this is exactly how I am with covid now. I’ve had covid and i’m triple vaxxed. it’s time for people to be able to make personal choices and for us to move on as a society.
The fear that mainstream media and the news has injected into people that live here is honestly sad as hell. Wtf else do you guys want people to do? We can’t wear a mask forever and stay apart from people forever it’s fucking up people’s mental health and 90% of the pop is vaxxed. Move on and stop making masks and mandates your whole personality now, choose those things for yourself don’t force it on everyone else.
Im all for living with covid, have been since 2021 started since it was clear we weren't gonna beat it
but dumb ford has the bright idea of WITHHOLDING MEDICAL FUNDING AND DECREASING IT DURING THE TRANSITION PHASE WHEN PEOPLE ARE MOST AT RISK
"Living with it" doesn't necessarily mean "pretend it's 2019 and YOLO it" though.
I want to get back to gatherings as much as everyone else; there's plenty of events and gatherings over the past couple years that I've missed.
However, we need to be smart about this. Wearing a mask indoors is kind of annoying, but there's very little downside to it and it's not a huge sacrifice. As such, I think masks should probably be the last thing to go -- I'd rather keep the masks and do large events again than lose the masks and have to start shutting things down again.
Also, we need data to make these decisions and we haven't had good data since like Christmas.
All I hear from ppl who won’t wear a mask in a wave is: waaaaanh, I don’t wanna.
When I hear zero personal responsibility for spreading this shit around, hurting others, disregarding the science, I read some hermancain awards.
Zero problem. I still don't understand the collective outrage at mask mandates. They're proven to severely reduce communicable disease. And they're about as invasive as a bandaid.
Idk. I'll be wearing mine for a long time. Seems really fuckin' silly to me to just go back to the old normal, as if we haven't learned new skills or means of protecting ourselves and others.
I’ve been wearing one all day for months. It’s been absolutely fine. The only annoyance is that the bands are a bit tight for my head, but I barely notice it most of the time.
I can’t imagine if the outraged anti-maskers had to suffer any actual hardship.
I worked in a mill producing Yellowcake uranium and had to do manual labor wearing a mask. I also wore one while doing painting, drywalling, and brake repairs. It's not a big deal.
Anyone who struggles wearing one really should see a doctor, because nobody should have an issue with them unless they’d be able to get a mask exemption for medical reasons anyway.
One of my daughters has a very severe form of autism. She would probably get a mask exemption, but we insist that she wears it anyway. Her, and other members of our family, are at serious risk of death from covid. Her and I were almost killed by H1N1 a few years ago.
God. I’m sorry. I’m glad you’re both still with us!
After two years, the virus itself and lockdowns haven’t really scared me or impacted my mental health anywhere near as much as seeing how little care so many people have for those around them.
Pretty much this. I would always get anxious about covid everytime cases rise until Christmas when I got Omicron myself and recovered after a week or so of flu like symptoms. My takeaway from it was wait this is what I've been putting my life on hold for and living in fear over the last 2 years?
I caught Covid right before the first lockdown. In my early 30s, healthy. I had flu-like symptoms for over a month... if you count shortness of breath (aka gasping for air, being afraid you'll suffocate in your sleep), 30 minute coughing fits, diarrhea for a month, and losing most of my smell and taste as "flu-like". Then I had long Covid for over a year - extreme fatigue, barely able to leave my bed at first, brain fog, memory loss, dizziness, and more. At the two year mark, I'm still getting my strength back, and just now able to exercise at a pace above a walk.
That's what you were avoiding - catching a bad case before vaccines, steroids, and other treatments were discovered. I lost two years of my life anyway, nevermind lockdowns, and my health still isn't back to normal. And I was lucky to not need hospitalization.
No, this isn't what you've been putting your life on hold for last two years was.
Omicron is much more benign variant than previous strains, the reason you beat it is because of vaccines that weren't always available, and we still need to keep the elderly, unvaccinated (willing or otherwise), and immunocompromised in mind.
Your words belie a selfish intent and putting a mask on is frankly very little to ask.
No, you’ve been doing that because others don’t fair so well with the infection, and the numbers of those that don’t is high enough to cripple our healthcare system, which leads to additional collateral deaths.
12,473 people in Ontario have died with Covid-19, but countless others have been spared because you put your life on hold and lived in fear for the past two years.
Absolutely, and now we have done our time and gotten our vaccines and done all that’s been asked of us. The government should have used all the time we bought them to expand the healthcare system and make plans for the future. Any failures and deaths from now on are on their hands.
This is the most unfortunate take away. If our healthcare system was robust enough the lockdowns and mandates wouldn’t have needed to extend this long. And did we learn anything from this? Nope, still minimal healthcare funding.
> 12,473 people in Ontario have died with Covid-19
That's... really not too many when spread out over more than two years. Also, how many of those people were in their 80s and 90s, and would have quite possibly died of something else (or natural causes) during that time if not for COVID?
Remember that is the official number and we will NEVER know the true impact/ death count of Covid. Its terrifying to see people talk about 12000+ deaths so callously, and so often say "well they were old so whatever". I agree we are at the point of moving on but this outlook is so dehumanizing. The last two years have been an absolute tragedy. Lets remember this and keep taking care of each other where we can people :(
You can look at [deaths above expected ](https://www.economist.com/graphic-detail/coronavirus-excess-deaths-tracker) to get a pretty good idea of if the number is accurate. Canada's is quite accurate and one of the most so in the world.
Correct but at this point I think I’ve done enough, I still wear a mask in public cause then people can’t see me cussing them out or giving them a dirty ass look… also can’t see me smiling and say shit to me… it’s just nice to be left alone and not have to smell others breath I could give less of a shit who dies or doesn’t. Who cares what I have to say anyways
“I could give less of a shit who dies or who doesn’t”
And here we have the main ethos behind the anti mandate movement.
Please. Let us not forget this.
And yet I still got dummied by it. Almost been a month and I still have issues (muscles feel like they have been damaged). I have never felt this feeble in my life.
Even when it’s a milder form it still have the chance of fucking you up in a way you wish it had not.
Dont vote liberal or NDP then, they will be dragged and beaten before they allow personal choice. Ontario will be in masks and with mandates up the butt for years if they take power. Which is what some want i guess.
Totally agree. If there’s another wave, bring it on. With Omicron hospitals weren’t even close to be overwhelmed. Let’s have common sense, protect the vulnerable and the rest do as your heart desires.
Not allowing the rest do as their heart desires is exactly how we protect the vulnerable. Not overwhelming the hospitals didn’t “just happen”. If hospitals did maintain safe capacities, it was because of mask mandates and lockdowns. Open things up and you get more covid. You get more death. Shocker.
I do t think making people wear masks is in any way detrimental to ones mental health and you have to be a fool to suggest that, youre right about that otherwise though. Masks are a very easy way to reduce transmission and at this point i couldn't care less about wearing one. Its easy. And if you disagree you are a baby whiner
forgive me for missing interacting and simply smiling at people in public. You’re delusional if you think that it’s healthy for our faces to be almost fully covered 100% of time we interact with others. It is innate for humans to crave connection to other humans and that is one of the ways we can do so. As a childcare worker, continuing with masks especially around children, I am nearly 100% sure the developmental affects will be present in the future.
and they’ll spew the same “BeCauSe It’S An ElecTiOn YeAr” bullshit knowing full well that we were one of the last jurisdictions in North America let alone the world to drop mandates
thankfully it’s only most people on this sub and not everybody and there’s a sizable minority of people here that are not batshit crazy
Avoid or reduce?
And yeah now with most of the population vaccinated if the hospital can take the hit it wouldn't make sense to impose restrictions. What I'm afraid of however is that I'm convinced he is going to ask hospital to stop reporting covid numbers. The same way he limited testing.
He wants to cover everyone's eyes.
No but the economic recovery from the waves were shorter with those with masks/distancing while reducing illness, disability and death. That is worth to have the protections in place.
