Lockdown

[dmcdam]

So first on list is stay at home orders everyone but essential workers...school teachers and non teaching people are not deemed essential workers...but then if you are not in one of 5 school boards listed you wait for an announcment from David Williams by January 20, who may very well reopen schools for January 25???

So under a state of emergency, stay at home order yet 10's of thousands students, teachers and education workers may be expected to go back to normal during all the above??

Ya that makes sense?

I think they just don't want to break ALL parents hearts at once. IMO there's about a zero chance we'll see GTHA kids back in school until after March Break. The only way that could change would be if we suddenly saw a huge drop in new case numbers.

[silentrob]

So confusing...am I allowed to go to the park with my wife and 2 kids? That's only 4 people, we're outside, and getting exercise. And I suppose if we were lucky enough to run into another family there that we know we could all hang out together as it's just a bunch of people exercising at the park but it's not an organized so it's ok?

I haven't said much on all this, just try to keep it to myself...but Ford and co have botched this so badly it's comical. They promised to protect the LTC homes and failed, they promised to ramp up testing and have a great contact tracing program and failed, they failed to build hospital capacity, and they've promised to nail to vaccine roll out and while I'm not ready to call that a failure yet it certainly hasn't been a roaring success.

Not sure what I'm missing on the modeling either...I can't find the slides from the last time they put them out but I've read a few articles that say even with the 3000+ cases we're seeing a day and the current 400+ ICU admissions, that's on pace for what the modeling suggested and isn't even near the worst case scenario...so if we're right around what the previous modelling suggested and now have to lock people in their houses again what did they miss? Did they not believe the modelling? Did they hope it would disappear by now? Why do the modeling at all if you're not going to be proactive and take measures to tamp things down a bit?

At the end of the day...I always say it could be worse and that remains true so let's get through it together.

[Arthur Dailey]

Frisbee golf locations are allowed to be open, As are outdoor rinks.

But not 'regular' golf. And ski hills are to remain closed.

The government has released a number of power point slides explaining things. Sorry don't know how to post the pdf to here.

[68shark]

What a confusing mess.

Stay at home? I have two. One which I own. Daughter (25) lives with me. The other is my lady's house that I'm buying into and spend half the time, if not more. My lady lives alone. Under the existing rules, as a person living alone, she can associate with one other household (mine). So far, so good.

So what now? If I drive to her house (20km) can I get a ticket for not going out for an "essential purpose"? I guess I can say "am going grocery shopping". When challenged why so far from home, I suppose I can say "because the law doesn't limit me to shop only at my closest store.". To which I would expect a pissed off police/bylaw officer to hand me a ticket.

Couldn't find any detail around the "bubble" concept online since the announcement. Also, my definition of "essential purpose" in visiting my lady may not be covered in the regulations....

[Marty Canuck]

So confusing...am I allowed to go to the park with my wife and 2 kids? That's only 4 people, we're outside, and getting exercise. And I suppose if we were lucky enough to run into another family there that we know we could all hang out together as it's just a bunch of people exercising at the park but it's not an organized so it's ok?

I haven't said much on all this, just try to keep it to myself...but Ford and co have botched this so badly it's comical. They promised to protect the LTC homes and failed, they promised to ramp up testing and have a great contact tracing program and failed, they failed to build hospital capacity, and they've promised to nail to vaccine roll out and while I'm not ready to call that a failure yet it certainly hasn't been a roaring success.

Not sure what I'm missing on the modeling either...I can't find the slides from the last time they put them out but I've read a few articles that say even with the 3000+ cases we're seeing a day and the current 400+ ICU admissions, that's on pace for what the modeling suggested and isn't even near the worst case scenario...so if we're right around what the previous modelling suggested and now have to lock people in their houses again what did they miss? Did they not believe the modelling? Did they hope it would disappear by now? Why do the modeling at all if you're not going to be proactive and take measures to tamp things down a bit?

At the end of the day...I always say it could be worse and that remains true so let's get through it together.

Wife and kids to park? Yes. But wear masks if you can’t maintain social distance. Meeting up? I wouldn’t recommend it. They’ll ticket first and ask questions later.

Ford is the brunt of all flack and he is Premier so that falls on him and I think he accepts that. I’d be harsher on him if there were massive successes in other heavily populated provinces but there isn’t really. BC is bad, Alberta is bad, Winnipeg at least is bad, Quebec is bad.

LTC is a problem for sure. Also incredibly challenging to manage short of locking all the workers in with the residents until this is over.

