OT: LOCAL COVID19 - PART II... Seriously, local only

[dumbdick]

Kids who grew up during WWII still went to school and could hang out at the friend's houses.

Probably because bombs aren't contagious.

 

[Do Make Say Think]

Tell that to smallpox.

Another win for vaccines.

 

[Golden_Jet]

Probably because bombs aren't contagious.

That made me laugh, good one.

 

[Micklebot]

Sure the direct comparison is wonky but it still points to a structural issue that needs to be addressed.

That someone at the pinnacle of their profession gets paid significantly more than the average employee of another?

 

[DaveMatthew]

Comparing executive pay and employee pay in this way is pretty misleading, of course the average employee did not see a significant increase in their pay rate, that's not how typical unionized jobs compensation works.

Vera Etches makes close to $400k after getting a 40% pay increase and drives around town in her Tesla.

Meanwhile, the small business owner has seen their life savings go up in flames, the server can't pay rent, the child is a year behind where they should be, and the nurse is burnt out working more hours for less pay.

Vera Etches goes on CTV Morning Live and say that we're all in this together.

It's funny how it goes.

"Pay nurses more" - That's not how it works.
"Ramp up contact tracing" - That's hard and time-consuming.
"Send out rapid tests" - That's expensive.
"Close restaurants and gyms" - No problem!

If anything, this pandemic has really showcased how ineffectual our "leadership" is, at all levels.

A previous poster harkened back to WW2. Think of the incredible logistical operation that was ramped up to support the war, and how quickly it happened. And thank god, it was a life and death crisis.

Today? "Well gee... I guess we can close gyms?"

 

[Ice-Tray]

Kinda glad that my kids don’t have to learn to hide under their desks if an atomic bomb lands nearby….

We’ve had it pretty good for quite a while now, which is great!

 

[DaveMatthew]

That someone at the pinnacle of their profession gets paid significantly more than the average employee of another?

That someone as ineffectual as Vera Etches (and the other "top docs" and leaders in this province) are considered to be the pinnacle of their professions, is unfortunate.

That these people are getting massive raises while front-line staff get nothing is outrageous. "That's not how it works." Sure, maybe in normal times.

But these aren't normal times. This is a pandemic that has killed millions. It's been going on for 2 years. But we can't give nurses bonuses to keep them from quitting? We can't re-train nurses from other specialties to support ICU staff?

All we can do is limit in-door dining and tell people to not go over to their friend's house?

 

[Golden_Jet]

Kinda glad that my kids don’t have to learn to hide under their desks if an atomic bomb lands nearby….

We’ve had it pretty good for quite a while now, which is great!

Yep they did have drills in school, to hide under their desks.

 

[Mingus Dew]

Apparently that's the going rate

https://www.erieri.com/salary/job/chief-medical-officer/canada

Pretty solid for a municipal bureaucrat.

 

[Micklebot]

Pretty solid for a municipal bureaucrat.

I mean, they're highly experienced doctors, so their alternative job options are going to be paid similarly.

 

[Mingus Dew]

I mean, they're highly experienced doctors, so their alternative job options are going to be paid similarly.

I'm not really throwing shade here. It's a solid landing spot because the pay is exceptional and (I'm assuming) there are a lot of benefits to leaving practice behind.

 

[DaveMatthew]

I mean, they're highly experienced doctors, so their alternative job options are going to be paid similarly.

Etches has actually never been a practicing physician. She's spent her entire career in government. As is the case with many of the current leaders across regions.

 

[Caeldan]

Tell that to smallpox.

In fairness, a vaccine is a substitute to catching the virus (and the preferred alternative where possible).

 

[Do Make Say Think]

That someone at the pinnacle of their profession gets paid significantly more than the average employee of another?

Sounds like we need more nurses and if a bunch of them quit due to working conditions, it sounds like we need to find ways to retain them and that usually means increasing compensation.

Hard to see a way to pay more nurses more that doesn't involve tackling doctors getting paid way too much (amongst other measures).

 

[Micklebot]

Etches has actually never been a practicing physician. She's spent her entire career in government. As is the case with many of the current leaders across regions.

She's highly experienced, and she has her Medical doctorate . I never said she was a GP or runs a practice.

 

[dumbdick]

In fairness, a vaccine is a substitute to catching the virus (and the preferred alternative where possible).

Point was really that smallpox never evolved itself into the general millieu of mild viruses as some see guaranteed with covid. It caused plague after plague.

I don't think the two viruses are directly comparable, just pushing back a bit on the idea that this evolution into a milder form is 100% guaranteed. (Even though it looks likely right now).

I suspect a deadlier version of omicron would still be spreading just fine right now given the high transmissibility.

I think the planet just got lucky to a large extent.

 

[DaveMatthew]

She's highly experienced, and she has her Medical doctorate . I never said she was a GP or runs a practice.

Sure. But she's a career bureaucrat, a policy maker.

I think it's awful that the bureaucrats have protected and financially rewarded themselves while the front-line workers have been left out to dry, so much so that many have quit their jobs.

 

[Micklebot]

Sounds like we need more nurses and if a bunch of them quit due to working conditions, it sounds like we need to find ways to retain them and that usually means increasing compensation.