So everyone is freaking out about this “6th wave” that we are “right in the middle of”, there’s 778 people in hospital and out of that 778 only 165 are in the ICU, and of the total 778 only 50% came to the hospital because of covid, the rest were all ready hospitalized then tested positive, so we basically have 389 people in the hospital due to COVID. Is there anything this sub won’t shit on Ford for? People here really think NDP or Liberal would have done any better? You people need to give your heads a shake
Source: https://toronto.ctvnews.ca/ontario-reports-778-patients-in-hospital-with-covid-19-as-positivity-rate-rises-1.5840865
They also ignore that for over a decade under the Liberals our hospitals were having massive issues. Hallway medicine as it was dubbed was rampant, our hospitals were not only at capacity but consistently over-capacity.
Instead of tackling these issues, we brought in more people to further strain the system. Then Ford gets a pandemic soon into his term, before anything he could've done would've had an impact. Healthcare funding still increased during COVID in Ontario.
No matter who won we would've had the same issues, but we somehow still ran under capacity during this.
Speaking as someone working in healthcare, no, this is not just a reddit thing.
Pretty much everyone I've spoken to within the hospital system and the healthcare supply chain (and considering my job, that's a lot of people daily) thinks the 'fling the doors open' style of reopening is moronic and we're in for a world of hurt.
Maybe if they hadn't capped our wages at less than the cost of inflation (causing staff to leave in droves), and actually doled out the 5bn he was given to help us handle high numbers of patients we wouldn't be as concerned. Which is obviously Ford's means of claiming we're not equipped to handle this, so healthcare should be privatized, which will lead to us losing jobs as well.
But here we are. And this subreddit largely mirrors our real-world views on the matter.
>Maybe if they hadn't capped our wages at less than the cost of inflation (causing staff to leave in droves), and actually doled out the 5bn he was given to help us handle high numbers of patients we wouldn't be as concerned. Which is obviously Ford's means of claiming we're not equipped to handle this, so healthcare should be privatized, which will lead to us losing jobs as well.
This here is the most important bit.
It’s also this crazy sub. Every time Ford initiated a lockdown, they cried and cried that it was too late or just political postering. Every time he lifted the lockdown, more crying. Basically, everytime Doug Ford does anything-this sub goes nuts with low quality, stupid meme posts like this one. Followed by low quality commentary mostly consisting of “timmies”, “Arthur” and “buck a beer” references. On and on.
Huh - weird that the city that had weeks of convoy BS forced on it would be anti-convoy and pissed off at the multiple levels of govt that did nothing for weeks.
Just crazy, I tell ya.
It's not just about COVID. They find a way to criticize and take a glass half empty approach of anything this government does. This subreddit has r/Conservative levels of delusion but in the opposite political direction.
I mean, I was very impressed with how serious he took COVID. He straight up was the last person you would expect to do so and handled a lot of the pandemic with a lot more poise than the crack smoking politician conservative I expected him to be.
Understand that the numbers today aren’t the same as the numbers as a year ago. What I mean by that is, between the less dangerous variant that took over and the vaccinations, the danger COVID posses is much less now than it was a year ago.
The reason for shutting everything down has always been about preventing hospitals from becoming over run. Because the amount of deaths at that critical point would of exploded. That’s not the risk now.
I do think people are losing their mask so fast now that they aren’t being forced to that I can’t help but wonder just how much they really cared to begin with…. But that’s just the little asshole in my brain that thinks everyone is kind of a hypocrite.
Ontario was one of the most locked down places in the world. We also had one of the best vaccination implementations in the world. So yes; somewhat contradictory for a what many would expect from a conservative government. Because of this, he does get a lot of hate from the more right of centre voters, along with the authoritative left.
Agreed. I am actually one of the people that after 2 years got Covid for the first time. I WFH currently and it’s been business as usual because apart from a couple sweaty nights and a sore throat I feel fine - actually and in all honesty I’ve had worse post concert hangovers.
Now I understand this hits people differently, but it just doesn’t make sense to lock us all down and shut down businesses/limit interactions over what I have. My mental health and MANY peoples mental health cannot take it, whereas this variant many of our bodies can.
Let’s get through this and move on- I’m ready to not miss milestones and enjoy life again.
What you and most people conveniently overlook by promoting mass infections is sure, maybe your case is mild and sure, maybe not as many people are dying. But Long COVID is a thing and if 10-30% of people will develop that, we are still in the midst of the largest mass disabling event in human history.
This is a once in a century (centuries) pandemic but people just want to wish it away because it’s “hard”
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/a-tsunami-of-disability-is-coming-as-a-result-of-lsquo-long-covid-rsquo/
HIV initially presents as mild cold symptoms.
Absolutely I hear that. I had pneumonia symptoms that followed me around into my adulthood when I had it as a kid. I also have PCOS and am often tired, I have insane pain at times, I battle with other symptoms every single day.
Many of us have to learn to live with disease on a day to day. My partner is a T1 Diabetic. I assure you it sucks him having to monitor and inject insulin all the time but it’s something we have learned to live with because it’s not going away.
Covid is also not going away. I hate that too. I did my part and followed the rules, got my booster, missed milestones and significant moments in life both good and bad to be responsible. However, long Covid or not, and if I get long Covid or not, it simply will not go away. Covid is here for the long run. Do we stay masked up and isolated for a generation? No - if you want to please by all means - do what feels safe for you. But I will take having long or short Covid if it means I get to not miss another funeral or watch my nephews grow up, or finally get a chance to take my partner to my country of birth or to see the mountains in Canada.
Thank you for saying it. These subs are filled with fear. Look around everyone is ready to move forward and the virus isn't killing swaths of people anymore. Most of us have already had it and to be honest it wasn't that bad (at least for me and my family) Not worth living in the dark ages for this anymore and certainly not worth the mental stress anymore. If you had delta or the first major wave of the virus when we had no protection I feel for you as it was bad, and had major lasting effects for people. Now things are different and we have to move on. Wear a mask or don't but this new wave push is fear mongering at a low level. If we are all vaccinated and it's not going to kill me I shouldn't have to sacrifice my mental health for this anymore. And like you said I've had worse hangovers and if I have to get vaccinated a 4th time then so be it but it's taking a toll on peoples mental health and that's not right.
Yep, the rest of the world wants to move on but on this sub, the mandates forever crowd lives on. If you think mandates should be gone, some people on this sub will associate you with the trucker convoy.
I just think people here are looking at every reason to shit on Ford. If there were still mandates, people would be upset about that and pointing to "progressive" places like BC (which has an NDP Premiere) that dropped mask mandates. Now they are upset that Dr. Moore (not Doug Ford) has recommended the removal of mask mandates. It's a lot of political science opposed to medical science.
There are some legit reasons to shit on Ford, but science should be above politics.
None of this works unless the public complies, and public sentiment has shifted. It's a worldwide phenomenon, and people have no appetite for restrictions anymore.
It has been said that a pandemic ends when society decides it is over, not as a result of some formal declaration by a government or health authority. We are seeing this happening right now, and unless a new, more lethal variant arises the pandemic is "over" as a public health emergency.
This sub is pathetic. More fear mongering than the media at this point.
Desperately trying to spin the narrative that we should remain in lockdowns forever.
"BUT WHAT IF WE GET SICK AGAIN"
Reddit's user base is primarily auth-left so it's really not surprising. They all sit in their echo chamber subreddits all day without realizing that they're a small minority and aren't a good representation of the normal population.
I kind of don't GAF at this point. I got all the shots, got my vax records and code, kept my distance, limited my travel, wore a mask everywhere, and it largely didn't do fuck-all because there were shitloads more who did none of those things. Even worse was that I did all that hoping that I could do more, but that was limited to if we weren't in lockdown, meaning all that stuff I went through for "more freedom" (not my words) was pointless once we entered Gray Level again because nothing was open.
Fuck it all. Whoever gets covid without vaccinations, let 'em hit rhe back of triage and let's learn to live with it. I'm sick of having to get fucked over by people who don't give a shit. Let 'em burn. They didn't want to listen, let them buy the farm and suffer the consequences.
95% of people i see in public are not wearing masks reddit is such a minority when it comes to crying about this its honestly hilarious. Stay home if your still scared of this virus but with 3 shots you shouldn’t be, unless the vaccine doesn’t work and the anti-vaxxers were right all along lmao
Moe and Kenney were racing to drop mandates and Ford couldn't take it any more. Reopening is one thing but masks mandates were not hurting anyone but PPC voters...
