TIMES, TIME, AND HALF A TIME. A HISTORY OF THE NEW MILLENNIUM.

Comments on a cultural reality between past and future.

This blog describes Metatime in the Posthuman experience, drawn from Sir Isaac Newton's secret work on the future end of times, a tract in which he described Histories of Things to Come. His hidden papers on the occult were auctioned to two private buyers in 1936 at Sotheby's, but were not available for public research until the 1990s.



Thursday, March 12, 2020

Coronavirus Fragments 9: Canadian Updates


University of Saskatchewan announced it has a coronavirus vaccine in testing as of 12 March 2020: "U of S researchers Darryl Falzarano; Robert Brownlie; Volker Gerdts and Qiang Liu are working on a vaccine for a deadly new coronavirus originating from Wuhan province in China." Image Source: Saskatoon Star Phoenix/Liam Richards.

The Canadian government is slowly looking to the WHO, USA and UK for cues on how to respond to the nova coronavirus pandemic. As a result, Canadian officials seem incapable of making decisions on their own. On 12 March 2020, Prime Minister Trudeau began self-isolating procedures after his wife was tested for COVID19 due to fever. She began showing symptoms on the evening of 11 March 2020, after a trip to the UK.

Incidentally, in the UK, PM Boris Johnson's "maverick" solution is to let the virus run freely through the population until the Brits develop herd immunity. The effects of that maverick solution now extend to the Canadian government.

Coronavirus outbreak: Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and wife in self-isolation over COVID-19 concern (12 March 2020). Video Source: Youtube.

In Canada, health care falls under provincial jurisdictions, but travel is a federal jurisdiction. Testing for COVID19 has been restricted only to people with a travel history from recognized major outbreak regions and does not account for areas where there are outbreaks which have been concealed by local governments.

WARNING: If This Happens... Its Game On (4 March 2020). Video Source: Youtube.

Despite the fact that travel history as a testing criterion implies explicit recognition of trouble abroad, the Canadian government has allowed international air travel to continue, with no restrictions. As of 4 March 2020, the government only advised against non-essential travel to China, Italy, Iran, or to practice special precautions in South Korea, and Japan. On 12 March 2020, the federal government refused to bar travelers from any country at national borders. This is incredible folly. The burden of that bad federal travel policy will fall on the provincial health care systems. In the summary below, you will notice again and again the tension between this federal policy on travel and provincial and local officials who are trying to offset the damage caused by that federal policy.

The federal government left the decision to halt flights to individual airlines; of course, these are private companies, which maintained flights as long as possible. Air Canada ran flights to and from Italy until 10 March 2020, before finally suspending them.

With the Canadian PM missing in action and travelers moving around unimpeded, it is up to provinces, municipalities, and individuals to respond to this pandemic. As I noted in previous posts (here and here), I saw my own local Canadian hospital and area south of Ottawa recently taking no precautions, despite my area being the site of the Diamond Princess quarantine.


Canadians have been complacent about self-protection because the government has not informed the public of new Chinese research that you can catch the virus from a distance of 4.5 metres (14.7 feet). At the time of writing this post (3 p.m. Eastern on 12 March 2020), the Canadian government still stated that 2 metres was the recommended isolation distance. They also have not published the fact that nCov can present as a form of conjunctivitis, or a 'pink eye' eye infection.

Image Source: Hu Shixiong via South China Morning Post.

A Message To Trudeau, To Canada, And To Everyone - Frank Five #27 (12 March 2020). Video Source: Youtube.

Canadian vlogger Frank Vaughan was extremely critical of the shambles federal authorities have created:
"The only protection we have now is the individual. ... The time for preparation is long past. Now all you can do is react."
As cases multiply in Toronto and British Columbia, Ottawa has a case of COVID19 today, a traveler from Austria. In Ontario, see also: Halton Region; Hamilton; Waterloo; Simcoe Muskoka district. On 12 March 2020, Ontario closed all public schools for two weeks. Yet on the same day, the premier Doug Ford encouraged families to travel and enjoy March Break.



In British Columbia, there are 46 official cases with 1 death: North Vancouver and Vancouver Island; 22 cases in the Vancouver Coastal Health region; 22 cases in the Fraser Health region; 1 case in the Interior Health region; 1 in the Island Health region. The 6 March 2020 Pacific Dental Conference in Vancouver had over 14,000 attendees and one of the attendees has tested positive for COVID19.


Alberta Health has a proactive stance; those with symptoms can call 811 and the provincial government will send a tester directly to your home. Many events in Edmonton are canceled. In Edmonton, Misericordia Community Hospital was exposed to a positive COVID19 case on 6-7 March 2020. In Calgary, the business community is still on a learning curve, despite COVID19 cases turning up at businesses. In Red Deer, a well-known doctor is closing his GP practice and there is 1 case in Alberta's Central Health zone.


On 12 March 2020, Saskatchewan triumphantly announced - via its Level 3 bioresearch lab at the University of Saskatchewan - that it has Canada's first coronavirus vaccine in testing. Four firefighters in Saskatoon are in quarantine after coming into contact with a potential COVID19 patient. That patient was likely Saskatchewan's first case, announced in Saskatoon on 12 March 2020; the patient is a traveler from Egypt.


In Manitoba, Winnipeg has a confirmed case, a woman in her 40s who traveled to the Philippines. There is a rumoured COVID19 risk at a fire station: Transcona Fire Paramedic Service Station Number 21 at 1446 Regent Avenue West.







Go to the following links for Quebec. Several Quebec schools - including private schools - will close on 13 March 2020 to prevent the spread of nCov. All gatherings of over 250 people are banned. Sporting events will be held in closed arenas, without fans in attendance; this is a grey area, however, and some sporting events are still being held publicly. Anyone who has traveled abroad is asked to self-quarantine for a fortnight. McGill University confirmed its first COVID19 case on 12 March 2020.

All the maritime provinces will have students returning to school as normal following the March Break. There are no cases listed yet in PEI, Newfoundland and Labrador, or the three territories. Arctic governments have limited health facilities and COVID19 will be a challenge for them.

Nova Scotia has no official cases, but people are skeptical about that; universities, churches and hospitals are taking anti-coronavirus precautions. As in New Brunswick, not all Nova Scotians are registered with a family doctor due to shortages and backlogs. On 10 March 2020, the province opened COVID19 assessment centres; people with symptoms should dial 811. Centre locations are listed here.

New Brunswick declared its first presumptive case on 11 March 2020, and held a press conference on 12 March about its plans. Education Minister Dominic Cardy was criticized by provincial medical officials on 9 March, because he insisted in a memo that anyone who attends or works at a New Brunswick school and who has returned from international travel after 8 March must self-isolate for a fortnight.

ADDENDUM (12 March 2020):




See all my posts on Epidemics here and here.


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