The Unmasking Thread

[kool maudit]

Originally Posted by manny_santos

This could be more the case in Canada where there have been fewer cases per capita than in many other countries.

There have been many more cases per capita here, and everyone pretty much knows multiple people who have had COVID.

In some ways, however, Canadians I talk to seem a bit stricter, as the stories they are hearing come from media and are therefore somewhat exceptional and alarming, whereas most people here seem to be gauging their responses to what happened to their friends etc., and of course most cases of COVID-19 are nothing serious.

[Migs]

Originally Posted by O-tacular

I tried my best to avoid shopping this weekend but ended up having to go out again. Today’s tally was 5. Same fat old guy, older woman, father and teenage daughter and a guy in his 40’s. I made a point of staring at the last guy in his 40’s who smiled at me. As I was getting into my car it turned out he was parked beside me. He asked me in a polite British accent if I knew him from somewhere. I told him that I didn’t and was just observing his unmasked face. I got in the car and left. Not sure if he was being facetious or genuinely clueless. It was weird.

Dr. Hinshaw announced today that there is a massive outbreak of the Brazil variant now. We’ve had two consecutive days of 1100 estimated cases per day. 50% of today’s cases were variants. It’s easter long weekend and our gutless Premier won’t stop sit down dining or close bars. One of my co-workers has the UK variant right now which she caught at the bar. I’m terrified of where this is headed. This is shaping up to be the second wave all over again.

The only thing that is weird is that you told a complete stranger that you were observing his face.

One thing is certain, Covid has caused many people to completely lose their marbles.

[someone123]

Originally Posted by kool maudit

There have been many more cases per capita here, and everyone pretty much knows multiple people who have had COVID.

In some ways, however, Canadians I talk to seem a bit stricter, as the stories they are hearing come from media and are therefore somewhat exceptional and alarming, whereas most people here seem to be gauging their responses to what happened to their friends etc., and of course most cases of COVID-19 are nothing serious.

The cases we have here aren't randomly distributed around the population. It's possible to be in a bubble where covid is more or less something you hear about from the media. Then again there are some social groups where just about everybody will have been exposed at this point.

We don't seem to do well with medium risk levels. People want to round up to an apocalyptic level or disregard.

[kool maudit]

Good point. My "Canada" is really just a few people + this board. I really don't have a feel for it given how different COVID has been treated here in Sweden.

[someone123]

In Canada or at least around here the authorities, for better or worse, haven't been that transparent about who is getting covid. In BC the officials are willing to report on (and assign collective blame according to) some demographic characteristics, like age, but not others, like ethnic background (which is reported in the US and which many Americans constantly obsess over). They also did reporting by health authority and sometimes by municipality but this doesn't really get at the kind of granularity that would capture what the spread looks like. I would guess that it depends heavily on living arrangements and socioeconomic status.

It's pretty hard to guess at what the true risk is in different situations or what the real effect will be of say closing down indoor dining. There never really was enough testing and tracing to get a handle on community spread and understand the extent of it.

At the other end we've sometimes seen the media publish individual names and sometimes public shaming has followed which could make test and trace work even less.

[O-tacular]

Originally Posted by Migs

The only thing that is weird is that you told a complete stranger that you were observing his face.

One thing is certain, Covid has caused many people to completely lose their marbles.

Nice one Migs. He asked me if I knew him as I gave him a look and I responded with the truth. I could have said much worse (and wanted to). He was not someone with a legitimate reason to flout the rules and put others at risk by going out without a mask in the middle of the third wave. If I saw someone not wearing pants I would also stare.

But I know your view that your freedom is being oppressed simply by giving a shit about other people and wanting to help stop the spread.

[manny_santos]

Originally Posted by kool maudit

There have been many more cases per capita here, and everyone pretty much knows multiple people who have had COVID.

In some ways, however, Canadians I talk to seem a bit stricter, as the stories they are hearing come from media and are therefore somewhat exceptional and alarming, whereas most people here seem to be gauging their responses to what happened to their friends etc., and of course most cases of COVID-19 are nothing serious.

Canada is a bit above the world average, but there are 82 other countries that have had higher identified case counts per capita than Canada. Canada falls roughly in the middle globally.

For every person who knows a bunch of people who have been diagnosed, there are going to be people who don't know anyone who has been diagnosed as of yet, particularly in Atlantic Canada or the North which have had relatively few cases compared to other provinces or the US.