COVID-19 Thread: Impact on Local Businesses and Economy

[GeneralLeeTPHLS]

Originally Posted by Hawrylyshyn

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

This variant has a number of mutations that make it that much easier to spread, and can easily break through two doses of the vaccine....especially since those two doses lose their effictiveness 6 months after the second dose.

I understand why they had to close businesses down with that in mind...but I think it's bloody insane to not bring in more supports for workers and small businesses (in addition to what's available....what we curently have is too little for anyone to survive off in this province)

The Ford government however, is definitely a joke. They've handled this pandemic rather poorly, mostly with timing things and not giving enough supports. The fact that malls and weddings and retail are still at 50% capacity, and schools are closed is interesting. And not in a good way.

[TheHonestMaple]

Originally Posted by GeneralLeeTPHLS

This variant has a number of mutations that make it that much easier to spread, and can easily break through two doses of the vaccine....especially since those two doses lose their effictiveness 6 months after the second dose.

I understand why they had to close businesses down with that in mind...but I think it's bloody insane to not bring in more supports for workers and small businesses (in addition to what's available....what we curently have is too little for anyone to survive off in this province)

The Ford government however, is definitely a joke. They've handled this pandemic rather poorly, mostly with timing things and not giving enough supports. The fact that malls and weddings and retail are still at 50% capacity, and schools are closed is interesting. And not in a good way.

How can you believe closing businesses is necessary when no other countries in the world are still using lockdowns as a tool against this (mild) virus? I see stadiums with 80k people in them over in the UK. No issues. Wake up.

Lockdowns are causing far far more harms than the virus itself. That's a fact. Deaths of despair, undetected cancers and other diseases, a destroyed economy. The list goes on.

We need an approach that doesn't involve lockdowns. It's actually insanity to continue on like this. I think a lot of people are starting to realize this lately and i'm hoping there's some serious backlash to this latest lockdown.

[SteelTown]

Thankfully, they've delayed students' entry to McMaster until January 17th.

McMaster and other Universities in Ontario have no room limits; therefore, a lecture hall that fits 500 students will continue to accommodate 500 students. Since students aren't covered under workplace regulations (they aren't employees), there are no social distancing rules. The only mandate is there's no food or drinks allowed and masking at all times (and of course, you have to prove you had two vaccine shots). Meanwhile, the employees overseeing the lecture are "safe" as long they are 2 meters away from the students.

Also, at the same time, no more COVID reporting for students. Doug seems to be taking a page from Trump's political days; less testing means fewer COVID numbers to report.

[Hawrylyshyn]

Reducing testing is the smart thing to do. Cases numbers are irrelevant when the bast majority of those cases have mild cold symptoms. Wow, 10,000 people with a stuffy nose? What a tragedy..

Only testing people at risk or with actual severe symptoms is a good move IMO. plus it'll stop over burdening the system and let people who should genuinely get a PCR book in a reasonable time period

[TheHonestMaple]

Originally Posted by Hawrylyshyn

Reducing testing is the smart thing to do. Cases numbers are irrelevant when the bast majority of those cases have mild cold symptoms. Wow, 10,000 people with a stuffy nose? What a tragedy..

Only testing people at risk or with actual severe symptoms is a good move IMO. plus it'll stop over burdening the system and let people who should genuinely get a PCR book in a reasonable time period

I completely agree. The amount we are currently testing serves no purpose other than to induce panic in our society. To be honest I don't even understand why they release the daily covid case numbers anyway. What difference does it make if we know how many cases there are? It's irrelevant. And the media just jumps on it and creates doom and gloom headlines. Time to move on from this, it's totally paralyzing society at large and causing so much damage.

[ScreamingViking]

While nobody figured things would last this long, or projected an Omicron variant, taking down the temporary hospital unit beside the general was very premature. I didn't understand why they did that. It was not used, but should have been kept at least through the winter, just in case.

Area hospitals are full or more than full, and they're losing staff to the virus too.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/hamil...2022-1.6304818

https://www.thespec.com/news/hamilto...-icu-beds.html

[Hawrylyshyn]

I mean, hospitals were operating well above capacity before COVID existed so it's really no surprise. Would've been full even without it