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Novel Coronavirus COVID-19 (nCoV-2019)

Johnny Au said:
A new video from 1abacaba1 aka carykh:


Cary KH exposed Dr. Phil's lie about COVID-19.

The video is about comparing flu deaths with COVID-19 deaths in the United States.
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Dr Phil's a moppet....I thought we all gave up on him years ago.

I like how the Drake flu won the flu race in that vid. I also relate his music to bad things. ;)
 
Not so ready-to-pick: Canadian growers left hanging by COVID-19

First harvests are here, but the full seasonal workforce is not

May 17, 2020

In any year, a series of early May frosts killing off tens of thousands of dollars worth of asparagus might keep Norfolk County's asparagus growers up at night.

But this year, Ontario produce farmers have another problem: not enough workers to pick their crop, with the first harvest starting this weekend.

"This will go down as the worst year in history for asparagus, and likely for a lot of other crops," said Bernie Solymár, the executive director of the Asparagus Farmers of Ontario.

The green shoots maturing in the sandy soils around Simcoe may be as tasty as ever. But "we're looking at, at best, fifty to maybe sixty per cent of our crew. And that's it," he said.

If it isn't picked, it isn't sold.

"Probably we're going to harvest maybe 50 per cent of our crop," Solymár said — the equivalent of leaving $12 to 15 million in the field.
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Some retail store owners hesitant to reopen to customers in Toronto amid COVID-19

May 18, 2020

Some retail store owners in Toronto are reluctant to open their shops to customers on Tuesday even though business can resume if the stores have separate street entrances and physical distancing measures in place.

Cal MacLean, owner of Shortstack Records, on Dundas Street West near Bathurst Street, said he is not rushing to reopen because he thinks the store is not ready. MacLean said he is putting off reopening for the time being. Reopening right now could put his staff and customers at risk, he said.

"No one has a clear idea of what we are supposed to be doing," MacLean told CBC Toronto on Monday. "There seems to be a lot of confusion."

-------------
To open safely to customers, Shortstack Records would need face masks, hand sanitizer and a spit guard, MacLean said.

"Three business days isn't long enough for you to acquire those supplies, especially when the demand is so high," he said. "Reopening Tuesday, that's not enough time to get everything in order to open safely."

The supplies are an added expense when money is tight, he added.

MacLean said, however, that doing business only by curbside and online sales is not necessarily sustainable in the long run. Right now, the store is making enough just to cover rent.
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SunriseChampion said:
Not long enough. The place is a joke/mess/broken. At least til November.
I'm not suggesting the election will fix anything. ....that's just an arbitrary month longer into the future.

Don't need them here.
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That's right, Canada is enough of a mess as it is; we ought not to deal w/any nation that can't get its head around Metric!

As soon as they adopt metric, we can reconsider dealing w/them!

You tell them!

?
 
From Hamilton...

Ill resident with COVID-19 left alone at Rosslyn Retirement Residence for 18 hours

From link.

A resident ill with COVID-19 was inadvertently left behind during the evacuation of the Rosslyn Retirement Residence and went without care for 18 hours.

“We’re extremely sorry this happened and we absolutely have learned from it,” said Winnie Doyle, executive vice-president of clinical operations at St. Joseph’s Healthcare, which was involved in the evacuation. “It was something that nobody would have ever wanted to have happen.”

Two seniors have now died in the outbreak that saw all but one resident at the 64-bed retirement home get COVID-19 in the span of less than a week. An 84-year-old man who died in hospital May 18 brought Hamilton’s overall death toll to 28. A 70-year-old resident also died in hospital May 14.

Rob MacIsaac said “extensive meetings” were going on Tuesday to determine how the resident was missed when 52 others from the home on King Street East were taken to Hamilton General and St. Joseph’s Friday night. A debriefing is expected Thursday.
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“It’s a shocking thing that it did happen,” said MacIsaac, who is CEO of Hamilton Health Sciences and represents hospitals on a regional committee overseeing aid for long-term care and retirement homes.

“But I also think the operator of the home certainly has a responsibility in all of this.”

Who was thought to be the last resident was removed from the home at 12:50 a.m. Saturday and staff from St. Joseph’s left by 1:30 a.m.

It wasn’t until concerned family called Doyle at 7 p.m. Saturday that it became clear a resident was still at the empty home. Doyle said she believes security and cleaning staff were on-site during that entire time but none of them knew there was a resident still there.

“The family, of course, all day had been trying to sort out what had happened,” said Doyle. “This was a very worrying time for them and it must have been difficult for the resident.”

Doyle described a chaotic situation at the home Friday that led to the resident being left behind. By the time the evacuation started at 4:45 p.m., there were no Rosslyn staff left at the home due in large part to 20 being infected with the virus themselves, including five who had been called in from temporary agencies.

