End date to Pandemic?

[Wendy1071]

The premiere of our province (Ontario, Canada) held a press conference today accompanied by several high ranking medical personnel. The purpose of the release, we were told, was to inform residents about information that all levels of government have but are not being transparent about. The bullet point - 18 months to 2 years before we’ll most likely see an end to this madness. More sanctions were imposed today as well. Currently, we are basically confined to our homes unless we are shopping for food and/or medicine, work at an essential service or have some other essential activity going on.  Fines between $700-$1000 are being issued to people who ignore social distancing regulations.  This is beyond depressing and not at all good for the STR industry, at least in Ontario. I believe Airbnb business in Toronto is going to be hit hard and for a sustained length of time.  I’m not sure what we’re in for next but these annoyances so many write about here may be the least of everyone’s worries. Keep yourselves and your families safe.  

[Nanxing0]

My understanding is that it won't go away until effective vaccines are released and massively taken. In other words, we need to have majority of people immune to the virus to get back to normal life. The virus is far beyond something possible to contain.

[Wendy1071]

@Nanxing0  Agreed of course.  Unfortunately delveloping a vaccine could take just as long.  Are you suggesting social distancing measures are too late and so we should go on business as usual?  In that event between 3-20% of the population will die.  Not my first choice.

[Nanxing0]

@Wendy1071 No I don't suggest we go on business as usual. I'm just saying we cannot go to business as usual until everyone is vaccined. China contained SARS in 2003 because SARS is not as contagious as the COVID-19. COVID-19 cannot be contained in the same way.

[Kaylee18]

@Wendy1071   Definitely getting hit hard over here in Hamilton. And with our RTA and tenant rights in Ontario, I refuse to ever rent my unit to LTR. 

Thankfully a family friend is renting from us for the next 2 months! 

Hope all is well on your end!! 🙂 

[Sharon1014]

@Wendy1071  Greetings fellow members of the Commonwealth.  On a happier note, the infection rates in Aussie have already dropped from 23%  to 5% of those being tested over the last 3 weeks thanks to social distancing and bans on non-essential travel.  We also have free drive-thru testing clinics everywhere and specialist, medical and allied health practices are all using Telehealth for appointments wherever possible.  Many employers are allowing staff to work from home so that is helping, as is being able to fully control your borders (ah the blessings of being an island nation!).

You do adjust and accept the restrictions as situation normal for the present moment.  Last week I had a really super exciting week cleaning out our vanity cupboard, and then for extra fun I cleaned the stove-top range-hood.  And gosh you should see our super organised pantry, pure delight every time I open the door.  Woohoo!  Party !! 

Here's something to watch, Aussie 60 minutes program re C-19 aired last night.  Might give you some insight into how long this is going to last, and the way in which it is likely to impact global supply chains (and travel).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2NZsL3idid0&t=18s

[Helen427]

@Wendy1071 @Kaylee18 @Sharon1014  How's life treating in your neck of the woods in the world?

@Nanxing0You are out of touch with the real world. Vaccines take at least 4 years of processes and adherence to the Law before they are available unless one is breaking International Laws.

As an aside, what has happened to Glaxo which was founded in New Zealand, originally known as Defiance, in the 1800's and now known as GlaxoSmithKline / GSK is criminal.

Glaxo was created to ensure people were fed nutritional foods.

Shame on all of those who have caused Reputational damage bc of greed and were involved in the bribery and corruption since the late 1990's early 2000's - the timing of those unacceptable behaviours ties in with the changes of British Governance of Hong Kong to Chinese governance, the commencements of and escalation of toxic imitation tobacco, the rise of the internet and mobile phones.

To those who know anything about the Bribery & Corruption in all those countries where investigations have taken place, please report what you know if you haven't to the appropriate authorities.

Be aware of the fact those investigations were still going on in December 2019 as "Covid19" was spreading virtually.

[Sharon1014]

@Helen427   Life across the pond in this state at least, is fantastic.  No community transmission, and no new cases for weeks/months.  No-one in hospital either.  No masks needed but still doing social distancing.  Restrictions on gathering size have been lifted, and people can eat and drink at pubs standing at the bar now (patrons had to be seated previously).  Our borders are opening up to certain other states though as of this last week, so that is something of concern.  Some lovely family reunions going on so that is wonderful for those ppl affected.  Our bookings have been non-stop during the school holidays on at present (all within SA state guests), looking forward to a break after next weekend!  Nice 💲💰 though, no complaints!  😀

How's things over yonder?  We get some news of Kiwi-land's progress (and hiccups!).

