January Carrots!

I just read a nasty rant from one of my followers. I would really prefer that people who disagree with me would have the courage to speak to me personally. Private message me please, troll or not, defamation is wrong and some day, there will be checks and balances in place on social media that protect us against such defamation. I have asked this person to reach out to me privately. I guarantee she won't.

To make it clear, I am not speaking out against the government, as this person suggests I do. She suggested it would be cowardly if I did not. I think it's cowardly to defame someone online where you can remain safe and anonymous.

She believes there are internment camps that infected people are being forced to stay in and she believes that the government's new policy to have returning travellers stay in a government chosen hotel until they know their COVID status is evidence of more nefarious activities by our government. I agree with this new government policy. Did you know that Melbourne Australia had their COVID 19 pandemic under control until people who were staying in similar government supervised hotels infected employees of the hotel who then took the virus home to their families? This caused a huge outbreak which lead to the the entire region being locked down for the rest of the summer.

And this was before the new variant, which is much more transmissible and dangerous, was detected.

I need to remain professional, even on line, and keep my anger in check but his kind of misinformation that attacks science and intelligent, science-based government decisions fills me with rage.

Thanks for letting me rant.

On a lighter note and with a spring-like perspective:

The 7 day rolling average is now below 2000!

Hospitalized: 1273 down by 18

ICU: 353 down by 7

Ventilator: 216 down by 55

R value: 0.86 - still below 1.0

We have done it. Despite the mis-information and the mis-steps over Christmas, we are succeeding in controlling this second wave. So, what's the next step?

This is a very interesting graph:

https://covid19.healthdata.org/canada?view=total-deaths...

As of today, we have surpassed 20,000 deaths from COVID-19 in this country. The first graph projects how many deaths will occur by May 21 in three different scenarios: The worse case scenario, 34,000 deaths, rapid variant spread, 31,000 deaths and universal mask wearing, 29,000 deaths.

Still far too many deaths but I think we all agree that a prolonged lockdown like the one we are suffering through right now is not sustainable. People need to get back to work. Schools need to re-open. I am not part of any provincial or national decision making but I highly respect and support all of our leaders and decision makers. Preventing more cases of the new variant from entering our country with supervised quarantine upon arrival just makes sense. Ten more days of the present emergency order will drive the numbers down further and re-build the capacity in our ICU systems. We have avoided the horrific projection of 40,000 new cases a day. Well done.

I believe that any re-opening should come with a universal mask order. Yep, out on a limb again. It is much easier to wear a mask at all times outside of your bubble than it is to stay locked in that bubble. Let's wait and see. For now, wear two 2- layer cloth masks, a level 2 surgical mask or a good quality three layer cloth mask with a middle layer of polypropylene. That's how we defeat any new variant.

Dispelling some myths:

There will be rare cases of people testing positive for COVID-19 after being vaccinated. It takes two doses and a full 2 to 4 weeks after the last dose of the vaccine before you are immune. That's lots of time to be exposed to and infected with COVID. Continue wearing masks and social distancing even after you have been vaccinated. We are not safe until 70 % of us are immune.

There are six doses in each vial of Pfizer vaccine. No conspiracy here. To get all six doses requires a person experienced in giving vaccines who is using a 1 cc syringe. You will never receive an incomplete dose.

There are international delays is vaccine deliveries, everywhere. We have never tried to vaccinate 8 billion people before. There will be many glitches moving forward. What the makers of these vaccines and the scientific community is trying to do is next to impossible but, guess what? It was next to impossible to create a vaccine and we have many, many vaccines that will be available in short order. Be patient and confident. We will end COVID 19.

Newer vaccines, like the Astra Zeneca and the Johnson and Johnson vaccine are made with different technology than the messenger RNA vaccines. This technology makes them less effective up front but they work and they require only one dose. They prevent 100 % of deaths and serious illness form COVID 19 and that is what counts. Canada is about to approve one of these new vaccines......a new tool in our fight. That is great news.

This picture was taken yesterday when I was actually happy and not furious. Yes, this is one of my summer carrots, picked on January 30th, under a foot of snow and a thick layer of leaves, still green on top. A carrot that has been under ground for 7 months!!!! Hope springs eternal. Thank you to the folks at the Guelph seed bank who gave me these carrot seeds during my summer carrot fiasco. Beautiful carrots.

There is nothing, absolutely nothing we cannot accomplish when we work together for the good of all.....and even better with a little prayer sprinkled in the mix.

Stay strong and keep good sense in the forefront.

Anne-Marie

Please share.

For local assistance with anxiety and depression:

www.here4help.ca

CMHA WW Website: www.cmhaww.ca

Here 24/7 at 1-844-HERE-247 or www.here247.ca.

And for post-secondary students, Good2Talk

https://good2talk.ca/

For non-Facebook users, you can find this post here:

https://braceletofhope.blogspot.com/

And if you'd like to help Bracelet of Hope work towards making sure that Lesotho has access to these vaccines, donate here:

https://www.braceletofhope.ca/ways-to-