The
calendar turned…
We
finally slid into May with a few changes in our lives. Golfers were out, as a
few courses were allowed to open. Club houses and pro shops are not yet as
groups of people are still not allowed to congregate. And there are still
restrictions on numbers and how people should interact.
The
Alberta government, along with other provincial bodies is moving to open the
economy. By mid-month, if the infection, hospitalization and deaths numbers
stabilize, many retail stores and restaurants may be allowed to open. It
remains to be seen whether owners and employees will want to go to work, even
though all are chomping at the bit to do so.
Certainly,
more than a few cannot wait to see their hairdresser.
Garden
centres are open for business as spring weather is cooperating and people are
anxious to get their yards growing. There have been some shifts in retailing as
a few major suppliers have cut back on the amount of stock they may offer. That
has thrown off the growers as well as the public. Crowds are discouraged and
people are still required to keep their distance from each other.
Many
of us will likely have product delivered. And many will probably not do up
their gardens in the way they have in the past as they won’t want to stand in
long lines or take a chance on making contact with others who might have the
bug.
The
statistics…
In
world is well past 4.4 million confirmed cases of Covid-19 and 243,000 deaths.
Many countries are continuing to see their numbers escalate so we are a long
way from being out of this pandemic.
Cases
in Canada are still rising. As of May 2nd, there were 56,714 cases,
3,566 deaths and 23,801 recoveries. Various governments had also tested over
903,000 people (almost 24 per thousand in population). While the case/fatality
ratio has been lower than it was for the SARS epidemic of 2003, the transmission
of the virus has been significantly greater.
In
Alberta, there have been 5,670 cases confirmed, but only 229 people hospitalized
(49 in ICUs). That is a good thing. Our hospitals are well equipped to handle a
much higher number of infections. Over 2,500 people have recovered, which is
also a good thing. There have been 94 deaths, which is never a good thing.
We
hope that people do not think the worst is over and throw caution to the wind
in terms of physical distancing, and we end up with a larger spike in
infections and deaths in the coming months.
There’s
an app for that…
Contact
tracing has been a very important aspect of determining where, when and how the
virus has been transmitted. Many countries early on used the cellphones of the
public to track the locations of their citizens and work out the routes of the
virus. That data allowed them to quickly contain outbreaks.
In
our part of the world, North America in particular, people are too distracted
over privacy concerns. It does not seem to matter whether there are thousands
of lives at stake, just don’t reach into their supposed private information to
find out if they came into contact with the virus. They don’t seem to realize
that if they have a phone the whole world, especially the advertizers in it,
knows where they are and what they are doing. And if they have paid a tax or
other fee they private information is well know to authorities.
In
Alberta, there is a new app for contact tracing. It is entirely private, secure
and totally vountary. No private information is stored on a government computer.
All you do is sign up with your cell phone number. If you come within two meters
of someone who has a cell phone and tested positive you will be informed and
asked to come in for a test. That’s another good thing.
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