picard102
Senior Member
The question is, do they reach a point where it overwhelms the hospitals or not.
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- Thread starter AlvinofDiaspar
- Start date
Bayer
Senior Member
It might not overwhelm the hospitals, but I just don't get why people are so annoyed by masks. If they can prevent some hospitalizations, why not continue to mandate them until the (estimated) number of cases goes down to a more reasonable level? Ensuring public health is more than just having well-functioning hospitals, it's about preventing their use.
It's more fun to get bent out of shape over a piece of cloth than it is to wear one, I guess. I don't get it either. It's no big deal.
Bayer
Senior Member
This graph from Our World in Data is informative. A higher proportion of South Koreans are fully vaccinated and boosted (with similar vaccines). We'll see what happens in a few weeks.
gabe
Senior Member
This is absolutely ridiculous. You have to mask up on public transit, and in Ontario universities with high vaccination rates, but elementary school kids cramped in a poorly ventilated classrooms, with low vaccine numbers and on school buses don't have to mask up. 
picard102
Senior Member
South Korea has a lot of catching up to do.
zang
Senior Member
The problem being there are no obvious parallels in the graph. Natural immunity will play some part, and while Covid-zero policies have protected vulnerable people and the vaccine resistant, Omicron has made zero-Covid policies nearly impossible. We’re seeing flat graphs with recent spikes in countries with similar zero-Covid policies like Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong, and (ignoring the initial start of the pandemic) China.
You can’t outrun Covid at this point. It’s here to stay.
Barring any major mutation and the fact we’re going into warmer weather, I don’t feel we’ll see another huge spike like they’re having.
Bayer
Senior Member
We have known for a very long time that COVID won't disappear and that its seasonality is dubious at best. My issue is dropping mask mandates now, when COVID is still widespread, considering this will lead inevitably to more deaths. After hearing public health authorities repeat that masks protect others perhaps more than ourselves (still very few people wear respirators), Dr Moore has a strange way of showing that he is doing his job of protecting public health when he says vulnerable people should continue to wear them.
I have met more than a few elderly people at the Manulife Centre who are concerned that this is happening too soon, and they are correct. (Cases are surging to a record high in people 70+ in the UK, even though more than 90% are boosted.) At the same time, the limit of 2 people per elevator is being lifted, of course.
gabe
Senior Member
I have high school aged kids next door to me, even they think the mask mandate is ending too soon. They have missed so much school this year because of Covid outbreaks and teacher absenteeism.
Just a couple weeks ago my mom lost one her best friends to compilations from Covid. She was hospitalized with Covid in January (fully vaxxed) And never recovered. This was a healthy fit 72 year old, who always kept on top of her health. She was on a nose cannula for the past three months, because her lungs were damaged. Her cause of death was pneumonia, which was caused by long covid.
There are still many unknowns in terms of the long term and short term effects covid has on people. Long Covid is WAY worse than vaccines side effects.
Long Covid: Hidden lung damage spotted on scans
A study detected abnormalities in people who had had Covid but did not need hospital treatment.
www.bbc.com
My friend who had mild covid last year, has since developed chronic fatigue syndrome.
The connection between COVID and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome
COVID could triple the number of Americans with chronic fatigue, experts say.
www.kens5.com
I know someone who has been hospitalized since early Feb, same scenario of pneumonia following COVID in a healthy fit fully vaccinated person. The upside is that these situations are not the norm thanks to vaccination, but there is still a level of risk. And it’s all just stats and data until it’s someone you know.
Bayer
Senior Member
Not one, but two demonstrations by trash yelling "Freedom!" today on Bloor St., a mere two days before the mask mandate ends.
DSCToronto
Superstar
Yes, expecting the anti-maskers to be rational is like complaining that many homeless street people live surrounded by garbage. If they could deal with
'housekeeping' they would probably not be homeless.
APTA-2048
Senior Member
It stopped being about COVID a long time ago.
zang
Senior Member
I agree. Dropping masks right now is stupid. My family will continue wearing ours for the time being. It’s nothing but idiocy on the part of Ford.
lenaitch
Senior Member
The way things are in Ontario, remind me of the point of school boards. Either empower them to operate their schools, or do away with them.This is absolutely ridiculous. You have to mask up on public transit, and in Ontario universities with high vaccination rates, but elementary school kids cramped in a poorly ventilated classrooms, with low vaccine numbers and on school buses don't have to mask up.