Canadians could always count on one thing: The pandemic was worse in the U.S. Not any more

Globe & Mail ^ | April 17, 2021 | Kayle Neis

[billorites]

For most of the pandemic, the view south was flattering.

No matter how bad things got, Canadians were always able to console themselves with how it could have been worse. Why, we could have been living in the United States. It took only a cursory glance at Donald Trump’s America to see what worse looked like. Canadians got to revel in that most Canadian of medical conditions: congenital smugness.

Until, that is, April 9, 2021.

The date marked a first. New cases of COVID-19 in Canada, adjusted for population, for the first time exceeded those in the U.S. In a class of two, we now ranked behind the kid who spent 2020 actively trying to fail.

The Atlanta-based Centers for Disease Control recently warned Americans to “avoid all travel to Canada,” deeming it very high risk. “If you must travel to Canada, get fully vaccinated,” the CDC advised but “because of the current situation in Canada even fully vaccinated travellers may be at risk.”

As nobody needs reminding, the past week has been a tough one for Canada. In much of the country, it has been the pandemic’s worst week yet.

In Ontario, intensive-care units are becoming overwhelmed. They’re treating more than twice as many COVID-19 patients as during last spring’s first wave peak, and 50 per cent more than at the top of January’s bigger second wave.

edit..

This flipped script, with Canada as the North American remedial student, is rattling.

Canada’s pandemic response has been marked by more failures than successes. Until now, looking across the border allowed Canadians to elide that truth. We could console ourselves with whataboutism: Sure, things are bad – but they could be so much worse. Worse could be seen, right next door.

The view south is no longer so comforting.

[Sgt_Schultze]

“If you must travel to Canada, get fully vaccinated,” the CDC advised but “because of the current situation in Canada even fully vaccinated travellers (sp) may be at risk.”

So here, the CDC seems to be admitting the vaccines do not work

[OttawaFreeper]

Thanks and I stand corrected from my original comment. It is also interesting to consider the NY/NJ disaster as perhaps the most important factor in analyzing US infection and death numbers.

[Norseman]

>>This month Canada overtook the US in cases per 100K. And if the data is to be trusted, they’re likely to overtake the US in deaths per 100K sometime in May.<<

Not according to Worldometer. Canada has about 1/4 of the cases per million as the U.S. and about 1/3 of the deaths.

I looked at your links, but they don’t seem to have the stats that Worldometer has.

Unless you’re talking about the daily rate of new cases and deaths, that is, which has been falling in the U.S. for some time now, but rising again in Canada.

[woodbutcher1963]

People in northern Canada are armed. Especially in areas of polar bears and wolves.
Places where YOU are food.

[Norseman]

>>So here, the CDC seems to be admitting the vaccines do not work<<

No they’re not. Vaccination doesn’t confer 100% immunity so the CDC is simply saying that it’s more risky to enter Canada now. They’re not saying you have the same risk as if you’re unvaccinated.

[Yardstick]

I’m a little surprised by those numbers. For a while there — like maybe last summer timeframe — the COVID stats showed blacks and to a lesser degree hispanics being overrepresented. In fact it was shaping up as a media narrative that minorities were more affected. The big media players like NYT were running stories from that angle IIRC.

[Bratch]

You Gotta See This – Ontario Canada Goes into Full-Blown Police State to Lockdown Over COVID, Complete With Admitted Stasi

April 18, 2021 | Sundance

Comrades, the Canadian Ministry of COVID compliance has initiated a complete and total lockdown of Ontario.  Premier Doug Ford alerts comrade citizens they will be stopped, questioned and searched if they are out of their home.  The lockdown is absolute and complete with checkpoints, suspension of civil rights laws and the implementation of a provincial Stasi authority for police to act as enforcement officers for the state.

Do not be alarmed Canadian comrades. Currently the Ontario enforcement units are not allowed to use deadly force for violations by non-compliant citizens.  The state will determine your economic and social freedom based on your compliance.  The Ontario COVID ministry appreciates your compliance in avoiding the dangerous virus freedom zones; and is thankful for compliant citizens who do not question the complex data analysis that goes into regional scientific tracking systems.

Remember, Canadians are all in this together; and to prove how critical this is to their society they must all stay apart.

Ontario Premier Doug Ford Extends Lockdown and Grants Police Near Unlimited Stop and Question Orders

In almost all regions of ministry control, being outdoors seems like one of the most potentially dangerous activities.  Out of an abundance of caution those hubs of human activity have been shut-down.  Anyone identified outside will be stopped and questioned.  Violators will be prosecuted for non-compliance. 

According to the most extensive study conducted so far, commercial buildings with cans of vegetables appear to be the safest venue allowing limited congregation and proximity.  It is unknown if moving canned foods and sandwiches into durable goods locations, or other less traveled venues, would transfer the benefits of virus mitigation.  The Ministry has a teleconference with scientists and industry experts scheduled later this week to analyze this question.

In the interim, the Ministry would like to remind you the greatest danger is your own behavior.  Large box retailers with dense populations are safe-spaces.  Smaller business with less density are hazards; and houses of religious worship are death traps due to their propensity to promote the most critically dangerous activity of all, fellowship.

[Norseman]

>>Not working in Michigan, and on a larger scale, not working in Canada either.<<

Not to be picky, but Michigan has more people than Canada and Canada has a long ways to go in terms of both cases and deaths before it catches Michigan.

What both places might illustrate is one possible downside of lockdowns. Maybe by holding off the virus initially, thereby preventing people from getting sick and developing antibodies, they are now being subjected to a more virulent strain, one that antibodies might have prevented.

[Yardstick]

Yes, I’m talking about the daily rates. Canada’s daily rate is what is currently stressing their ICUs. The cumulative numbers are slower moving and don’t fully reflect the current situation, which is what the writer is responding to and what the article is about.

[hanamizu]

“One has to wonder what it would have all looked like if it had happened under the Obama administration.”

---

Except that the Wuhan business is much bigger than the U.S. and Obama (spit), Trump, & Biden (spit again). This is worldwide. Europe shut down a year ago and looks like it might want to shut down again. Brazil is getting hammered by this.

I don’t know if you remember, but when the first flight of Americans came out of Wuhan, they flew on a plane with ‘flight attendants’ wearing moon suits. The plane a a separate compartment for those showing symptoms. Everyone was quarantined in Alaska for two weeks before being allowed to go home, the first required quarantine in half a century. This was under President Trump.

I believe that at the beginning of this, world leaders, including President Trump, were told things about this virus/disease that scared the crap out of all of them to the extent that virtually all of them destroyed their national economies. It’s been over a year now and we still don’t what it was they were told. I’d kind of like to know, even if it is really scary.

[chuckee]

And the smug Canadians are vaccinating with Pfizer and Moderna. Would be much worse there (and here) if Trump had not been President and put vaccines on warp speed. Had Biden been President, there would have been no warp speed or vaccines yet. The only new drugs would be the ones up Hunter’s nose.

[spacewarp]

I got it, and it was obnoxious. I got double pneumonia to go along with it and that was just difficult. I was exhausted. They put me on Remdisivir, and it was 5 days of treatment. Day 5, I took my last treatment and 2 hours later, had the worst heartburn I’d ever had. It turned out to be a Remdisivir induced heart attack. It’s a “known side effect”. Finally back to about 90% since the first week of January.