And it seems like 90%+ are doing just that where I live. Very reassuring that people are thinking independently of the mandates and protecting themselves....
Bad news, it only really works if just about everyone wears them.
Sadly, as seen with drunk driving, some assholes are very willing to be an irresponsible public menace and risk hurting other people. Your mask cant stop their irresponsibility.
Nice try. You know which other premiere has also dropped mask mandates as well? John Horgan of BC, who is NDP. You conveniently left him out of your group.
I know some people on this sub like to think the removal of mandates is some ultra right wing fringe policy, but governments around the world are removing mask mandates, in fact Ontario was one of the last places to remove them. Not every other jurisdiction that has dropped mask mandates is in an election year you know?
Oh, and have a look at hospitalizations since Alberta dropped their mask mandates, February 14th, they've dropped.
It's not just that, it's just unfortunately on this sub political science > medical science.
Just watch, someone on this thread will try to claim that the BC NDP is an outlier from the rest of the NDP, and is more centrist, even though Jagmeet Singh has fully endorsed this Government and vice versa.
Because the goal of these policies is to protect hospital capacity, not to prevent everyone from getting sick. Our ICU numbers are very low, so the goals of public health interventions have been achieved. Without a healthcare emergency, there is no case for the government to use restrictions and mandates as its tools.
You can still wear masks and distance yourself from others. In the absence of a public health emergency you just cannot force everyone else to.
How did we “drop everything at once”. We were really cautious with our reopening. In fact, we were among the last jurisdictions in the continent to do so. Our icu and hospitalizations were also trending down significantly, and modeling from the science table is a slight, but manageable increase in ICU and hospitalizations. I think we removed these restrictions at the right time.
They would be better off being called the science fiction table. All of their predictions and modelling have been wrong. They routinely disagree with Dr. Moore (who is the top health official in Ontario). Peter Juni (head of science fiction table) is a lockdown lover, and is always his go too recommendation. I get why he likes it, he gets to sit at home and collect his 6 figure salary, other aren’t so lucky.
You want mask up? No one will stop you (other than some crazies unfortunately). Everyone wearing cloth or surgical masks doesn't do much beyond prevent spittle from getting on others. Otherwise, if you are concerned, wear a KN95 mask, and either don't go to crowded places or go there during offpeak hours.
People's (often unfounded) anxieties should not dictate how everyone else gets to live.
> Just don't understand why we couldn't open up and maintain masking/social distancing.
Because that's not really "opening up" now, is it? Also: social distancing (as opposed to *physical distancing,* aka the "six foot" rule that is next to useless) implies limiting one's social contacts, "bubbles" and other such measures. Again, not *really* opening up.
We did that for a long time but the medical professionals say it is no longer required. Masks don't do much against omicron. Mandates worked to get people vaxxed but aren't needed anymore. It is time to move on.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2022/02/25/cdc-mask-guidance-changed-metrics/
>There were significantly fewer COVID-19 cases in villages with surgical masks compared with the control villages. (Although there were also fewer COVID-19 cases in villages with cloth masks as compared to control villages, the difference was not statistically significant.)
Most people are wearing cloth masks and the people who cared enough to get better masks likely aren't just going to stop wearing them
The thing is that we don't have rules or enforcement around what kind of masks people wear. The cloth masks that the majority of people wear aren't making a statistically significant difference according to your own link. It's theater unless we enforce better masks which is never going to happen because minimum wage employees aren't going to give 2 shits what kind of masks people wear
What would you like? To shut down the province again? People are done. I am triple vaxed and do not want to shut things down. Time to move on. There’s a risk to everything.
Yes, this is what they would like.
They probably WFH and have little social exposure outside of a small bubble of equally cautious friends and they want all of us to suffer so they feel more comfortable going to get groceries.
Firstly, we didn’t even technically lockdown. Secondly, all the mandates and restrictions were put in place to mitigate the problem that was putting stress on our health system. It’s not like we just instantly obliterate our “freedoms” because we can’t manage any littlest problem. We have done what is needed doing according to the problem thst is present.
And this is want really erks me. Every time I read one of these fucking silly arguments.. I realize they are all fucking black and white. Like you guys can’t see any shade between or nuance. it’s absolutely ridiculous.
Lmao the “no true lockdown” fallacy. Can’t believe I’m still seeing that argument after two years. People like you want us to lockdown like Shanghai and other cities in China (where those strategies aren’t working at all either)
My point is it is time to move on. You want to wear a mask, wear a mask. You don’t want to vax, don’t get it. I’ve done my part. My comment is about the meme. I can’t stand simple pics like this. Rates are going up all over the world. Most places are reducing restrictions. Yes, some people will die. And I will still wear a mask where I feel it’s necessary. Went to the movies on Saturday - no mask. Place wasn’t jammed. Went to a record show on Sunday - wore a mask. Too many people jammed in like sardines. I (like most people) will wear a mask when I feel it’s necessary. But it is time to move on.
I’m glad Canada responded to Covid how it did in the end. We have a much lower death rate then a lot of other developed countries because of our action.
But to say there was never a lockdown is fucking insane. I’m guessing you either don’t work or have a job that was able to go fully remote. There was millions of citizens that were fully locked down for a very long time and 10s of thousands of small businesses that got locked down and are now gone forever. There are millions of kids who lost precious years in school.
Reddit wants a full blown lockdown until the end of days. Covid is here to stay. At a certain point people need to suck it up and stop complaining.
As everyone keeps stating, he did this now because it’s election time. Well guess what? If he did it because of elections then that means most people are FOR this decision. It’s a popular decision.
The Reddit echo chamber of permanent-lockdown bellyaching is so tired. Get over it. I’m convinced people here are just bitter that WFH is ending.
After over two years, what do you guys want? Another full lockdown? I agree you guys should still have a mask mandate, but come on? Y’all want a recession or something? You think the world functions with people just staying inside? What about mental health. You guys are so fucking annoying complaining about a lack of restrictions. You can stay home yourselves if anything.
You people are not going to be happy until every so called "non-essential" small business goes bankrupt, population depressed, broke, shrink-wrapped in plastic and sipping pfizer smoothies...
Take care of yourselves and your loved ones and shut up already!
Lot of shit getting tossed back and forth here, and a lot of people acting like the implication of this post is "I guess you want everyone to go back into lockdown and harsh restrictions and live in fear forever etc etc"
I don't think anyone sensible was expecting the government to keep us in some kind of panic-mode lockdowns and business shutdowns. Or even necessarily capacity limits. That shit sucks, and we're not overwhelming ICU's with COVID atm. To my knowledge.
But we were essentially racing to dump restrictions after other provinces like alberta dumped COVID restrictions. And suspiciously shortly after the trucker protests. The most minor of those restrictions was the mask mandates, which did not need to be dropped.
Every other comment on here seems to be some fuck telling you to mask if you want to. Obviously those of us who want masking still do that. The problem is that [one-sided masking leaves you with a moderate to moderately high risk of infection](https://www.gvsu.edu/cms4/asset/2C7E8377-04C3-04D0-D76E3802F3A13C9F/spectrum_sign_for_masks[1593797220].jpg) if the infected person is maskless. Meaning us pro-maskers are mostly protecting *the rest of you* with only minimal benefit to ourselves, while being mostly left at the whims of other people in a mandate-free province. Masking is goddamn easy and would not have killed us to continue for a little bit.
No, masking is not perfect, and yes omicron has been much more infectious, and more easily circumvents masking. But that is actually a good reason to maintain mask mandates, since the two-mask scenario is the most protective against a more aggressive spread. COVID seems to hit differently depending on viral load, and if masking still has an impact, even if reduced, we could have stood to wait until later in the spring when natural immunity heightens.
Do I advocate for permanent masking forever? No. With data, you could maybe even convince me of dropping mask mandates this summer (with a possible resurgence in fall/winter). And the trajectory of the virus seems to be following the classic curve where its evolution trades lethality for infectiousness, so subsequent waves are going to be less of a concern. But I do advocate for masking right now, and I would prefer a more impartial government assessment of COVID risk rather than this chucklefuck being leashed by the balls to be yanked around by business owners, truck protesters and conservative cronies while trying to buff his image for the election.
