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Grant LaFleche

10 Nov, 14 tweets, 9 min read

Ok, Niagara I will be posting some stories with more comprehensive updates very shortly, but here is a snap shot because there is a lot happening on the local #COVID19 front today. (thread)

@f_l_o_u_r_i_s_h

First, the big headline: Niagara hit's a pandemic high with 63 new #COVID19 cases confirmed today. The previous record was 40 in July with the Pioneer Flower Farm outbreak.

COVID-19 Niagara: New cases per day public.flourish.studio/visualisation/… Visualised with @f_l_o_u_r_i_s_h

@NRPublicHealth

We don't know just yet where these cases are coming from, but @NRPublicHealth data does give us some clues as to the context. Unlike the flower farm case, this does not appear to the result of a new outbreak. Meaning they are community cases or from a known outbreak.

There are a total of 15 #COVID19 outbreaks in Niagara, 6 of which are LTC homes. The others are community outbreaks, including the super spreader cluster which has at least 41 cases of yesterday.
stcatharinesstandard.ca/news/niagara-r…

@NRPublicHealth

.@NRPublicHealth also shows that this spike in cases is, again, linked to people under 40 who, once again, comprise most of the new cases. Look at this chart and see the rapid growth in cases of those under 40 and those under 20.

public.flourish.studio/visualisation/…

@f_l_o_u_r_i_s_h

While those under 40 are spreading the virus and getting sick, they are not the ones who are dying. Of the 11 deaths Niagara has seen since Oct. 5, 10 are people over 80 and in LTC homes.

Niagara COVID-19 Deaths by age public.flourish.studio/visualisation/… Visualised with @f_l_o_u_r_i_s_h

@NRPublicHealth

We know that at least 2 LTC homes have been infected by the super spreader cluster (with a median age of 24). To date, @NRPublicHealth has declined to say which homes, or if any residents in those homes with #COVID19 have died.

stcatharinesstandard.ca/news/niagara-r… via @StCatStandard

@NRPublicHealth

The super spreader cluster, and smaller clusters like it, have largely spread the virus in bars, house parties and other events with no distancing or masks. In response, @NRPublicHealth is considering new restrictions on bars.

stcatharinesstandard.ca/news/niagara-r…

@MatSiscoe

In response to that, @MatSiscoe asked @NRPublicHealth not to take further action, but said the current rules need to be enforced, which is really not happening in Niagara.

St. Catharines council asks for enforcement of COVID-19 restrictions at bars stcatharinesstandard.ca/news/council/2…

@WSendzik

This issue of further #COVID19 restrictions on bars will likely by raised by @WSendzik at today's @niagarahealth public health meeting. Follow @abenner1 for that story.

Today's record #COVID19 day in Niagara is part of an Ontario-wide trend. The province set another single-day record for cases:

stcatharinesstandard.ca/ts/news/canada…

@f_l_o_u_r_i_s_h

It is not clear yet if this one-day surge will result in Niagara being moved to Orange Alert from Yellow Alert, which would result in more restrictions on businesses and social activities.

Niagara's COVID-19 Alert Status public.flourish.studio/visualisation/… Visualised with @f_l_o_u_r_i_s_h

@MatSiscoe

It is also worth noting that @MatSiscoe is not the only one calling for better enforcement. @mustafahirji is calling on the province to boost funding to have more robust bylaw enforcement of #COVID19 rules.

stcatharinesstandard.ca/news/niagara-r… via @StCatStandard

Whew. That's a lot. I will have full updates coming soon with more context on what is driving today's numbers.

In the meantime and in-between time #maskup, be safe, be smart and be kind.

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More from @GrantRants

Grant LaFleche

@GrantRants

10 Nov

@WSendzik

.@WSendzik is calling for rigorous enforcement of #COVID19 bylaws in bars and restaurants, rather than more restrictions. Says the public will "hear from the media in a headline" bars/restaurants are unsafe and "kill them." and "cautions" PH their coms have to be "spot on."

The claim that news headlines are "killing" businesses is, at best, misleading. We are reporting the #COVID19, where cases are coming from, and what public health is doing. If cases are being generated by gatherings at a bar, or a picnic or house parties, we will report it.

St. Catharines councillor George Darte says "Education is done. It's time to do something. It's time to take action," about #COVID19 enforcement

Read 4 tweets

Grant LaFleche

@GrantRants

9 Oct

G'evenin' Niagara. Sorry this is a bit late today (working on a lot of stories) but here is your mid (or late I guess) week local #COVID19 snapshot. (thread)

COVID-19 in Niagara-Curve public.flourish.studio/visualisation/…

Nine more cases in Niagara today, which is in keeping with the new, second wave baseline of daily cases. Seven day rolling average is 11. Well above the 1 to 3 cases we saw just a few weeks ago. The pandemic can move fast.

public.flourish.studio/visualisation/…

To that point, compare the last seven days to new cases per day in late April during the decline of the first wave. The current situation is basically the reverse. Cases are rising as fast as they fell at that point.

Read 9 tweets

Grant LaFleche

@GrantRants

8 Oct

As we have reported, the anti-mask groups have present a number of false claims about pandemic safety measures, including claims about masks being a violation of human rights. The hyperbole recently hit a new height with this:

(I blacked the name of the young woman because she might be a teenager.)

This post, which compared being denied service for not wearing a mask to anti-black discrimination and the Holocaust, generated a lot of support from the members of the Hugs over Masks group.

I can't believe this needs to be said, but there is nothing even remotely similar to a masking bylaw to prevent the spread of a potentially lethal virus to Jim Crow laws, and systemic, legalized racism in the US that arose after the abolition of slavery.

Read 6 tweets

Grant LaFleche

@GrantRants

7 Oct

@thespec

This is a pretty weird bit of analysis by Kinsella that pretty well fails to put Trump and Bouchard into their actual contexts.

How COVID-19 may have saved Donald Trump’s campaign thespec.com/opinion/contri… via @thespec

It is true that after having survived the flesh-eating bacteria that claimed his leg, Bouchard's already high level of popularity in Quebec turned into a cult thing, and he was regarded nearly as a saviour figure by separatists. But, contextually, it doesn't compare to Trump.

For one thing, Bouchard was not leading the province or the country, he did not have a long track record of spectacular failures in his wake and was not regarded as an existential threat to democracy itself. Trump checks all these boxes for all kinds of reasons.

Read 7 tweets

Grant LaFleche

@GrantRants

12 Sep

Yesterday, we published a story fact checking the false claims of an anti-mask group. Since then, I have been bombarded with hate email, often demanding to do things to myself which, strictly speaking, are not anatomically possible. (Thread, and warning for offensive language)

Unsurprisingly, most of these messages accuse the paper of being part of an international plot to destroy freedom through the use of masks at the grocery store during a pandemic. They will also insist they are not conspiracy theories, but also insist the "pandemic" is not real.

These non-conspiracy theories insist that COVID-19 is fake, or the pandemic itself was created by the new world Illuminati types.

Read 5 tweets

Grant LaFleche

@GrantRants

9 Jun

Journalism thread:

It is not unusual these days to hear folk say that we don't need journalists or legacy news agencies because we have social media and the "new" way to get news.
Except once again we see what happens when the faceless internet mob tries to be investigators.

Case in point, this poor guy, who was harassed, doxed and threatened because folk on Twitter incorrectly thought he was a cyclist who attacked a teenaged girl.

nymag.com/intelligencer/…

When the video of the attack went viral there were several calls for Twitter to "do its thing" and expose the then-unknown identity of the guy in the sunglasses and helmet.
Which Twitter promptly thought it did, pointing the figure at the wrong person.