TOPIC:

Finally; a glimmer of hope - from an optomist.
Some countries are seeing their "curve" continue to rise. Some are witnessing a trackable slow-down on positive cases and a reduction in deaths! That's certainly good news. There can be no argument that countries that acted quickly are seeing definitive results of their respective decisions. Those that deferred immediate action and in "some" cases have still not implemented ANY safe distancing practices, are now suffering the most or are about to !
Canada was not the first country to enact regulations and the numbers show the results of that delay. However, once the statistics from other countries started to grow expotentially it was enlighening to observe something unique. All of the Provinces Premieires despite their political orientation, collectively and co-operatively united to coordinate the efforts for the good of the country.
Within the past few days British Columbia's statistics have indicated a slow-down of the spread. This has been recognised by the Federal Health Minister because B.C. was the first province to intiate "Stay at Home" policies. More significantly is the timing of these measures. B.C.'s Provincial Health Minister Bonnie Henry and the other provincial health experts have from the onset been in constant real-time communication, sharing vital information which has been of paramount importance in understanding and tracking the Canadian spread.
This sharing of info with a professional, moral and ethical foresight to do so gave cause for concern to Ms. Henry with specific regard to "Spring break". Her foresight and early intervention by application of the first travel bans have now statistically proven that her pre-emtive actions were justified. The school break in Canada is provincially the same, with the exception of Quebec.... which is two weeks earlier. The case numbers back East have been spiking; again statistically proven to be a result of this two week disparity and no such action taken elsewhere. Proportioanlly similar numbers are proving-out in the U.S. - directly tied to literally no action, with the greater concern being for the tourism business in these spring-break holiday destinations.
Like many other countries, Canada's Tech. Industries are re-tooling and co-ordinating their efforts to produce P.P.E. and ventilators among other needed equipment. 3M did not bow to that executive order to not ship face masks to Canada and Latin America. 3M took the High-Road".
P.M. Trudeau said the government is also working with Canadian astrophysicist and Nobel Prize winner Art McDonald, whose team of scientists is trying to come up with an easier process for making ventilators.
Trudeau: "If we end up making more ventilators than Canada needs because Canadians continued ... social distancing, continued to follow [the] best health advice, that'll be great news and we will have ventilators to share with other countries that are facing more difficult circumstances. For us, doing more right now, doing quicker right now, is really the only option."
To all of those countries who have this humanitarion mandate engrained in their nature - KUDOS !
So there appears to be a light at the end of the tunnel and for some now, it's comforting to know it's not that "freight train"!

scotch wrote: Finally; a glimmer of hope - from an optomist.
Some countries are seeing their "curve" continue to rise. Some are witnessing a trackable slow-down on positive cases and a reduction in deaths! That's certainly good news. There can be no argument that countries that acted quickly are seeing definitive results of their respective decisions. Those that deferred immediate action and in "some" cases have still not implemented ANY safe distancing practices, are now suffering the most or are about to !
Canada was not the first country to enact regulations and the numbers show the results of that delay. However, once the statistics from other countries started to grow expotentially it was enlighening to observe something unique. All of the Provinces Premieires despite their political orientation, collectively and co-operatively united to coordinate the efforts for the good of the country.
Within the past few days British Columbia's statistics have indicated a slow-down of the spread. This has been recognised by the Federal Health Minister because B.C. was the first province to intiate "Stay at Home" policies. More significantly is the timing of these measures. B.C.'s Provincial Health Minister Bonnie Henry and the other provincial health experts have from the onset been in constant real-time communication, sharing vital information which has been of paramount importance in understanding and tracking the Canadian spread.
This sharing of info with a professional, moral and ethical foresight to do so gave cause for concern to Ms. Henry with specific regard to "Spring break". Her foresight and early intervention by application of the first travel bans have now statistically proven that her pre-emtive actions were justified. The school break in Canada is provincially the same, with the exception of Quebec.... which is two weeks earlier. The case numbers back East have been spiking; again statistically proven to be a result of this two week disparity and no such action taken elsewhere. Proportioanlly similar numbers are proving-out in the U.S. - directly tied to literally no action, with the greater concern being for the tourism business in these spring-break holiday destinations.
Like many other countries, Canada's Tech. Industries are re-tooling and co-ordinating their efforts to produce P.P.E. and ventilators among other needed equipment. 3M did not bow to that executive order to not ship face masks to Canada and Latin America. 3M took the "High-Road".
P.M. Trudeau said the government is also working with Canadian astrophysicist and Nobel Prize winner Art McDonald, whose team of scientists is trying to come up with an easier process for making ventilators.
Trudeau: "If we end up making more ventilators than Canada needs because Canadians continued ... social distancing, continued to follow [the] best health advice, that'll be great news and we will have ventilators to share with other countries that are facing more difficult circumstances. For us, doing more right now, doing quicker right now, is really the only option."
To all of those countries who have this humanitarion mandate engrained in their nature - KUDOS !
So there appears to be a light at the end of the tunnel and for some now, it's comforting to know it's not that "freight train"!