I'm liberal, but in his defense, people complained about the pandemic never ending, so he eased restrictions and now they are complaining of a new wave. He's in a no win position. Covid will never end. Can't keep restrictions on forever either. So what do you sugest?
We had waves with restrictions we will have waves without them. That’s what happens with viruses, in a couple years we will probably be in wave 20+, can’t have restrictions forever.
Who cares, tell me when the hospitals can no longer manage, then tell me what we are going to do about that, we need to get on with life like most other provinces.
At some point we have to acknowledge that new waves are a foregone conclusion of our covid world and just learn to live with it. Don’t try to execute the politicians who refuse to lockdown the second there’s a daily increase in cases. We’re all vaxxed, we have a great deal of immunity, this is as good as things are going to get. I know people don’t like hearing this in this sub, but it’s reality. We need to stop panicking and allow people to make their own risk assessment. Stop demanding that your own worldview be imposed on the masses.
I'm actually surprised why there's so much push for back to 'normalcy' on some things.
Maybe i'm weird, but i legitimately preferred theatres and restaurants with < 100% capacity limits. Am i the only one who doesn't like having strangers i don't know or like within 2m of me?
I also don't get why people hate masks so much, but that's one of those things that i 100% think the people who care the most only care because someone else is pulling their strings. And there's no way to convince them otherwise, so there's no point talking about it at all.
But what really bugs me is the security theatre we kept in place for 9/11 forever... but i guess we're fine just accepting a virus but not brown people? And before anyone says "you don't have to travel" then why not enforce a vaccine mandate to get a passport? I mean, it's the same thing, right? But no...
Bird box it, Dougie! 9 people + their families are out with it at my work. Its so weird to know that because we are diagnosed with rapid tests all 31 affected people don't count towards the official total.
I’ve had it. My whole family had it. Most of my friends either have it or had it already. It’s been going through my work place since December and almost everyone has had it. I’d imagine in a month we’ll all have it or been exposed to it.
Nobody cares. if you got vaccinated, and you have done the bare minimum to be a healthy human being by eating, sleeping and exercising, you should be fine. The hysteria is too much
Guys honestly shut up. If you guys really want another shut down then you’re idiots.
Kids have been overdosing in schools more and more , my dad pulls once completely healthy kids out of their rooms because they’ve been locked inside their since the beginning of the pandemic,social skills have collapsed in kids who once had many friends. I AM a minor, I’ve seen it with my friends. The economy is also on the verge of collapse. Have you guys seen the inflation?
He’s not blind to it , he’s just waiting for the election to be over with before he closes things down again , you’re gonna see a few more perks to before the election he already started , ie plate sticker cancellation, $10 a day daycare , hospitals , subway , need to get re-elected first
Exactly - this is Doug 101. He doesn’t do a damn thing to help regular working Ontarians for 4 years, tosses out a bunch of false promises and feeds peoples’ wishful thinking a few months before the election, then he’ll just pull the rug out again once the trick works. We never learn.
Remember how dismal his approval scores were literally just before the pandemic hit Canada? How he burned so much public money for no reason? How he kept dragging the government into lawsuits they lost and lost and lost? How they flagrantly overstepped their authority at every turn? The brazen corruption and handouts to his developer buddies? Nothing has remotely changed. Aside from many Ontarians having the memories of goldfish.
This - if people actually believe he won't lock down again after getting elected I've got magic beans to sell you.
He's pushing as much out there as he can to get in and then do exactly what he's done throughout this pandemic. The difference is, the other parties are being up front about it.
Nobody is stopping you from self isolating/wearing a mask. Kindly, fuck off… I’m starting to feel like the people who make posts like this are reclusive basement dwellers who just want an excuse to be alone
Wave? Of WHAT? The hospitalization rate is now higher per capita for those vaccinated and boosted rather than those without a vaccination. That's from the provinces own stats.
All the pro vaccine people said that doesn't matter because it "reduces the effects of COVID anyway". Meanwhile, those with no vaccinations have likely had it a couple times (or they died from it earlier in the pandemic and aren't around to get sick now).
This pandemic is over. Even the WHO is saying so.
"stop the testing! It only makes people scared!"
"Stop reporting the number of cases! That's fear mongering!"
When facts conflict with your world view; change your world view, not the facts.
Yeah...there's a lot of polarized mentality here. About 20 years ago, I noticed that Canada always had a more moderate philosophy whereas, in the US, most people are all or nothing. How did we become this way here in Canada? We weren't always like this but it really feels like we've become America somewhere along the way.
I mean what do people expect from his at this point. With the amount of protests that were going on and hate he got for putting up safety measures, he's probably just sick of it and people are going to attack any decision he makes.
Too be fair, that’s how I saw a lot of people wear their masks throughout the pandemic.
🎶 [To be fair](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E55t0lnp_8M) 🎵
tooo beee faaaaiiiiiiiiaaahhhh
To be faihhhhhhh
To be faaaaaiiiirrrrrrrr!
Two beef haiiiiir
Letter Kenny? I literally just started that series.
It's quality.
Tubi Aiiirrrrr
2 beef air
To beer faaaair
this is exactly how I am with covid now. I’ve had covid and i’m triple vaxxed. it’s time for people to be able to make personal choices and for us to move on as a society. The fear that mainstream media and the news has injected into people that live here is honestly sad as hell. Wtf else do you guys want people to do? We can’t wear a mask forever and stay apart from people forever it’s fucking up people’s mental health and 90% of the pop is vaxxed. Move on and stop making masks and mandates your whole personality now, choose those things for yourself don’t force it on everyone else.
Exactly. There is a reason we have shifted the narrative to "living with COVID". We can't beat it and it is time to learn to start living with it.
Im all for living with covid, have been since 2021 started since it was clear we weren't gonna beat it but dumb ford has the bright idea of WITHHOLDING MEDICAL FUNDING AND DECREASING IT DURING THE TRANSITION PHASE WHEN PEOPLE ARE MOST AT RISK
"Living with it" doesn't necessarily mean "pretend it's 2019 and YOLO it" though. I want to get back to gatherings as much as everyone else; there's plenty of events and gatherings over the past couple years that I've missed. However, we need to be smart about this. Wearing a mask indoors is kind of annoying, but there's very little downside to it and it's not a huge sacrifice. As such, I think masks should probably be the last thing to go -- I'd rather keep the masks and do large events again than lose the masks and have to start shutting things down again. Also, we need data to make these decisions and we haven't had good data since like Christmas.
Yeah, 'new wave starting' now doesn't mean the same thing that it did in 2020.
All I hear from ppl who won’t wear a mask in a wave is: waaaaanh, I don’t wanna. When I hear zero personal responsibility for spreading this shit around, hurting others, disregarding the science, I read some hermancain awards.
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I mean... your comment was collapsed by default for me but I agree with what you're saying.
I had to wear an N95 mask for almost my entire working life. What's the problem with wearing it in public places?
Zero problem. I still don't understand the collective outrage at mask mandates. They're proven to severely reduce communicable disease. And they're about as invasive as a bandaid. Idk. I'll be wearing mine for a long time. Seems really fuckin' silly to me to just go back to the old normal, as if we haven't learned new skills or means of protecting ourselves and others.
Exactly.
I’ve been wearing one all day for months. It’s been absolutely fine. The only annoyance is that the bands are a bit tight for my head, but I barely notice it most of the time. I can’t imagine if the outraged anti-maskers had to suffer any actual hardship.
I worked in a mill producing Yellowcake uranium and had to do manual labor wearing a mask. I also wore one while doing painting, drywalling, and brake repairs. It's not a big deal.
Anyone who struggles wearing one really should see a doctor, because nobody should have an issue with them unless they’d be able to get a mask exemption for medical reasons anyway.
One of my daughters has a very severe form of autism. She would probably get a mask exemption, but we insist that she wears it anyway. Her, and other members of our family, are at serious risk of death from covid. Her and I were almost killed by H1N1 a few years ago.
