The other day I took my first ride on the Toronto subway system since the Covid-19 crisis began, and I was both impressed and shocked.
Impressed by the cleanliness of the cars, and the efforts to promote social distancing, but shocked by how many passengers weren't wearing masks.
There are plans to make masks mandatory, but the fact that people have to be forced to wear them is a real problem.
For while Canada has been making good progress in its war on the deadly virus.
It doesn't take much to spark another outbreak, as the people of Kingston are finding out the hard way.
And what frustrates me is that so many are still not taking Covid seriously, even though scientists are still learning about its deadly effects.
In addition to respiratory distress, patients with COVID-19 can experience blood clotting disorders that can lead to strokes, and extreme inflammation that attacks multiple organ systems. The virus can also cause neurological complications that range from headache, dizziness and loss of taste or smell to seizures and confusion.
And recovery can be slow, incomplete and costly, with a huge impact on quality of life.
And as if that isn't bad enough, if we can't really flatten the curve this summer, we could get hit by a double whammy in the fall.
When Covid's second wave could join forces with a new and deadly influenza pandemic.
A new strain of flu that has the potential to become a pandemic has been identified in China by scientists. It emerged recently and is carried by pigs, but can infect humans, they say.
The researchers are concerned that it could mutate further so that it can spread easily from person to person, and trigger a global outbreak.
And the combination could kill tens of thousands of Canadians, swamp our hospitals, and overwhelm front line workers. It would be an absolute catastrophe.
So I have no time for those who would threaten mask makers...
We get harassed and threatened EVERY DAY for posting about our masks by Anti Maskers. They will be the 1st to be sick and wonder why.— maritimetartancompany (@MaritimeTartan) June 29, 2020
Wear a mask! Think of others!!!
Sherrie
Maritime Tartan Company#halifax #novascotia https://t.co/xRqcGlje0E@WilliamdeVry1 @rebeccastaab1 pic.twitter.com/z3oxjnQ8TM
I have no time for religious fanatics like these...
And needless to say I have nothing but contempt for people who would throw a fit like this one in a supermarket.
And clearly don't give a damn for the lives of supermarket workers.Supermarket #Karen’s reaction to being told she can’t shop without a mask:#TrumpNation pic.twitter.com/d7HgRjJxCL— MK-Ultra News (@mkultranews) June 29, 2020
It's time to say enough is enough, and show some respect for others, as Justin Trudeau is trying to teach young Hadrien here...
Help spread the message. Wear a mask before the flu season arrives.
For if a deadly swine flu should arrive while Covid-19 is still raging.
The dead will be everywhere, and almost too many to count...
Well, isn't this just peachy! I had swine flu for the entire summer of 2009 -- literally straight through from Fathers' Day to Labor Day -- and let me tell you it is a LOT more than just a few sniffles and an elevated temperature. That on top of "bat flu"? Plus the chronic pandemic of human selfishness and outright stupidity, a persistent malady through the ages for which there is no cure.
ReplyDeleteDo the math, and it would appear this means we're all going to die. Which we all are anyway, but one would hope not like this. Because it's 2020, and if 2020 is hindsight, a lot of people still have their heads up their rear ends! Two legs bad, four legs... also bad? Or maybe this is just Mother Nature cleaning out her garage. Who knows.
Whatever, I go out and see no one with masks, or people wearing them improperly without covering their noses, or summer-holiday barbecues with people packed like sardines, and basic hygiene being a test of partisan fealty. Assuming I don't get carried out by the coroner? I'm not leaving my house until at least 2040 now! đŸ˜·
I have been lobbying hard for a long time. I want to be appointed Minister of SCI FI. For sure masks as mandatory, but we can come up with something better for both protection and reuse.
ReplyDeleteTwisted Cons, cover your breasts in the name of morality, uncover your head in the name of religion but don't dare cover your face in the name of protecting humanity. If there is some unwritten rule on the maximum or minimum area for skin exposure that a free society has no right to dictate perhaps they could cover their faces and let their asses hang out to compensate.
ReplyDeleteRT
Hi Jackie....Thanks for making me laugh, although I shouldn’t. I’ve been doing a lot of that recently, I guess it’s my way of coping with stress. But of course it is a nightmare, and when I see people not using masks in places where they should it absolutely infuriates me. It’s such a small thing to do to save lives I simply can’t understand how people can be so selfish. I realize masks are a pain, my specialty is forgetting I have one on and having a swig of coffee, but if people won’t put them on voluntarily, then the authorities are going to have to make them compulsory. And those who scream “but but my rights!!!” can go you know where. Hopefully the flu bug will be one we have encountered before, and that we will have a vaccine for covid before we all turn into cave dwelling trolls..đŸ˜‰
ReplyDeleteHi Steve....You need a total protection suit like the one Putin was wearing when he toure a factory recently. Talk about total protection, even the deadliest germ warfare weapons would have bounced off him. And if necessary he could have Safely walked on Mars. I on the other hand ordered some masks from Amazon/China and two months later I’m still waiting...
ReplyDeleteHi RT..... Good one. It is grotesque that some of those who aggressively demand that women uncover their heads in the name of religion won’t cover Their faces in the name of humanity. But as I told Jackie, if those selfish people won’t do the right thing voluntarily, then the authorities must force them. We’re in a public health emergency, and that means everybody....
ReplyDelete@ Simon
ReplyDeleteI think that suit Putin was wearing was a full-scale chemical-biological decontamination suit from the Russian army or civil defence. It looked a lot like the ones the Russian military were wearing in Italy.
At least he was a better role model than than the Orange One.
If Jackie asks the Russian Ambassador nicely, she might get one in the mail as a promotion. It could turn into a nice little export earner for some Russian company.
Here too, mostly young people have been utterly disregarding the mask rules. Do they really want to kill their parents or grandparents? Fortunately today I shopped mostly at my nearby Vietnamese grocery (small supermarket) and there were very few non-masked clients, probably because the non-Asians (white, black, latino etc) would have felt very self-conscious as masking up when there is a disease alert is common courtesy among East and Southeast Asians (and probably growing in South Asia too).
ReplyDeleteI do have trouble wearing them because of prior respiratory conditions and do take them down when I am outside 2m from other humans, but the prior conditions mean I know that I'll pretty much be dead if infected by the beast. And that is not primarily an age thing, the first occurrence was when I was about 23 and one of the leaders of a union organisation drive and strike in freezing Montréal. I bought a new red mask today; earlier this week I bought a green one in a sort-of-African woven fabric.
Simon, do you have a rainbow mask, for LGBT+ struggles, Andro tutto bene and the peace movement in Italy (the longstanding march between Perugia and Assisi) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wsJI35oHG6k
So Jackie wants me dead. Hardly suprising given her hatred of the left. USians are at least as nutty as the Taliban or North Koreans - just in a different way. Enjoy your lack of healthcare, sister.
ReplyDeleteSimon, you might be interested to learn that Tropical Trump Bolsonaro has tested positive, and is at least somewhat ill. He also said the disease only threatened "old" people. He and I are around the same age and "old" by many standards, though I don't feel old and decrepit and I doubt he does either. It doesn't matter as much as he thinks.
ReplyDeleteEvidently COVID-19 kills far more people over 60, even if we are in good health, than those in younger age groups. And then there was the actor born in Hamilton, who died at 41 after a gruesome litany of interventions including amputating one of his legs...