Same Old, Same Old

 So the Covid case numbers in Canada keep on keeping on.

Or do they?

Several of the larger provinces decided to stop publishing stats on weekends (we are sooo stressed). And now the federal government apparently has decided to do the same thing.

So really the stats they report are now meaningless.

And for contact tracing, the city of Toronto decided that because case counts are so high they would...increase staff to handle the workload?

No, Are you new here?

No, they decided to stop all together (we are sooo stressed).

So what information could be meaningful?

Many people say looking at hospitalizations is a better gauge of the pandemic.

And we were told repeatedly we need to flatten the curve so as not to overwhelm the healthcare system before a vaccine becomes available.

The objective was never to get to zero cases until the vaccine arrived.

So here is some data on cases and hospitalizations in Ontario.  I'm looking at two 15 day periods, one late May the other early October.

Yes, cases are higher now but hospitalizations (ie. severity) are lower.

And %Hospitalizations are much lower (4% now compared to 12% then).

I guess for Toronto Public Health it is easier just to say, shut everything down. This doesn't require detailed analysis or a more nuanced approach - that could help small businesses or improve people's mental health.

And I guess the Toronto School Board is now taking the same approach; they have cancelled all final exams.

When the headline says "some Ontario boards", that should read "Toronto boards".

Of course they are good reasons for this;

• they have had so few classes what could they possibly be tested on.
• the students are sooo stressed
• make up your own reason here.

If I was a university and I got an application from a kid with an A+ grade in Toronto, I'd say, "Hey that's great, but I'd like you to take one more little test here. Yeah."

[Click to enlarge.  Another from Joe Martin's Mr. Boffo.]