The last two Rosslyn staff who had been working that morning had to leave when they got positive test results, said Doyle.
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“There wasn’t a clear list of the number of patients who were in the home so that was a difficult circumstance with no staff there who were familiar with the patients,” said Doyle. “In this sort of a crisis situation where you don’t have the usual people, who know who is who, it does introduce some risk.”

Adding to the confusion was a false report that this resident had been among nine transferred to hospital prior to the official evacuation.

“We’re all dealing with pandemic for the first time and this is the first time in Ontario where everybody has needed to be transferred because of the risk that was in the home,” said Doyle. “The patients were sick, some of the patients are unwell beyond being sick with COVID, the usual staff in the home to provide cleaning and food were not there. Our team had many, many things they were addressing at the same time.”

She said a search of the home was done after the evacuation that included rooms, cupboards and bathrooms.

“A mistake was made,” said Doyle. “Somehow either the person wasn’t in their room or the person was in their room and it wasn’t searched.”

It’s not clear if the resident knew the home had been evacuated. Before the pandemic, the resident was able to look after themselves by and large. However, the resident was ill with COVID-19 while alone and was taken to St. Joseph’s on Charlton Avenue East around 7:30 p.m. Saturday.

“The resident was alert” when found, said Doyle.
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Doyle said the home was known to be at risk as early as May 12, prompting a group that included St. Joseph’s, public health and LHIN Home and Community Care to help with staffing as well as infection prevention and control. Paramedics also did testing there.

“Things started to escalate rather quickly,” said Dr. Elizabeth Richardson, medical officer of health. “They are not really well set up to manage outbreaks and have PPE (personal protective equipment) supply in these facilities. They did not appear to be effectively monitoring the residents in terms of illness.”

Public health issued orders twice — once before the outbreak and once during — aimed at stopping the spread of COVID-19. But the number of confirmed cases still went from one resident on May 10 to 49 residents and 13 staff May 15.

By that time, eight St. Joseph’s staff were working at the Rosslyn. They are now self-isolating at home for at least seven days and require a negative COVID-19 test to return to work.

“All of those staff are volunteers and their courage and commitment to their work, I think they’re heroic,” said Doyle.

She said all involved “were very upset” regarding the resident left behind. It was “difficult for the staff who had gone to so much effort.”

Ultimately, the decision to evacuate the Rosslyn Friday was made by the home’s operator at the urging of MacIsaac and others involved including St. Joseph’s and Paul Johnson, director of Hamilton’s Emergency Operations Centre.

In the end, all but two went to hospital. Those two chose to make other arrangements but Johnson doesn’t know where they went.

A family doctor was called in to make notes on every resident being transferred, including their illnesses, medications and current status.

The transfer took 11 ambulances and roughly 30 paramedics but didn’t affect the ability of the service to cover the rest of the city.

Paramedic Chief Michael Sanderson said there are lessons to be learned from one retirement home causing 62 hospitalizations in a matter of days.

“This COVID pandemic is not over,” he said. “Make sure you are doing your social distancing, make sure you are washing your hands on a regular basis, taking the precaution you need to do ... As we open up the economy, the city and the province, it’s going to be challenging. You are going to see surges here and there.”

Hamilton saw its number of confirmed cases rise by six to 592 Tuesday. There are also seven more probable.

Two-thirds of Hamilton’s cases have now recovered. Of the 170 who are still ill, 81 are from the Rosslyn.
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Wisconsin woman says she got coronavirus despite taking hydroxychloroquine for years

From link.

A Wisconsin woman who has taken the antimalarial drug hydroxychloroquine for years to treat lupus said she caught the coronavirus earlier this year.

The woman, who asked to be referred to as Kim, told a Wisconsin CBS affiliate she had taken the drug for 19 years but began experiencing coronavirus symptoms in mid-April. Kim said that she contracted the virus despite only leaving her home in Om Oconomowoc, Wis., to grocery shop after lockdown measures were imposed.

“When they gave the diagnosis, I felt like it was a death sentence. I was like, ‘I’m going to die,'” she said. “I’m like, ‘How can I be sick? How? I’m on the hydroxychloroquine.’ They were like, ‘Well, nobody’s ever said that was the cure or that was going to keep you safe’ and it definitely did not.”

President Trump has frequently touted the drug as a potential prophylactic for the virus. This week, the president said that he has been taking it in combination with a zinc supplement as a preventative measure.
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“A lot of good things have come out about the hydroxy. A lot of good things have come out. You’d be surprised at how many people are taking it, especially the front-line workers — before you catch it,” Trump said Monday at the White House.

Trump’s claim drew pushback from Democratic leaders, including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), as well as Fox News’ Neil Cavuto, who cited a warning from the Food and Drug Administration that the drug has not been proven to be a safe or effective preventative treatment against the virus.

“You’re not safe taking that medication at all. [Hydroxychloroquine] is not going to prevent anything. You can still get coronavirus,” Kim told the outlet. “It kind of makes me mad that [Trump] thinks it’s going to do that and is telling the whole world it’s going to do that.”
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