped caring so just accepting the reality that eventually we will all catch it.

[Tracker]

7 minutes ago, 17to85 said:

Yeah there are very few people wearing masks anymore.  About the only place I'll put one on is the university of Calgary because they still require it until the end of the term. Everywhere else there is no point. No one else wears one it doesn't make a difference. Government has stopped caring so just accepting the reality that eventually we will all catch it.

I was in Costco (St. James Street) yesterday and about 2-thirds or more customers had masks on. Encouraging.

[Noeller]

Winnipeg is just great....it takes a lot of ****, but it is great. Love seeing the "**** you, Covid" stance...

[WildPath]

"There is a widespread, rosy misconception that viruses evolve over time to become more benign. This is not the case: there is no predestined evolutionary outcome for a virus to become more benign, especially ones, such as SARS-CoV-2, in which most transmission happens before the virus causes severe disease. Consider that Alpha and Delta are more virulent than the strain first found in Wuhan, China. The second wave of the 1918 influenza pandemic was far more deadly than the first.

Much can be done to shift the evolutionary arms race in humanity’s favour. First, we must set aside lazy optimism. Second, we must be realistic about the likely levels of death, disability and sickness. Targets set for reduction should consider that circulating virus risks giving rise to new variants. Third, we must use — globally — the formidable weapons available: effective vaccines, antiviral medications, diagnostic tests and a better understanding of how to stop an airborne virus through mask wearing, distancing, and air ventilation and filtration. Fourth, we must invest in vaccines that protect against a broader range of variants."

COVID-19: endemic doesn’t mean harmless (nature.com)

[MOBomberFan]

Lazy optimism ffs its the natural course of virtually all viruses. Remind me again which virus known kept mutating til it was so unstoppable it wiped out all life on the planet

[Goalie]

On 2022-03-25 at 10:42 AM, JCon said:

I was at The Forks last night. My son and I were definitely outliers wearing our masks. Forks staff were but very, very few other patrons were. 

My daughter has dance at the forks.  Normally ppl do wear masks there but not in the general market region when eating or obviously outdoors. I'll be honest,  waiting around for an hour I'd go Have some food and drink. When not eating tho and just walking around,  yeah mask on 

I'm at the point where if a sign says masks recommended I wear one... if not, like the bank? Not so much. Anywhere tho with random strangers and young people, yeah, it's worn. 

Grocery? Malls? Oh you bet your ass I'm masked up... all vaxxed up be damned, I have lost trust in ppl I don't know. 

Edited March 28, 2022 by Goalie

[MOBomberFan]

Hockey game last night was about 10% or less masked at any given time by my estimate. 100% of staff though.

 

Upon reflection I've decided to adopt the moniker 'lazy optimist' because I'll be damned if it doesn't fit me right

[WildPath]

10 hours ago, MOBomberFan said:

Lazy optimism ffs its the natural course of virtually all viruses. Remind me again which virus known kept mutating til it was so unstoppable it wiped out all life on the planet

I think the lazy optimism part is about getting rid of all restrictions and assuming everything will be okay as well as assuming we will mutate our way out of Covid and be done with it. I've mostly had the assumption that every subsequent evolution will be less severe, which according to the author who is a professor of viral evolution and genomics at Oxford, is not the case. After reading the article, I'd say the next evolution of the virus is likely to be even more transmissible, more likely to evade vaccines and if this is combined with increased severity, we are in big trouble.

There's a big difference between a more severe strain of the virus and wiping out all life on the planet. Any one of the 3 - increased transmission, increased vaccine evasion or increased severity is a bad outcome. Assuming each evolution of the virus will be better on all three fronts is lazy optimism. We'd be in a much different place if Omicron never evolved, despite the decrease in severity.

[MOBomberFan]

Just now, WildPath said:

There's a big difference between a more severe strain of the virus and wiping out all life on the planet.

Yes definitely and my hyperbole doesn't help the conversation I get that. I'm just thinking if there is such a thing as lazy optimists then surely there are lazy alarmists out there quick to share unrealized nightmare scenarios for clicks (not to say nature.com is clickbait... hello alternet!)

It's fair and accurate for the author to say "there is no predestined evolutionary outcome for a virus to become more benign" but that's only because we do not operate in a vaccuum; demos, populations density, vaccination rates, so many factors contribute. It just seems alarmist to essentially say 'it technically COULD get worse though empirically most don't' but I will (grimly) change my opinion on the matter if we can ID a single virus that persists today that is more deadly, transmissible and vaccine resistant than it was when we discovered it

[WildPath]

4 minutes ago, MOBomberFan said:

Yes definitely and my hyperbole doesn't help the conversation I get that. I'm just thinking if there is such a thing as lazy optimists then surely there are lazy alarmists out there quick to share unrealized nightmare scenarios for clicks (not to say nature.com is clickbait... hello alternet!)

It's fair and accurate for the author to say "there is no predestined evolutionary outcome for a virus to become more benign" but that's only because we do not operate in a vaccuum; demos, populations density, vaccination rates, so many factors contribute. It just seems alarmist to essentially say 'it technically COULD get worse though empirically most don't' but I will (grimly) change my opinion on the matter if we can ID a single virus that persists today that is more deadly, transmissible and vaccine resistant than it was when we discovered it

Again, it doesn't need to evolve all 3 (severity, transmissibility, vaccine resistance). Any one of the 3 could put us in a much worse place and hoping that it evolves less severity is not a great strategy according the the author. Again, if evolution would have stopped with Delta and we never would have got Omicron, we would be in a much better place. And that was from an evolution that was, thankfully, less severe.

The article itself is from Nature which is highly respected and the author is a world leader on virus evolution. I think he's rightly concerned about how we are assuming endemic means Covid is petering out and coming to an end and is tempering that lazy optimism he sees. I think it is natural to really hope everything is good and will only get better. I had more or less that view when we were really rolling out vaccines and it seemed like everything would be normal again. Unfortunately the virus evolved (with less severity no less) and the situation changed for the worse.

[the watcher]

I wonder what the real numbers are now? I know SO many people who have it now and my circle isn't as large as many.Just in the last few weeks I know at least 8 people that tested positive.

Edited March 28, 2022 by the watcher

[Brandon]

Since the mask mandate ended I'd say 80% of the people are not wearing masks based on where I have gone.  It's mostly only seniors. 

[FrostyWinnipeg]

23 hours ago, the watcher said:

I wonder what the real numbers are now? I know SO many people who have it now and my circle isn't as large as many.Just in the last few weeks I know at least 8 people that tested positive.

You had it right?

[Mark H.]

 

 PCR and Rapid tests are ineffective when the symptoms are mostly gastro - which for many people they now are

[Rich]

2 minutes ago, Mark H. said:

 

 PCR and Rapid tests are ineffective when the symptoms are mostly gastro - which for many people they now are

Do they know how contagious it is when the only symptoms are gastro?  Is it the same?  Less?

[Mark H.]

1 hour ago, Rich said:

Do they know how contagious it is when the only symptoms are gastro?  Is it the same?  Less?

I don't know.  

But I can confirm that it doesn't show up easily with testing - I've heard that from parents and students

The symptoms matched up but multiple rapid tests were negative - the doctor told them to assume it was Omicron 

[Goalie]

My nephew was sick for a week. Took a rapid test.. negative. Sister took him to doctor, he Said negative also but told her to assume it's a form of covid. 

Basically covid has taken over the flu and if u have any flu like symptoms now it's safe to assume it's covid