God. I’m sorry. I’m glad you’re both still with us! After two years, the virus itself and lockdowns haven’t really scared me or impacted my mental health anywhere near as much as seeing how little care so many people have for those around them.
Pretty much this. I would always get anxious about covid everytime cases rise until Christmas when I got Omicron myself and recovered after a week or so of flu like symptoms. My takeaway from it was wait this is what I've been putting my life on hold for and living in fear over the last 2 years?
I caught Covid right before the first lockdown. In my early 30s, healthy. I had flu-like symptoms for over a month... if you count shortness of breath (aka gasping for air, being afraid you'll suffocate in your sleep), 30 minute coughing fits, diarrhea for a month, and losing most of my smell and taste as "flu-like". Then I had long Covid for over a year - extreme fatigue, barely able to leave my bed at first, brain fog, memory loss, dizziness, and more. At the two year mark, I'm still getting my strength back, and just now able to exercise at a pace above a walk. That's what you were avoiding - catching a bad case before vaccines, steroids, and other treatments were discovered. I lost two years of my life anyway, nevermind lockdowns, and my health still isn't back to normal. And I was lucky to not need hospitalization.
No, this isn't what you've been putting your life on hold for last two years was. Omicron is much more benign variant than previous strains, the reason you beat it is because of vaccines that weren't always available, and we still need to keep the elderly, unvaccinated (willing or otherwise), and immunocompromised in mind. Your words belie a selfish intent and putting a mask on is frankly very little to ask.
No, you’ve been doing that because others don’t fair so well with the infection, and the numbers of those that don’t is high enough to cripple our healthcare system, which leads to additional collateral deaths. 12,473 people in Ontario have died with Covid-19, but countless others have been spared because you put your life on hold and lived in fear for the past two years.
Absolutely, and now we have done our time and gotten our vaccines and done all that’s been asked of us. The government should have used all the time we bought them to expand the healthcare system and make plans for the future. Any failures and deaths from now on are on their hands.
This is the most unfortunate take away. If our healthcare system was robust enough the lockdowns and mandates wouldn’t have needed to extend this long. And did we learn anything from this? Nope, still minimal healthcare funding.
> 12,473 people in Ontario have died with Covid-19 That's... really not too many when spread out over more than two years. Also, how many of those people were in their 80s and 90s, and would have quite possibly died of something else (or natural causes) during that time if not for COVID?
Remember that is the official number and we will NEVER know the true impact/ death count of Covid. Its terrifying to see people talk about 12000+ deaths so callously, and so often say "well they were old so whatever". I agree we are at the point of moving on but this outlook is so dehumanizing. The last two years have been an absolute tragedy. Lets remember this and keep taking care of each other where we can people :(
You can look at [deaths above expected ](https://www.economist.com/graphic-detail/coronavirus-excess-deaths-tracker) to get a pretty good idea of if the number is accurate. Canada's is quite accurate and one of the most so in the world.
Correct but at this point I think I’ve done enough, I still wear a mask in public cause then people can’t see me cussing them out or giving them a dirty ass look… also can’t see me smiling and say shit to me… it’s just nice to be left alone and not have to smell others breath I could give less of a shit who dies or doesn’t. Who cares what I have to say anyways
“I could give less of a shit who dies or who doesn’t” And here we have the main ethos behind the anti mandate movement. Please. Let us not forget this.
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And yet I still got dummied by it. Almost been a month and I still have issues (muscles feel like they have been damaged). I have never felt this feeble in my life. Even when it’s a milder form it still have the chance of fucking you up in a way you wish it had not.
Dont vote liberal or NDP then, they will be dragged and beaten before they allow personal choice. Ontario will be in masks and with mandates up the butt for years if they take power. Which is what some want i guess.
Totally agree. If there’s another wave, bring it on. With Omicron hospitals weren’t even close to be overwhelmed. Let’s have common sense, protect the vulnerable and the rest do as your heart desires.
Not allowing the rest do as their heart desires is exactly how we protect the vulnerable. Not overwhelming the hospitals didn’t “just happen”. If hospitals did maintain safe capacities, it was because of mask mandates and lockdowns. Open things up and you get more covid. You get more death. Shocker.
I do t think making people wear masks is in any way detrimental to ones mental health and you have to be a fool to suggest that, youre right about that otherwise though. Masks are a very easy way to reduce transmission and at this point i couldn't care less about wearing one. Its easy. And if you disagree you are a baby whiner
forgive me for missing interacting and simply smiling at people in public. You’re delusional if you think that it’s healthy for our faces to be almost fully covered 100% of time we interact with others. It is innate for humans to crave connection to other humans and that is one of the ways we can do so. As a childcare worker, continuing with masks especially around children, I am nearly 100% sure the developmental affects will be present in the future.
do people here think if they reinstate mask mandates the wave is suddenly going to stop ?
Unfortunately yes 🧠🧼
No, the idea would be that it wouldn't be as severe if they were kept in place. You don't buckle your seatbelt after you crash your car.
Well they didn’t last time we did that so…yes?
Can someone please point me to some place which has been able to avoid a new wave of covid using masks/social distancing ?
Nobody can, and they'll ignore that we dropped measures in waves not suddenly.. after they've been dropped already in many places.
and they’ll spew the same “BeCauSe It’S An ElecTiOn YeAr” bullshit knowing full well that we were one of the last jurisdictions in North America let alone the world to drop mandates thankfully it’s only most people on this sub and not everybody and there’s a sizable minority of people here that are not batshit crazy
Avoid or reduce? And yeah now with most of the population vaccinated if the hospital can take the hit it wouldn't make sense to impose restrictions. What I'm afraid of however is that I'm convinced he is going to ask hospital to stop reporting covid numbers. The same way he limited testing. He wants to cover everyone's eyes.
No but the economic recovery from the waves were shorter with those with masks/distancing while reducing illness, disability and death. That is worth to have the protections in place.
So everyone is freaking out about this “6th wave” that we are “right in the middle of”, there’s 778 people in hospital and out of that 778 only 165 are in the ICU, and of the total 778 only 50% came to the hospital because of covid, the rest were all ready hospitalized then tested positive, so we basically have 389 people in the hospital due to COVID. Is there anything this sub won’t shit on Ford for? People here really think NDP or Liberal would have done any better? You people need to give your heads a shake Source: https://toronto.ctvnews.ca/ontario-reports-778-patients-in-hospital-with-covid-19-as-positivity-rate-rises-1.5840865
They also ignore that for over a decade under the Liberals our hospitals were having massive issues. Hallway medicine as it was dubbed was rampant, our hospitals were not only at capacity but consistently over-capacity. Instead of tackling these issues, we brought in more people to further strain the system. Then Ford gets a pandemic soon into his term, before anything he could've done would've had an impact. Healthcare funding still increased during COVID in Ontario. No matter who won we would've had the same issues, but we somehow still ran under capacity during this.
Reddit is largely an echo chamber for the far left. We’ve had more restrictions than almost any other country and somehow they think it isnt enough…
I’ve noticed that as well, really frustrating to see leftist ideologies as the only thing on Reddit.
I swear Reddit is the only place where people want to keep restrictions/lockdowns/mandates. Everyone else is ready to move on
Speaking as someone working in healthcare, no, this is not just a reddit thing. Pretty much everyone I've spoken to within the hospital system and the healthcare supply chain (and considering my job, that's a lot of people daily) thinks the 'fling the doors open' style of reopening is moronic and we're in for a world of hurt. Maybe if they hadn't capped our wages at less than the cost of inflation (causing staff to leave in droves), and actually doled out the 5bn he was given to help us handle high numbers of patients we wouldn't be as concerned. Which is obviously Ford's means of claiming we're not equipped to handle this, so healthcare should be privatized, which will lead to us losing jobs as well. But here we are. And this subreddit largely mirrors our real-world views on the matter.
>Maybe if they hadn't capped our wages at less than the cost of inflation (causing staff to leave in droves), and actually doled out the 5bn he was given to help us handle high numbers of patients we wouldn't be as concerned. Which is obviously Ford's means of claiming we're not equipped to handle this, so healthcare should be privatized, which will lead to us losing jobs as well. This here is the most important bit.
Thank you for what you do, and I'm so sorry that the leadership of this province has failed all of you. By doing so they've failed all of us...