Testing? They have ramped up testing considerably so lets at least give some credit there.

Contact tracing? That could probably be better but how do you track down 10 - 20 people on average per case with nearly 225,000 cases so far? That’s potentially reaching out to half the province. Who is going to make all those calls?

Hospital Capacity? Wife’s cousin is one of the guys who is doing this and he posted pics of the Temp ward he had built for their hospital on FB yesterday so things are indeed happening. Even with extra beds you can only certify new nurses and doctors so fast. A bed doesn’t help a patient if they can’t get care.

Listen I’m not calling you out. Actually agreeing that we’re all very frustrated by this but the problem is ENORMOUS in scope and solutions are not easy to come by. We have to hold on until the vaccine can get enough foot hold to bring back the world we were used to.

Very easy to criticize someone for not meeting your expectations but what would you have done in his place?

[Marty Canuck]

What a confusing mess.

Stay at home? I have two. One which I own. Daughter (25) lives with me. The other is my lady's house that I'm buying into and spend half the time, if not more. My lady lives alone. Under the existing rules, as a person living alone, she can associate with one other household (mine). So far, so good.

So what now? If I drive to her house (20km) can I get a ticket for not going out for an "essential purpose"? I guess I can say "am going grocery shopping". When challenged why so far from home, I suppose I can say "because the law doesn't limit me to shop only at my closest store.". To which I would expect a pissed off police/bylaw officer to hand me a ticket.

Couldn't find any detail around the "bubble" concept online since the announcement. Also, my definition of "essential purpose" in visiting my lady may not be covered in the regulations....

I wondered about this also but in reality I don’t think they are pulling cars over to check their destination. You might get that ticket if you get into an accident while out and had to call police though.

[golfingoalie]

I really don’t know but in the furthest reaches of Ontario they really aren’t in the situation that we are in the more populated areas. Sudbury, Timmins, Thunder Bay, etc.

I agree, but given he made the state of emergency and stay at home orders for the whole province they are stuck under these rules...but really shouldn't be.

I'm in Halton, how do you tell every school kid, teacher etc that on January 25 you are going back to school? Just tell all schools in GTA/Golden Horseshoe you are closed until Feb 11...don't pick and choose only 5.

[Chambokl]

Good to know. My wife uses edibles to help her sleep.

Has to be open . . . like a pharmacy . . . happy she found something that helps . . .

[Chambokl]

I really don’t know but in the furthest reaches of Ontario they really aren’t in the situation that we are in the more populated areas. Sudbury, Timmins, Thunder Bay, etc.

Timmins had 21 case on the week-end . . . not good right now . . .

It is getting bad all over . . .

[Arthur Dailey]

From the announcement extending enforcement powers:

all enforcement officers — including Toronto police, OPP, Toronto bylaw and provincial workplace inspectors — will have the authority to disperse people, including on private property. They can issue tickets to those not complying with the new rules. They will also be able to close a business or workplace as necessary.

My niece who is a medical doctor has mentioned that Southlake and Markham-Stouffville are 'at capacity'. And yes transfers of patients to less impacted areas is in process.

[pendlebg]

Everyone stop trying to make sense out of today's announcement. There is none to be made beyond one single point. Ford wanted to walk out and say the words "Stay At Home Order" to be the sound bite of the day. Everything else is so much window dressing and hot air. For most of the province, nothing really changes except the inclusion of a few confusing statements, some of which will likely be walked back over the next week. But Ford got to say the words that will convince his base he is still doing things and protecting them. Stop looking for something tangible, it was never part of the plan.

[Marty Canuck]

Timmins had 21 case on the week-end . . . not good right now . . .

It is getting bad all over . . .

Admittedly I did just pick a few northern town names out of the air. Did not research how they were doing first.

[jefflin]

Contact tracing? That could probably be better but how do you track down 10 - 20 people on average per case with nearly 225,000 cases so far? That’s potentially reaching out to half the province. Who is going to make all those calls?

This is where the app can be critically indispensable.

[PistolPete]

Everyone stop trying to make sense out of today's announcement. There is none to be made beyond one single point. Ford wanted to walk out and say the words "Stay At Home Order" to be the sound bite of the day. Everything else is so much window dressing and hot air. For most of the province, nothing really changes except the inclusion of a few confusing statements, some of which will likely be walked back over the next week. But Ford got to say the words that will convince his base he is still doing things and protecting them. Stop looking for something tangible, it was never part of the plan.

Well said

[golfingoalie]

I heard Ford is doing a presser at 1 today to explain what yesterday's presser said...