[Nanxing0]

@Helen427 That doesn't conflict with what I said. I was trying to say a reliable vaccine usually cannot be developed in such a short period of time in terms of months. 4 years is the normal cycle of vaccine development, usually for those non-emergency situations since they need to go through an extensive clinical trial before releasing, but during the pandemic things can be faster since there's an immediate, emergency need of it. For example from statistical prospect of view, if you have tested with 10k volunteers with less than 1% adverse effects, the 99% CI of the adverse effect rate would generally be from 0%-3% however in order to have a more accurate estimate you need another 90k volunteers, which will take 9 more times it takes than the test on the initial 10k volunteers, but the result might be just narrowing down the 99% CI from 0-3% to 0-2%. In emergency situation usually people can accept the risk of skipping the 2nd part due to the consideration of trying to end the pandemic ASAP. Similar things apply to some drugs like Remdesivir. It's not been approved by FDA yet but people are using it to treat COVID-19 these days and it really works.

Also think about the flu shots we take every year. Each year it's different and how long do people develop them? We know that the reliability might vary and in some years they might be just 20-30% effective, but it helps us reduce the deaths caused by flu that's all we need. There's no medication that's 100% safe.

[Helen427]

That's fabulous news to hear

@Sharon1014 make hay whilst the sun shines.

I pop into news.com, ABC, 7 news amongst other Australian news websites to keep abreast of what's happening across the ditch with our Australian friends.

Check out NZ Herald news, ODT, Nbr, Rural News , Newshub, 

TVNZ, or Stuff for NZ news or NZ Twitter feeds.

Itching to have our Public Health system & systems sorted out as it's hardly fair on healthy people to be cooped up inside for 2 weeks without sunshine & fresh air as we all need fresh air in our lungs & Vitamin D for health.

Staff who are working in those places are "over it" and think it's wrong, as do some Medical Professionals who have said that the situation has shown the extent of Workplace bullying in Healthcare and how what protections are in place are piece meal.

Rugby players are the only people exempt to have Gym equipment in their MIQ rooms which is discrimination to others in them.

I took my friends dog, Zara,  for a ride in a supermarket trolley ride, that a random person had left along the way,  past one of our MIQ hotels during this week  which brightened some in there day  😉 

Majority of cases are coming in from India which comes as no surprise as get simply don't have the same standards of health care in much of it.

Immigration / Custom's in NZ needs an overhaul & clean out as there's to many slipping through cracks in the Legal systems we have long had in place that should have prevented the situation we find ourselves in.

 We are  Very, very pleased to hear the Australian Gvt opening the borders to the people of New Zealand as we are all reliant on each other to support each others economy.

Do you recall CER, as in Closer Economic Relations when it came in?

My rant for the time being!!

Beautiful clear blue skies and sunshine in Auckland today.

[Helen427]

Oh & some bloke  who I understand who was deported from Australia in MIQ used the oldest trick in the  book to escape MIQ, that of sheets roped together out the window... He'd tested negative so no major drama there...

@Cathie19 @Robin4 @Sandra126 @Kath9 @Sharon1014 

[Helen427]

Typos!

* as no surprise as they simply

[Wendy1071]

@Helen427 Helen427

Hi Helen,

Where I reside (Toronto) and where my airbnb is (Nova Scotia) are on two very different trajectories.   Toronto and area are ramping up in cases of Covid and restrictions... The economy has taken a major hit and its not great.  People are affected differently.  Those who can work at home do and are not badly off.  Tourism and Recreation sectors have taken major hits and may well have a hard time surviving.  Nova Scotia (where we arrived yesterday) has closed its borders to all but the Maritime provinces and people like us, who own a place or have reason (work etc) to be here.  We have to quarantine ourselves for two weeks (as do all new arrivals).  This province has 3 cases of Covid and feels a whole lot safer.  The airbnb has had a lot of two week bookings over the spring/summer/fall to accommodate people quarantining themselves.    So in terms of airbnb business all is good.   

[Helen427]

@Wendy1071, I don't think there's any economy that hasn't been destroyed across the world and put that down to negligence by those calling the shots tied back to WHO.

They have legal obligations to consider and include the whole wider economic impacts on society which they have been reported as not having done.

 Did Toronto or Nova Scotia have a current regularly reviewed and updated Pandemic Plan that included the effects on the economy prior to Coronavirus / Covid 19?

We are fortunate that a former Law Writer for Parliament, Andrew Borrowdale, undertook a Judicial Review on the Lockdown and was successful in part that the New Zealand Government were in breach of our Human Rights.  He has appealed against the remainder of it - I've yet to see the submission papers but do know there's serious concerns as to how it was established who are deemed to be "essential workers" and why people lost jobs when no one in those places had Covid 19 symptoms etc.

Have there been any related Judicial Reviews where you are?