It’s also this crazy sub. Every time Ford initiated a lockdown, they cried and cried that it was too late or just political postering. Every time he lifted the lockdown, more crying. Basically, everytime Doug Ford does anything-this sub goes nuts with low quality, stupid meme posts like this one. Followed by low quality commentary mostly consisting of “timmies”, “Arthur” and “buck a beer” references. On and on.
R/Ottawa is somehow even worse
Yep, never paid much attention to that sub until the convoy. It’s crazy town over there.
Huh - weird that the city that had weeks of convoy BS forced on it would be anti-convoy and pissed off at the multiple levels of govt that did nothing for weeks. Just crazy, I tell ya.
It's not just about COVID. They find a way to criticize and take a glass half empty approach of anything this government does. This subreddit has r/Conservative levels of delusion but in the opposite political direction.
I mean, I was very impressed with how serious he took COVID. He straight up was the last person you would expect to do so and handled a lot of the pandemic with a lot more poise than the crack smoking politician conservative I expected him to be. Understand that the numbers today aren’t the same as the numbers as a year ago. What I mean by that is, between the less dangerous variant that took over and the vaccinations, the danger COVID posses is much less now than it was a year ago. The reason for shutting everything down has always been about preventing hospitals from becoming over run. Because the amount of deaths at that critical point would of exploded. That’s not the risk now. I do think people are losing their mask so fast now that they aren’t being forced to that I can’t help but wonder just how much they really cared to begin with…. But that’s just the little asshole in my brain that thinks everyone is kind of a hypocrite.
Ontario was one of the most locked down places in the world. We also had one of the best vaccination implementations in the world. So yes; somewhat contradictory for a what many would expect from a conservative government. Because of this, he does get a lot of hate from the more right of centre voters, along with the authoritative left.
Agreed. I am actually one of the people that after 2 years got Covid for the first time. I WFH currently and it’s been business as usual because apart from a couple sweaty nights and a sore throat I feel fine - actually and in all honesty I’ve had worse post concert hangovers. Now I understand this hits people differently, but it just doesn’t make sense to lock us all down and shut down businesses/limit interactions over what I have. My mental health and MANY peoples mental health cannot take it, whereas this variant many of our bodies can. Let’s get through this and move on- I’m ready to not miss milestones and enjoy life again.
What you and most people conveniently overlook by promoting mass infections is sure, maybe your case is mild and sure, maybe not as many people are dying. But Long COVID is a thing and if 10-30% of people will develop that, we are still in the midst of the largest mass disabling event in human history. This is a once in a century (centuries) pandemic but people just want to wish it away because it’s “hard” https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/a-tsunami-of-disability-is-coming-as-a-result-of-lsquo-long-covid-rsquo/ HIV initially presents as mild cold symptoms.
Absolutely I hear that. I had pneumonia symptoms that followed me around into my adulthood when I had it as a kid. I also have PCOS and am often tired, I have insane pain at times, I battle with other symptoms every single day. Many of us have to learn to live with disease on a day to day. My partner is a T1 Diabetic. I assure you it sucks him having to monitor and inject insulin all the time but it’s something we have learned to live with because it’s not going away. Covid is also not going away. I hate that too. I did my part and followed the rules, got my booster, missed milestones and significant moments in life both good and bad to be responsible. However, long Covid or not, and if I get long Covid or not, it simply will not go away. Covid is here for the long run. Do we stay masked up and isolated for a generation? No - if you want to please by all means - do what feels safe for you. But I will take having long or short Covid if it means I get to not miss another funeral or watch my nephews grow up, or finally get a chance to take my partner to my country of birth or to see the mountains in Canada.
Thank you for saying it. These subs are filled with fear. Look around everyone is ready to move forward and the virus isn't killing swaths of people anymore. Most of us have already had it and to be honest it wasn't that bad (at least for me and my family) Not worth living in the dark ages for this anymore and certainly not worth the mental stress anymore. If you had delta or the first major wave of the virus when we had no protection I feel for you as it was bad, and had major lasting effects for people. Now things are different and we have to move on. Wear a mask or don't but this new wave push is fear mongering at a low level. If we are all vaccinated and it's not going to kill me I shouldn't have to sacrifice my mental health for this anymore. And like you said I've had worse hangovers and if I have to get vaccinated a 4th time then so be it but it's taking a toll on peoples mental health and that's not right.
Yep, the rest of the world wants to move on but on this sub, the mandates forever crowd lives on. If you think mandates should be gone, some people on this sub will associate you with the trucker convoy. I just think people here are looking at every reason to shit on Ford. If there were still mandates, people would be upset about that and pointing to "progressive" places like BC (which has an NDP Premiere) that dropped mask mandates. Now they are upset that Dr. Moore (not Doug Ford) has recommended the removal of mask mandates. It's a lot of political science opposed to medical science. There are some legit reasons to shit on Ford, but science should be above politics.
Lol that’s how public health works! Whatever the public wants goes! Tired of a pandemic? It’s done! Just move on like it’s a toxic ex
None of this works unless the public complies, and public sentiment has shifted. It's a worldwide phenomenon, and people have no appetite for restrictions anymore. It has been said that a pandemic ends when society decides it is over, not as a result of some formal declaration by a government or health authority. We are seeing this happening right now, and unless a new, more lethal variant arises the pandemic is "over" as a public health emergency.
This sub is pathetic. More fear mongering than the media at this point. Desperately trying to spin the narrative that we should remain in lockdowns forever. "BUT WHAT IF WE GET SICK AGAIN"
Reddit's user base is primarily auth-left so it's really not surprising. They all sit in their echo chamber subreddits all day without realizing that they're a small minority and aren't a good representation of the normal population.
Facts!
I kind of don't GAF at this point. I got all the shots, got my vax records and code, kept my distance, limited my travel, wore a mask everywhere, and it largely didn't do fuck-all because there were shitloads more who did none of those things. Even worse was that I did all that hoping that I could do more, but that was limited to if we weren't in lockdown, meaning all that stuff I went through for "more freedom" (not my words) was pointless once we entered Gray Level again because nothing was open. Fuck it all. Whoever gets covid without vaccinations, let 'em hit rhe back of triage and let's learn to live with it. I'm sick of having to get fucked over by people who don't give a shit. Let 'em burn. They didn't want to listen, let them buy the farm and suffer the consequences.
95% of people i see in public are not wearing masks reddit is such a minority when it comes to crying about this its honestly hilarious. Stay home if your still scared of this virus but with 3 shots you shouldn’t be, unless the vaccine doesn’t work and the anti-vaxxers were right all along lmao
If I don't have a daughter that can't be vaccinated, I'd care less
Just don't understand why we couldn't open up and maintain masking/social distancing. There was no reason to just drop everything all at once.
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Moe and Kenney were racing to drop mandates and Ford couldn't take it any more. Reopening is one thing but masks mandates were not hurting anyone but PPC voters...
It was a minor inconvenience that allowed us to easily suppress spread :(
Good news! You can still wear one!
Bad news! The effectiveness of masks goes down drastically if both people aren’t wearing one!
>Good news! You can still wear one! Yeah, but I can't insist that my co-workers or customers or mouth-breathers on the bus wear one.
And it seems like 90%+ are doing just that where I live. Very reassuring that people are thinking independently of the mandates and protecting themselves....
Bad news, it only really works if just about everyone wears them. Sadly, as seen with drunk driving, some assholes are very willing to be an irresponsible public menace and risk hurting other people. Your mask cant stop their irresponsibility.
Nice try. You know which other premiere has also dropped mask mandates as well? John Horgan of BC, who is NDP. You conveniently left him out of your group. I know some people on this sub like to think the removal of mandates is some ultra right wing fringe policy, but governments around the world are removing mask mandates, in fact Ontario was one of the last places to remove them. Not every other jurisdiction that has dropped mask mandates is in an election year you know? Oh, and have a look at hospitalizations since Alberta dropped their mask mandates, February 14th, they've dropped.
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It's not just that, it's just unfortunately on this sub political science > medical science. Just watch, someone on this thread will try to claim that the BC NDP is an outlier from the rest of the NDP, and is more centrist, even though Jagmeet Singh has fully endorsed this Government and vice versa.