Hard to see a way to pay more nurses more that doesn't involve tackling doctors getting paid way too much (amongst other measures).

Increasing compensation seems like a crude way to address retention issues caused by work conditions. I mean, as a temporary solution to address short term issues, sure, but if the route of the issue is people being overworked due to staffing during a global pandemic, then the salary structure between doctors and nurses isn't really where I'd focus efforts.

 

[DaveMatthew]

Increasing compensation seems like a crude way to address retention issues caused by work conditions. I mean, as a temporary solution to address short term issues, sure, but if the route of the issue is people being overworked due to staffing during a global pandemic, then the salary structure between doctors and nurses isn't really where I'd focus efforts.

Increasing pay is the number one way to retain staff in the short-term, and the number one way to entice more people to enter the profession in the long-term.

 

[coladin]

If you’re going to use a multiplier to factor in unconfirmed cases, you can’t use the .33% hospitalization rate.

That number is based on confirmed cases. It’d be significantly lower if unconfirmed cases were included. The true hospitalization rate is probably nowhere near .33%, let alone 1%.

Dr. Peter Juni stated this today, 1 in 100 require hopsitalization, 1 in 1000 ICU,

 

[Stylizer1]

The vaccine doesn't prevent you from getting sick, it reduces the symptoms. The vast majority of Canadians have not gotten COVID whether vaxxed or unvaxxed. The vast majority of Canadians who did get sick would have whether vaxxed or unvaxxed.

This has always been about saving lives. We know who is most vulnerable, the elderly, those with health issues, and the immunocompromised. These are the 3 groups the resources should have been allocated to the most. We know children are not affected by this. We know teenagers and young adults are not affected by this. Middle aged people, albeit rare, have shown to have some issues related to covid but the majority are not affected. For those over the age of 60, they have the highest risk of having serious complications from this virus and still that number is low compared to the rest of the demographic.

Our Government has shown the inability to make logical decisions based on facts and has shown the ability to create more problems when not held accountable. Why anyone would leave their lives in the hands of the Government after repeatedly screwing is scary?

 

[coladin]

It's not the unvaxxed that are keeping kids out of school, it's lack of foresight on governments' part.

It's honestly insane how people just refuse to accept spread is mostly due to letting vaxxed people do whatever until cases start going up then you resort to "it's all the unvaxxed fault!" when shit inevitably hits the fan.

It is the unvaxxed keeping schools closed. Because they are the ones filling hospitals, which is forcing schools to close. Not that hard to figure out

 

[DaveMatthew]

Dr. Peter Juni stated this today, 1 in 100 require hopsitalization, 1 in 1000 ICU,

The actual data doesn't support that statement at all, especially when you factor in the likely thousands of mild and asymptomatic cases that we're not catching with PCR tests.

Juni has been the poster-boy for fear-mongering. Just look at the projections released by his Science Table on December 16th. They projected that, without immediate "circuit-breaker" restrictions for the holidays, we'd have between 500-625 ICU cases by December 31st.

Well, we didn't implement any circuit-breaker restrictions. New restrictions don't start until tomorrow, and we had a normal Christmas (retail, indoor dining, family gatherings, etc).

It's January 4th and there are 254 people in ICUs in Ontario. Half of what Juni modelled in his "best-case" scenario.

 

[Micklebot]

Sure. But she's a career bureaucrat, a policy maker.

I think it's awful that the bureaucrats have protected and financially rewarded themselves while the front-line workers have been left out to dry, so much so that many have quit their jobs.

So, looking into it, the increase is due to a settlement to bring the positions pay up to competitive levels for the role. It's a one time payment of 110k, orthree years worth of retro pay, added to the base pay.

As is typical with government, people work years on an expired contract before getting their new deals, so her actual salary is closer to 300k, or you could think of it as a 5% bump each year for the last three years, but she only received it all in a lump sum at the end.

 

[Stylizer1]

From 1939-1945, a World war raged. It involved millions of people. Death tolls range from 20-60 million. We in North America were spared. The fighting took place on all continents except here (Pearl Harbor aside).

If you lived in London, you would have been bombed fairly regularly. You would have spent 1940-1942 in real fear of an invasion. Your would have lived in real fear of terrorist attacks. You would have seen your Father march off to war with a good 10% chance that he would not return. No means to make money, you may have darn near starved to death. By 1943, the v1 and v2 was raining on you. If 12 in 1939, you would have been 18 in 1945 and off to war you went. To participate in the last few months, when fighting was intense and death rates were high.

At the end, Britain along with all of Europe endured an economic hardship that was crippling. It took the Marshall plan (please read up on it) to save Europe.

And the beauty is: by July 1945, the Americans had project Trinity and an atomic bomb was detonated. Leaving Europeans to spend the next 50 years with nuclear uncertainty and living on the front lines of the East/West conflict. Never knowing when all hell will break loose.

School aged today, versus 1939!!! those kids in 1939 survived, flourished and became humanity's most successful generation. They put a man on the moon in 1969, evolved medicine to heights we have never seen and advanced things in quantum leaps over all generations before them.

Humanity's golden generation was born between 1920 and 1940 and endured way more...Now think of the 80 and above that covid is trying to massacre.

And the golden generations kids where greedy and, screwed up the world and made billions of this pandemic.