November 6, 2020

Police probe alleged plot to attack Philadelphia vote counting center

Source: ABC

PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) -- Philadelphia police are investigating an alleged plot to attack the Pennsylvania Convention Center in Philadelphia on Thursday night.

Action News has learned that police got a tip about a group, possibly a family, driving up from Virginia in a Hummer to unleash an attack at the Convention Center where votes are being counted in Philadelphia.

Action News was there as a man was taken into custody. It's unclear how or if the man is connected with the investigation.

Police say they recovered a weapon and believe they recovered the Hummer they received a tip about.

Read more: https://6abc.com/philly-police-investigating-pa-convention-center-attack-plot/7689932/

July 29, 2020

BC government releases return to school plan:

https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/education-training/k-12/covid-19-return-to-school

In a nutshell:

Stage 2 Details
Stage 2 is a full return to in-class instruction for all students for the maximum time possible within learning group limits.

Parents will be contacted by their school or school district/authority to confirm the educational program options available for September 2020. Visit your school and district websites for regular information updates.

Learning Group Size

Elementary: 60
Middle: 60
Secondary: 120

Density Target

Not applicable in this stage

Instruction Method

Full-time instruction for all students for the maximum instructional time possible within learning group limits.

Self-directed learning supplements in-class instruction, if required.

July 22, 2020

'Just offensive': Large Vancouver beach party draws outrage amid COVID-19

A popular drum circle at a Vancouver beach is once again stirring controversy, this time for ignoring coronavirus protocols.

Drummers and revelers have been gathering at Third Beach in Stanley Park on Tuesdays in summer for more than 15 years.

The event has grown rapidly in size in recent years, prompting a myriad of complaints around noise, drinking and public urination.

Now, photos and videos of the most recent event are circulating on social media and spurring an outcry over disregard for physical and social distancing measures.

“This is just offensive,” wrote one Twitter user, after posting images of the event.

https://globalnews.ca/news/7205772/vancouver-coronavirus-beach-party/?utm_medium=Facebook&utm_source=GlobalBC

I’m so tired of people.

July 22, 2020

Pandemic creating potential for drug shortages that Canada isn't equipped to deal with

This column is an opinion by Dr. AbdulGhani Basith, an emergency physician in Toronto and a faculty member at The Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry. He is a co-founder of The Critical Drugs Coalition, a group of pharmaceutical experts, physicians and others working to prevent future drug shortages in Canada. For more information about CBC's Opinion section, please see the FAQ.

For months now, Canadians have been sacrificing things we never thought we would have to and giving up more than we ever thought we could. Those sacrifices are paying off — they've helped flatten the curve, and our hospitals are able to keep up with the burden of this terrible virus.

However, while we have survived this leg of the race, we must recognize that COVID-19 is a marathon that will continue to tax our health care system, and that it is creating the potential for drug shortfalls on a level that we may not be prepared to deal with.

This applies to critical medications as well as potential COVID-19 treatments and vaccines. The federal government needs to publicly and openly take action now to secure our supply of critical care drugs, so that front-line health care providers can continue the work of tending to the sickest patients.

Part of taking care of critically ill people depends on medications that are routinely used in emergency departments and intensive care units all over the world. Medications such as norepinephrine can help support a patient's blood pressure, while others such as propofol and fentanyl help sedate patients on ventilators or undergoing painful procedures.

Without these medications in my ER, we would not have been able to save the life of an otherwise healthy female patient recently whose respiratory system could no longer handle the damage done by COVID-19. We also would not have been able to honour the wishes of an 85-year-old grandmother who was not able to be with her family during her final moments from pneumonia, and who wanted to die with dignity and comfort.

Although these medications are not currently in short supply, the long-term situation is tenuous due to issues with global supply chains as the pandemic rages on.


More at link:

https://www.cbc.ca/news/opinion/opinion-pandemic-drug-shortages-1.5604791

I think this is a really important discussion we need to have. We get things produced “cheaper” in other countries but the end costs of shortages and the emotional cost of knowing why it’s made cheaper is high.

June 27, 2020

Multiple visitors to Vancouver strip club test positive for COVID-19

VANCOUVER -- A Vancouver strip club is closed and the local health authority is warning the public after multiple people who visited the lounge this week tested positive for COVID-19.

Vancouver Coastal Health is warning anyone who visited Brandi's Exotic Show Lounge on Hornby Street in downtown Vancouver on the evenings of June 21, 22, 23 and 24 that they may have been exposed to the coronavirus.

Link: https://bc.ctvnews.ca/mobile/multiple-visitors-to-vancouver-strip-club-test-positive-for-covid-19-1.5002865

This is why we can’t have nice things.

June 20, 2020

Pandemic may be contributing to increase in male genital injuries, UBC researchers say

(Not Florida)

VANCOUVER -- Warning: This story contains scientific descriptions of sex and genitalia that some readers may find offensive.

Researchers from the University of British Columbia are wondering whether the COVID-19 pandemic is to blame for an increase in genital injuries among men in Greater Victoria, after six men were treated for such injuries in the region in the span of a week.

In an article from the forthcoming issue of the Canadian Urological Association Journal that was published online Wednesday, researchers from UBC's Department of Urological Sciences and the school's Island Medical Program, share anonymized details of the six injuries, which they say are uncommon in the region.


"With a famously elderly population in Victoria, B.C., male genitourinary (GU) trauma is rarely encountered; we likely do not see more than a handful of cases per year," the authors write.

