There was a lot of concern over a video of a lineup at HomeSense last weekend. Truth be told, I think the risk of people lining up in a large building for a fleeting time with masks, is not risk-free, but it's low risk. @zchagla@BogochIsaac@DocDominik@MikeHaddadMD 1/
These "viral" videos are obviously visible and garner a reaction, but take attention away from the much higher risk and (much) less visible high risk settings where COVID is spreading (i.e. the essential workplace - household transmission chain). 2/
We should continue to focus efforts on risk mitigation, and not forget the tried and true infection prevention principles which work whether high or low risk setting...whether variant or not. 3/
Finally, as vaccinations continue to roll out and less and less people become severely ill/dying/requiring hospitalizations, the daily case count becomes less and less reliable/informative. Our reliance on this metric should similarly decrease in favour of others. 4/4
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I've been wanting to write this thread for a while. It has been inspired by hearing a common thought: why can't people just "listen"? If people just followed the rules, we wouldn't be in this mess. I think this is oversimplification of the problem with COVID: 1/
It is true, there are people who haven't been following guidelines (by definition that happened a LOT at Christmas/NYE in my region), but even before, we know transmission in private gatherings happens. 2/
These private gatherings are pictured to be big raucous parties, but in reality, even before lockdown, this is just people having dinner, watching TV, doing things we did before on a daily basis. These little ripples when added across the country make a big wave.. 3/
The South Asian community I am part of has a number of overlapping risk factors that increases the risk of both acquisition of COVID and also at risk for having a more severe outcome 1/
First many work in ESSENTIAL, public-facing jobs (including in health care) as well as crowded workplaces where it is difficult to physically distance (e.g. factories, food processing plants etc.) 2/
We are more likely to live in a multigenerational home (especially in the hotspots across Canada and the world), with an average of 6-8 people. This is a prime situation for amplification of a single infection brought in to the household. 3/