COVID-19 Thread: Impact on Local Businesses and Economy
 

I was surprised to see that there isn't a thread to discuss the impact the C0OVID-19 lockdowns have had on the local economy and small businesses.

I'm not surprised. For me, this site is a nice periodic distraction from all that.

Small businesses will definitely feel the pandemic. Some will muddle through. Some will not make it, unfortunately (restaurants especially).

The one I felt the most was Acetti's :( it was a staple for me as a kid.

I'd only been there a few times over the years but the food was great. That family lived just up the street from the house I grew up in, decades ago.

This would not just mean shots in the arms of Canadians (and beyond) to stave off COVID, but a shot in the arm for the city's burgeoning life science and biotech cluster.


McMaster eyes making millions of vaccine doses in Hamilton by 2022
https://www.thespec.com/news/hamilto...oses-2022.html

By Jon Wells
The Hamilton Spectator
Thu., Feb. 25, 2021

McMaster University has signed a partnership that could lead to producing millions of doses of vaccine in Hamilton next year to fight variants of the COVID-19 virus and other diseases.

That’s the view of Gerry Wright, a biomedical sciences professor and a top official with the university’s Global Nexus for Pandemics and Biological Threats that was launched last fall.

The partnership has McMaster’s Global Nexus joining forces with the University of Saskatchewan’s Vaccine and Infectious Disease Organization (VIDO), which has a long track record in human and animal vaccination research and development.

Wright told The Spectator that if the federal government invests “a small amount” in the work of the partnership, even $1 million, vaccine development infrastructure already present at the two universities could dramatically ramp up production capacity from thousands of doses to millions.

McMaster announced the partnership Thursday, the same day two of its disease researchers — Karen Mossman and Brian Lichty — were in Ottawa addressing a group of MPs about the need to support Canadian vaccine development.

Wright hopes the partnership with USask will grab the attention of political leaders to act now.

...

Full story here

I guess we'll be going back into a full lockdown in the coming weeks.

The NHS yesterday released statistics that apparently, you're only 20% effective against omicron with two vaccine shots. Get a booster shot, and you're around 80% effective. Hence yesterday's announcement of more restrictions.

There's no way (or reason) a full lockdown will happen again

I mean literally 3 days ago the government was vehemently denying that they would implement new restrictions yet here we are..

To give an update on this, they are now in Phase 1 (they started human trials). Hopefully, this trial will demonstrate the effectiveness of a nasal vaccine. The idea is that taking the vaccine directly to your lungs will better protect you from COVID.

1. It would be political suicide
2. It's proven the new variant is significantly less dangerous and symptoms resemble a bad cold

Also that's awesome news about McMaster

This latest round of restrictions is effectively a full lockdown for most bars and restaurants. I'm afraid this will be the nail in the coffin for many. Closing at 11pm, and banning alcohol after 10PM. That's when a good chunk of the revenue is made on weekends. Not to mention that the 50% capacity limit will make most bars/restaurants simply not profitable and unable to operate.

You'd think the skyhigh level of inflation we're currently experiencing due to the increase in money supply (due to the CERB) would have had them think twice about imposing new restrictions. Deaths of despair, record level business closures, inflation, the list goes on. These further public health measures that have a punitive, societal costs on everyone cannot be sustained. At this point it is quite clear that lockdowns are more damaging.

It's about time that Ontario has an open and honest discussion on a new covid strategy that does not involve lockdowns. It is simply not sustainable.

and everybody hates them! Even the biggest proponents of restrictions in the beginning are so tired and utterly disenfranchised in the prospect of doing it again. Into year three, no less...

Hopefully with Omicron there's no jump in hospitalizations here (probably won't be) and the politicians will get their heads out of their asses and lift these trivial restrictions quickly.

The global reaction to this variant has been puzzling at best. Plenty of evidence out of South Africa suggesting it is extremely mild and had basically zero influence on ICU/hospital admissions. Yet here in the west we're going into full panic and lockdown mode. :uhh: Netherlands just announced a full lockdown until January 14th. That includes full business/restaurant closures.

I seem to recall Ritsman confidently saying there won't be anymore lockdowns lol. Well here we go again. This won't help vaccine hesitancy. This surely will be the nail in the coffin for many bars and restaurants in Hamilton.

To be fair, most epidemiologists didn't believe we'd have another lockdown either. It's literally impossible to know the effects of a mutated virus, so it could not have been predicted this would be necessary. I'm super pissed about the lockdown, but I don't really see another solution other than mandatory vaccinations which I'm not supportive of. Our hospitals are about to reach capacity which means people will start dying faster as they don't get the care needed to survive COVID or other ailments unrelated to COVID but also needing hospital care. It's an unfortunate situation all around and I'm sick of this.

I'm angry at the anti-vaxxers who despite being 17% of the population have been 50%-75% of the hospital and active cases, and I'm angry that the government of Ontario has done nothing in the last two years to improve the healthcare system to the point of being able to handle a spike like this. The whole thing is infuriating especially since there's nothing we can really do except sit at home. All the while a bunch of morons can't take a small amount of saline and safe vaccine when 100 years ago people were volunteering to die for their country, these people can't have a little bitty needle in their arm.

The unvaccinated are less than 10% of the adult population btw. I believe first shots have something like a 91% penetration rate in the 12+ age group.

The solution would have been to increase hospital capacity. They've had two years now to do that. It is not society's and small businesses responsibility to protect hospitals. It is the ministry of health's responsibility. We give them literally billions of dollars every year in taxes, what have they been doing?

How is it that almost every American state, the UK and most of Europe has decided lockdowns are no longer the solution (and actually do more harm) and they are doing just fine? It's about time people start asking this government the hard questions. Because it's quite obvious at this point that they are playing a political game and making policy decisions strictly based on what they believe will get them elected again. Inflation is already close to 6% this year, and this is not going to help. These policies are a disaster plain and simple, and not based on any science or rational thinking.

I absolutely do not support these restrictions in any capacity and actually believe that they are fundamentally illegal.

They're really closing down businesses that already required proof of vaccination.. because that makes so much sense..

What a joke the Ford government and this whole thing has become