The six injuries included two incidents in which men experienced "penile fractures" during heterosexual sex with their partners on top, as well as one instance of a painful erection that lasted for four days, one instance of a ruptured testicle sustained while riding an all-terrain vehicle, one instance of "penile pain" resulting from frequent masturbation, and one instance in which a man's penis was bitten by a dog.

While these injuries are varied in nature, each one relates in some way to the COVID-19 pandemic.

More at link: https://vancouverisland.ctvnews.ca/mobile/pandemic-may-be-contributing-to-increase-in-male-genital-injuries-ubc-researchers-say-1.4990960#_gus&_gucid=&_gup=Facebook&_gsc=QabkHxI

June 11, 2020

The Top Doctor Who Aced the Coronavirus Test

Dr. Bonnie Henry kept the disease in check in British Columbia without harsh enforcement methods. Now, she is leading the way out of lockdown.


That Tuesday in March was the day Bonnie Henry had been preparing for her whole life.

Overnight, 83 people had tested positive for the novel coronavirus and three more had died. The pandemic had officially broken out in British Columbia.

Standing inside the provincial legislature’s press gallery, the preternaturally calm top doctor of Canada’s westernmost province declared a public health emergency. Under her orders and recommendations, schools closed, bars shuttered and social distancing measures were put in place.

“It seemed so surreal,” she said. “I felt like someone was standing on my chest.”

That day, March 17, Dr. Henry ended her presentation with a line that would become her trademark, and a mantra for many Canadians struggling to cope under a lockdown. It has since been hung in windows, painted on streets, printed on T-shirts, stitched on shoes, folded into songs and stamped on bracelets.

“This is our time to be kind,” she said in her slow and low-pitched voice that many call comforting, “to be calm and to be safe.”

More:
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/05/world/canada/bonnie-henry-british-columbia-coronavirus.html

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I can’t say enough about Dr. Henry. She was calm and cool. She never gave into hysterics. She told us to still get outside and exercise. To run, bike, walk. To get out into the fresh air and stay healthy. Avoid crowds, wash our hands, stay 2m away.

It does help that we are pretty sprawled our population. Even in Vancouver many people don’t use public transit. However I feel like her swift response tempered with reason made it work.

June 10, 2020

Undercover cop dressed as religious Jew blows his cover with cellphone on Shabbat

Police officers went undercover as Hasidic Jews to monitor protests against racism and police brutality in a majority-Jewish New Jersey town, Mishpacha reported.

The rally in Lakewood, N.J. on Saturday was one of hundreds around the country over the weekend protesting the killing of an African-American man, George Floyd, while being forcibly detained by police. A video captured by Mishpacha showed at least three men in Lakewood dressed in the black outfits typical of Orthodox men. Two of the men were wearing hats and one was wearing a kippah; one of the apparent officers had peyot, long sidelocks.

Unfortunately for the officers, one of them appeared to be holding a cell phone - which would be forbidden to Orthodox Jews on Shabbat.

https://forward.com/fast-forward/448317/undercover-cops-dress-as-hasidim-to-monitor-protests-in-majority-jewish/

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In Lakewood of all places?? Home of BMG? No one around to offer guidance on how to fit in?

It’s so stupid I can’t stop laughing.

May 7, 2020

BC re-opening plan released

https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/safety/emergency-preparedness-response-recovery/covid-19-provincial-support/bc-restart-plan

Short bullets:

Phase 1 (now)
Essential health and health services
Law enforcement, public safety, first responders and emergency response personnel
Vulnerable population service providers
Critical infrastructure
Food and agriculture service providers
Transportation
Industry and manufacturing
Sanitation
Communications and information technology
Financial institutions
Other non-health essential service providers

Phase 2 (mid May)


Under enhanced protocols:

Restoration of health services
Re-scheduling elective surgery
Medically related services:
Dentistry, physiotherapy, registered massage therapy, and chiropractors
Physical therapy, speech therapy, and similar services
Retail sector
Hair salons, barbers, and other personal service establishments
In-person counselling
Restaurants, cafes, and pubs (with sufficient distancing measures)
Museums, art galleries, and libraries
Office-based worksites
Recreation and sports
Parks, beaches, and outdoor spaces
Child care

Phase 3 (June - Sept)
If transmission rates remain low or in decline, under enhanced protocols:

Hotels and Resorts (June 2020)
Parks – broader reopening, including some overnight camping (June 2020)
Film industry – beginning with domestic productions (June/July 2020)
Select entertainment – movies and symphony, but not large concerts (July 2020)
Post-secondary education – with mix of online and in-class (September 2020)
K-12 education – with only a partial return this school year (September 2020)


A LOT MORE INFO AT LINK!

April 26, 2020

Disability advocates say B.C.'s woman's death shows need for clearer COVID-19 policy

Disability advocates say the lonely death of a non-verbal B.C. woman is far from an isolated case in Canada — and underscores the need for a clear policy on who, exactly, is an essential hospital visitor during the novel coronavirus pandemic.

Ariis Knight had cerebral palsy and communicated with her family and support workers through her eyes and facial expressions. She was admitted to Peace Arch Hospital in White Rock on April 15 with symptoms of congestion, fever and vomiting, but did not have COVID-19.

Her support staff were not permitted access due to restrictions put in place during the pandemic. Not long after being admitted, Knight was put on end-of-life care, and died days later. She was 40 years old.

Link to the rest: https://globalnews.ca/news/6869079/coronavirus-bc-disability-death-reaction/

This is not ok. There are less than 100 hospitalized for COVID-19 in BC. This woman was denied her ability to communicate. If this is ok who else do we let die in our lack of planning?