ronandannette
I gave myself this tag and I "Like" myself too!
- Joined
- May 4, 2006
There are obviously a lot of Covid-related threads discussing many different aspects of the pandemic but I'd like to hear from non-American DIS'ers on how it's going where you are. It seems for most of us that our situations are very different in scope than what's going on in the US and our comments and perspectives are largely irrelevant in relation to them.
I'll start: Here in Alberta we're headed back into the weeds. We've had the third highest number of cases of any province in Canada and although our numbers pale in comparison to Quebec and Ontario, we're now up to 10,390 since March 15 when they started record keeping. We were in strict lock-down from then until June 15 when were down to just a few hundred cases and basically re-opened everything with a bang. We held our own for a few weeks but cases since the beginning of July have increased fast - we're up to over 1,400. Luckily hospitalizations have always been very low (never more than a hundred at any one time) and are currently at 88 province-wide. We've had a total of 186 deaths since March 15, a full 90% of which befell seniors in assisted-living facilities.
There is talk about going back into lock-down but it's faint...I just don't see stuffing that genie back into the bottle. As of mid-April, the government estimates were that over 200,000 jobs were lost out of a population of 4.4 million and our current unemployment rate of 14% is the highest in history. There are 10's of thousands of education professionals alone that risk losing their jobs if schools and universities don't open back up in September, much less all the other industries that are hanging by threads.
Our federal government stepped in early with relief payments (a maximum of $2,000/month) which take the place of regular unemployment insurance, as well as wage subsidies and other forms of assistance for businesses and individuals. No word on how long they will continue but our national economy is in shambles with deficit-spending in the billions. Our border is currently closed to non-essential travel and any Canadian leaving must quarantine for 14 days upon return - no matter where they went. There are a number of provinces that have imposed quarantine requirements on visitors from other provinces as well. Alberta is "open" and Canadians from any region can freely come and go.
I'll start: Here in Alberta we're headed back into the weeds. We've had the third highest number of cases of any province in Canada and although our numbers pale in comparison to Quebec and Ontario, we're now up to 10,390 since March 15 when they started record keeping. We were in strict lock-down from then until June 15 when were down to just a few hundred cases and basically re-opened everything with a bang. We held our own for a few weeks but cases since the beginning of July have increased fast - we're up to over 1,400. Luckily hospitalizations have always been very low (never more than a hundred at any one time) and are currently at 88 province-wide. We've had a total of 186 deaths since March 15, a full 90% of which befell seniors in assisted-living facilities.
There is talk about going back into lock-down but it's faint...I just don't see stuffing that genie back into the bottle. As of mid-April, the government estimates were that over 200,000 jobs were lost out of a population of 4.4 million and our current unemployment rate of 14% is the highest in history. There are 10's of thousands of education professionals alone that risk losing their jobs if schools and universities don't open back up in September, much less all the other industries that are hanging by threads.
Our federal government stepped in early with relief payments (a maximum of $2,000/month) which take the place of regular unemployment insurance, as well as wage subsidies and other forms of assistance for businesses and individuals. No word on how long they will continue but our national economy is in shambles with deficit-spending in the billions. Our border is currently closed to non-essential travel and any Canadian leaving must quarantine for 14 days upon return - no matter where they went. There are a number of provinces that have imposed quarantine requirements on visitors from other provinces as well. Alberta is "open" and Canadians from any region can freely come and go.