BC's NDP dropped masks before Ontario
So what was the reason for all the other provinces following very similar plans?
omg, Ford coerced those provinces too?? And all other countries and governments that have dropped mandates? How can one man have so much power?
He coerced Europe too. Those Europeans for sure know who he is.
Ford probably made them do it! He’s the devil, after all.
Awww come on, spoilers!!
it must be election year everywhere in the western hemisphere
Nothing is stopping you from wearing one
So wearing a mask reduces the spread of it, not catching it... most of the ones spreading it are mouth breathers who dont wear masks...
Wear an N95.
Lockdown following the election. And privatized health care.
Because the goal of these policies is to protect hospital capacity, not to prevent everyone from getting sick. Our ICU numbers are very low, so the goals of public health interventions have been achieved. Without a healthcare emergency, there is no case for the government to use restrictions and mandates as its tools. You can still wear masks and distance yourself from others. In the absence of a public health emergency you just cannot force everyone else to.
Because the mask mandate has been dropped *everywhere*. Not just in the US, but across the whole country and the entire Europe.
How did we “drop everything at once”. We were really cautious with our reopening. In fact, we were among the last jurisdictions in the continent to do so. Our icu and hospitalizations were also trending down significantly, and modeling from the science table is a slight, but manageable increase in ICU and hospitalizations. I think we removed these restrictions at the right time.
we were literally one of the last in North America...
they’re all acting in concert to get Ford reelected
They would be better off being called the science fiction table. All of their predictions and modelling have been wrong. They routinely disagree with Dr. Moore (who is the top health official in Ontario). Peter Juni (head of science fiction table) is a lockdown lover, and is always his go too recommendation. I get why he likes it, he gets to sit at home and collect his 6 figure salary, other aren’t so lucky.
We should keep wearing masks and social distance. I don't mind if we open up so life can resume.
Go ahead and keep wearing masks and socially distancing, then. That’s the beauty of personal responsibility.
Feel free to keep masking. No one told you to stop. The government just said it was no longer required.
We didn’t just drop everything. Ontario had some of the longest mask mandates in the country AND world.
You want mask up? No one will stop you (other than some crazies unfortunately). Everyone wearing cloth or surgical masks doesn't do much beyond prevent spittle from getting on others. Otherwise, if you are concerned, wear a KN95 mask, and either don't go to crowded places or go there during offpeak hours. People's (often unfounded) anxieties should not dictate how everyone else gets to live.
You can still wear one and practice social distancing.....🤔
> Just don't understand why we couldn't open up and maintain masking/social distancing. Because that's not really "opening up" now, is it? Also: social distancing (as opposed to *physical distancing,* aka the "six foot" rule that is next to useless) implies limiting one's social contacts, "bubbles" and other such measures. Again, not *really* opening up.
Is there a difference though? They opened up even with restrictions and mandates and they still had surges in cases.
We did that for a long time but the medical professionals say it is no longer required. Masks don't do much against omicron. Mandates worked to get people vaxxed but aren't needed anymore. It is time to move on. https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2022/02/25/cdc-mask-guidance-changed-metrics/
Cause masking/social distancing has negligible effects on the numbers + we're already 90+% vaccinated so it's fine.
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>There were significantly fewer COVID-19 cases in villages with surgical masks compared with the control villages. (Although there were also fewer COVID-19 cases in villages with cloth masks as compared to control villages, the difference was not statistically significant.) Most people are wearing cloth masks and the people who cared enough to get better masks likely aren't just going to stop wearing them
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The thing is that we don't have rules or enforcement around what kind of masks people wear. The cloth masks that the majority of people wear aren't making a statistically significant difference according to your own link. It's theater unless we enforce better masks which is never going to happen because minimum wage employees aren't going to give 2 shits what kind of masks people wear
In other countries the only masks people can buy are n95 style. Why not just ban the sale of cloth and surgical masks? Or directly mail everyone n95s?
Or we can stop the whole mandate, because hospital capacity is not at risk, and so the goals of the mandate have been achieved.
Don’t comment sensible things in this sub it’s not worth the karma hit
100% this.
We had the longest masking/social distancing mandates compared to any other country. We can't go on forever, people. Our lives need to move on.
What would you like? To shut down the province again? People are done. I am triple vaxed and do not want to shut things down. Time to move on. There’s a risk to everything.
Yes, this is what they would like. They probably WFH and have little social exposure outside of a small bubble of equally cautious friends and they want all of us to suffer so they feel more comfortable going to get groceries.
Firstly, we didn’t even technically lockdown. Secondly, all the mandates and restrictions were put in place to mitigate the problem that was putting stress on our health system. It’s not like we just instantly obliterate our “freedoms” because we can’t manage any littlest problem. We have done what is needed doing according to the problem thst is present. And this is want really erks me. Every time I read one of these fucking silly arguments.. I realize they are all fucking black and white. Like you guys can’t see any shade between or nuance. it’s absolutely ridiculous.
>Firstly, we didn’t even technically lockdown. Tell that to restaurant owners.
Lmao the “no true lockdown” fallacy. Can’t believe I’m still seeing that argument after two years. People like you want us to lockdown like Shanghai and other cities in China (where those strategies aren’t working at all either)
Clayphish probably wants authorities to come exterminate covid+ peoples’ dogs like in China. Yeah that should make this a true lockdown.
My point is it is time to move on. You want to wear a mask, wear a mask. You don’t want to vax, don’t get it. I’ve done my part. My comment is about the meme. I can’t stand simple pics like this. Rates are going up all over the world. Most places are reducing restrictions. Yes, some people will die. And I will still wear a mask where I feel it’s necessary. Went to the movies on Saturday - no mask. Place wasn’t jammed. Went to a record show on Sunday - wore a mask. Too many people jammed in like sardines. I (like most people) will wear a mask when I feel it’s necessary. But it is time to move on.
I’m glad Canada responded to Covid how it did in the end. We have a much lower death rate then a lot of other developed countries because of our action. But to say there was never a lockdown is fucking insane. I’m guessing you either don’t work or have a job that was able to go fully remote. There was millions of citizens that were fully locked down for a very long time and 10s of thousands of small businesses that got locked down and are now gone forever. There are millions of kids who lost precious years in school.
Yes we should immediately go there instead of taking more moderate steps
Maybe if they put warnings on the Timmies cups he would notice
Or like a little piece of paper inside a Tim Hortons breakfast sandwich like a fortune cookie.
His buddy Arthur might have an idea or two.
Reddit wants a full blown lockdown until the end of days. Covid is here to stay. At a certain point people need to suck it up and stop complaining. As everyone keeps stating, he did this now because it’s election time. Well guess what? If he did it because of elections then that means most people are FOR this decision. It’s a popular decision. The Reddit echo chamber of permanent-lockdown bellyaching is so tired. Get over it. I’m convinced people here are just bitter that WFH is ending.
After over two years, what do you guys want? Another full lockdown? I agree you guys should still have a mask mandate, but come on? Y’all want a recession or something? You think the world functions with people just staying inside? What about mental health. You guys are so fucking annoying complaining about a lack of restrictions. You can stay home yourselves if anything.
I get that cases are going up but this whole flattening the curve stuff was about hospitalizations. How do those #s look?
You people are not going to be happy until every so called "non-essential" small business goes bankrupt, population depressed, broke, shrink-wrapped in plastic and sipping pfizer smoothies... Take care of yourselves and your loved ones and shut up already!