With a concern for the anxiety and confusion that younger children must be experiencing, a message that demonstrates real compassion and understanding for this demographic:
laughingsquid.com/tooth-fairy-easter-bun...e-essential-workers/

Ardern is better known for this:

www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2019/03/21/new-...ban-assault-weapons/

Amazing what can be accomplished with a competent (Female) leader.

Parents and Kids in New Zealand can do their Easter Egging without the fear of being "sprayed en-mass" by some psychotic retard !


And from FUX NEWS: President Donald Trump has issued another Executive Order to all candy manufacturers to NOT export Chocolate Easter Bunnies to Canada or Latin America

Something I don't get is that we've been told we must maintain social distancing in order to 'flatten the curve'. So, just for the sake of discussion, once the curve is flat (which it seems like it is in BC but it's entirely plausible that this is due to testing methodology rather than flatting the the curve). So, what happens next? If social distancing is tossed out, the curve will simply ramp up again. This implies we'll have to maintain social distancing until either cure or a vaccine is found and it will be interesting to see how long that takes. If social distancing is maintained and the curve stays 'flat' that may just mean there are fewer deaths per day but over a much longer period of time so the total number of deaths may be the same. Flattening the curve does ensure our medical system isn't overloaded and that's a good thing but there may be long term economic impact with negative health consequences that we can't see yet. I guess my point is, it's to early to determine which strategy is winning.

"This implies we'll have to maintain social distancing until either cure or a vaccine is found and it will be interesting to see how long that takes."

Pretty much this. "Social Distancing" is probably going to last longer than most people think, or should last longer than it will, depending on who's making the rules. True, in a static state of affairs, this means the same amount of deaths over a longer time frame- but add in the time to develop a vaccine or effective treatment- if a vaccine exists on x day, you save everyone after day x that otherwise would've died. You also save anyone who can get the proper care due to hospitals not being swamped by cases, so you save lives there too.

Personally? It is what it is. I can't do a whole lot to prevent myself from getting infected, but what little I CAN do won't hurt anything if I do it. Just gotta be smart about it.

Flattening the Curve- I don't think the interpretation is to be able to maintain a certain level of new cases against the number of cured cases but rather a change in a curve going upwards to no more cases reported. I heard this morning that the moment in time that they are looking for to determine when to loosen the social distancing will be " a substantial reduction in the number of new cases per day" ( Dr. Isaac Bogosh, Infectious diseases Faculty Member University of Toronto)

This virus is not just going to go away. We have to curb its ability to transmit and propagate. Social distancing will help in this endeavour. A vaccine will help us tolerate its existence but that too is a band aid approach much like most of our approaches to co-inhabiting on this planet. Eradicating this disease would be best but that will never happen. Just like pesty mosquitoes which carry malaria and Zika virus, the best we've managed is to control them.

It will be interesting to see what happens now that free movement of people has been allowed in Wuhan China and if a second wave of Covid19 cases increases. I'm sure modeling around the world will be incorporating the results of this new freedom movement.