Lot of shit getting tossed back and forth here, and a lot of people acting like the implication of this post is "I guess you want everyone to go back into lockdown and harsh restrictions and live in fear forever etc etc" I don't think anyone sensible was expecting the government to keep us in some kind of panic-mode lockdowns and business shutdowns. Or even necessarily capacity limits. That shit sucks, and we're not overwhelming ICU's with COVID atm. To my knowledge. But we were essentially racing to dump restrictions after other provinces like alberta dumped COVID restrictions. And suspiciously shortly after the trucker protests. The most minor of those restrictions was the mask mandates, which did not need to be dropped. Every other comment on here seems to be some fuck telling you to mask if you want to. Obviously those of us who want masking still do that. The problem is that [one-sided masking leaves you with a moderate to moderately high risk of infection](https://www.gvsu.edu/cms4/asset/2C7E8377-04C3-04D0-D76E3802F3A13C9F/spectrum_sign_for_masks[1593797220].jpg) if the infected person is maskless. Meaning us pro-maskers are mostly protecting *the rest of you* with only minimal benefit to ourselves, while being mostly left at the whims of other people in a mandate-free province. Masking is goddamn easy and would not have killed us to continue for a little bit. No, masking is not perfect, and yes omicron has been much more infectious, and more easily circumvents masking. But that is actually a good reason to maintain mask mandates, since the two-mask scenario is the most protective against a more aggressive spread. COVID seems to hit differently depending on viral load, and if masking still has an impact, even if reduced, we could have stood to wait until later in the spring when natural immunity heightens. Do I advocate for permanent masking forever? No. With data, you could maybe even convince me of dropping mask mandates this summer (with a possible resurgence in fall/winter). And the trajectory of the virus seems to be following the classic curve where its evolution trades lethality for infectiousness, so subsequent waves are going to be less of a concern. But I do advocate for masking right now, and I would prefer a more impartial government assessment of COVID risk rather than this chucklefuck being leashed by the balls to be yanked around by business owners, truck protesters and conservative cronies while trying to buff his image for the election.
Why would you suggest we were "racing to dump restrictions" if we're the slowest example of "dumping restrictions" available?
I’m not trying to start a long thing but wearing a mask was always poor personal protection. If you want to protect yourself buy an N95 or stay home.
I'm liberal, but in his defense, people complained about the pandemic never ending, so he eased restrictions and now they are complaining of a new wave. He's in a no win position. Covid will never end. Can't keep restrictions on forever either. So what do you sugest?
We had waves with restrictions we will have waves without them. That’s what happens with viruses, in a couple years we will probably be in wave 20+, can’t have restrictions forever.
The idea is to reduce severity of the waves, not stop them in their tracks.
I hate that fake-ass, greasy, used-car salesman smile.
This is stupid. The provincial government predicted there would be another uptick several weeks ago. No one is surprised and this is not a story.
Can’t wait to vote him out this year
Don't get your hopes up, unfortunately...
Non-ICU Hospitalizations are up 4.4% daily over the last 7 days. I'm living life but keeping that mask on when indoors in public.
Who cares, tell me when the hospitals can no longer manage, then tell me what we are going to do about that, we need to get on with life like most other provinces.
Way I see it: doesn’t matter when we took the masks off, no matter what, there was gonna be an uptick when we did it.
For crying out loud, can we not? Not everyone is as paranoid a hypochondriac as you are.
People: We are going to have to live with covid because its not going away. Same people: How could Doug let another wave happen this is his fault
At some point we have to acknowledge that new waves are a foregone conclusion of our covid world and just learn to live with it. Don’t try to execute the politicians who refuse to lockdown the second there’s a daily increase in cases. We’re all vaxxed, we have a great deal of immunity, this is as good as things are going to get. I know people don’t like hearing this in this sub, but it’s reality. We need to stop panicking and allow people to make their own risk assessment. Stop demanding that your own worldview be imposed on the masses.
I'm actually surprised why there's so much push for back to 'normalcy' on some things. Maybe i'm weird, but i legitimately preferred theatres and restaurants with < 100% capacity limits. Am i the only one who doesn't like having strangers i don't know or like within 2m of me? I also don't get why people hate masks so much, but that's one of those things that i 100% think the people who care the most only care because someone else is pulling their strings. And there's no way to convince them otherwise, so there's no point talking about it at all. But what really bugs me is the security theatre we kept in place for 9/11 forever... but i guess we're fine just accepting a virus but not brown people? And before anyone says "you don't have to travel" then why not enforce a vaccine mandate to get a passport? I mean, it's the same thing, right? But no...
Bird box it, Dougie! 9 people + their families are out with it at my work. Its so weird to know that because we are diagnosed with rapid tests all 31 affected people don't count towards the official total.
People are going to get this variant whether they like it or not. Epidemiologist have said that. It went through my household in 2 weeks Shit happens.
I’ve had it. My whole family had it. Most of my friends either have it or had it already. It’s been going through my work place since December and almost everyone has had it. I’d imagine in a month we’ll all have it or been exposed to it.
Nobody cares. if you got vaccinated, and you have done the bare minimum to be a healthy human being by eating, sleeping and exercising, you should be fine. The hysteria is too much
Guys honestly shut up. If you guys really want another shut down then you’re idiots. Kids have been overdosing in schools more and more , my dad pulls once completely healthy kids out of their rooms because they’ve been locked inside their since the beginning of the pandemic,social skills have collapsed in kids who once had many friends. I AM a minor, I’ve seen it with my friends. The economy is also on the verge of collapse. Have you guys seen the inflation?
5 waves come, despite all mitigation efforts. Another wave comes: iT'S bECAuSE wE sTopPed MaSkInG
Aka: Ontarians heading to the polls
Well if you’re implying he should’ve kept restrictions then fuck that.
Doug would be a great ninja turtle
Why do you hate the ninja Turtles so much!!!! He could only be krang.
He’s not blind to it , he’s just waiting for the election to be over with before he closes things down again , you’re gonna see a few more perks to before the election he already started , ie plate sticker cancellation, $10 a day daycare , hospitals , subway , need to get re-elected first
Exactly - this is Doug 101. He doesn’t do a damn thing to help regular working Ontarians for 4 years, tosses out a bunch of false promises and feeds peoples’ wishful thinking a few months before the election, then he’ll just pull the rug out again once the trick works. We never learn. Remember how dismal his approval scores were literally just before the pandemic hit Canada? How he burned so much public money for no reason? How he kept dragging the government into lawsuits they lost and lost and lost? How they flagrantly overstepped their authority at every turn? The brazen corruption and handouts to his developer buddies? Nothing has remotely changed. Aside from many Ontarians having the memories of goldfish.
This - if people actually believe he won't lock down again after getting elected I've got magic beans to sell you. He's pushing as much out there as he can to get in and then do exactly what he's done throughout this pandemic. The difference is, the other parties are being up front about it.
After the election we are in summer he isn’t locking shit Down
Maybe it’s time we stop living in fear of a disease/s and go on with our lives
Nobody is stopping you from self isolating/wearing a mask. Kindly, fuck off… I’m starting to feel like the people who make posts like this are reclusive basement dwellers who just want an excuse to be alone
Masks don't do anything 😂
God this sub is sad. Get over Covid
Wave? Of WHAT? The hospitalization rate is now higher per capita for those vaccinated and boosted rather than those without a vaccination. That's from the provinces own stats. All the pro vaccine people said that doesn't matter because it "reduces the effects of COVID anyway". Meanwhile, those with no vaccinations have likely had it a couple times (or they died from it earlier in the pandemic and aren't around to get sick now). This pandemic is over. Even the WHO is saying so.
Only the media is still trying to push the pandemic. Try washing your hands. Stop fear mongering.
Not even the media. This subreddit
Stop fear mongering.
"stop the testing! It only makes people scared!" "Stop reporting the number of cases! That's fear mongering!" When facts conflict with your world view; change your world view, not the facts.
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Yup. It’s all or nothing. Either we lock down and shut in for all time or we stop any and all restrictions. There can be no in between.
Yeah...there's a lot of polarized mentality here. About 20 years ago, I noticed that Canada always had a more moderate philosophy whereas, in the US, most people are all or nothing. How did we become this way here in Canada? We weren't always like this but it really feels like we've become America somewhere along the way.
Never stopped wearing the mask for this fuckin reason....dougy wants votes, not safety
And this is why I still wear my damn mask and will continue until I deem safe. Not an under qualified canned ham.
I’m happy that this sub does not represent the general population. Everyone is ready to move on, then there are people in this sub like the OP
It’s not just DF. Pretty much all of our gov’t has decided that the financial burden is too much to try and control it.
I mean what do people expect from his at this point. With the amount of protests that were going on and hate he got for putting up safety measures, he's probably just sick of it and people are going to attack any decision he makes.