I am sharing my buying experience, including links and prices, to help others. H/T @RajBhardwajMD for the Marketplace story.
The new Variants of Concern are much more transmissible (stickier) than the coronavirus we encountered last spring. We need better than the usual masks.
Demand >> supply for true N95 respirators for healthcare workers exposed to infected people, so @cbcmarketplace looked at respirators meeting Chinese KN95 & Korean KF94.
These are now available because #ZeroCOVID countries no longer need as many.
It just comes in a nondescript box of "Face Masks" but @cbcmarketplace found over 96% filtration of the key 0.3 µm size. Which meets China's GB2626 standard for KN95.
Depending on how much I get RT, this hidden gem currently has lots of stock in 2 cities I checked: Calgary & Toronto. Hope @Lowes_Canada can restock if there is a run on inventory.
See comparison to my current 2-layer cloth mask with disposable filter.
I am not a Costco member, so do not have my own buying experience. Neither is my MD friend who asked me to look into it, because his patients ask him about it.
If anyone has bought them, please share pictures and your review, in the same or better way than I did.
Dollarama Medi Care KN95
$4 each sold in packages of 1 only.
IMHO, this is a ripoff, and takes advantage of people in poorer areas. It was also the most dangerous indoor place I have ever been in: masks 50% chinstrap, 50% dangling loose below nose.
In Alberta, babies under 1 year old are getting clobbered by Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV), and it is overloading our children's hospitals:
• Hospitalized at 36x the rate of average Albertan
• Hospital & ICU at 3x rate of COVID in babies under 1
Typical LaGrange-style quote in reporting by @JenLeeCBC:
"In a statement emailed to CBC News, a spokesperson said the hospital is seeing an increase in respiratory admissions, which "aligns with seasonal trends.""
Expecting mothers should speak with their family physician or obstretician (like @FionaMattatall) about getting vaccinated during their pregnancy to protect their newborns. (I'm not a doc)
RSV shots are $1000 each, but perhaps other immunizations.
Both last year and this year, peak weekly flu shots administered was in week 42:
• This yr, only 243,207
• Last yr, 330,264
Many of us are now off from school or work for the Xmas holidays. Good time to get vaccinated. It should help you for January return to school or work.
3-min video posted 31 Oct 2024 by Liricom & Plenary shows what they expect provincial taxpayers to build + operate for them between airport & "Grand Central Station".
Before I get into pros and cons, let me just help you figure out their bizarre colours:
🟧 for Calgary Airport Downtown Express track that is at grade or in the 80th Ave tunnel
🟦 Teal (close enough) for stations
🟨 for track that is elevated from Bow River near zoo to Crowchild
Why does it need to be elevated from south shore of Bow River near Zoo, to Downtown West End before Crowchild?
Because CPKC wouldn't let them stay parallel at grade though downtown. Needed to be elevated to not interfere with freight loading/unloading at grade.
When UCP claims their elevated track & station #GreenlineYYC design through Beltline into Downtown is better than tunnels, but🚩won't release a single rendering, others will.
😱
Visit @yycbeltline web page, where each image is labelled. You barely recognize the streets after.
@yycbeltline Beltline Neighbourhoods Association tries to recreate Dreeshen's claim that only one "non-driving lane" on 10 Av would be affected (after multi-year construction probably closes the whole street) by rendering only a single column for the track and two columns for station.
@yycbeltline They use structural designs from Sunalta, which is 15 m above ground, but have to render two columns straddling reduced 10 Ave to support Beltline station.
Sunalta station is supported by an enclosed building, with interior stairs, escalators & elevator.
Confirmation GoA's plan for Green Line into downtown is terrible:
• no press conf
• nowhere in press release do they state where it crosses the rail tracks, or meets 7 Ave
• only 1 high level map - no renderings or closeup on downtown
• no AECOM quote
@TheBreakdownAB @GregGinYYC @DuaneBratt @CWalcottYYC @jasmine_mian @JyotiGondek @cspotweet @AdamMacVicar @LiveWireCalgary @GreenLineYYC Rick Bell's "exclusive" claims the crossing into downtown is at 2nd Street SW, but I refuse to link to that propaganda. @LiveWireCalgary has always provided excellent, deep journalism on #GreenLine and they confirms the crossing AND the cheap blindside.
@TheBreakdownAB @GregGinYYC @DuaneBratt @CWalcottYYC @jasmine_mian @JyotiGondek @cspotweet @AdamMacVicar @LiveWireCalgary @GreenLineYYC Some quick work with Apple Maps 3D views shows crossing into downtown at 2 St SW requires:
• elevation over a circular ramp and vehicle bridge across the tracks to parkade
• crossing two Plus 15 pedways
• a third Plus 15 medway just north of 7 Ave
My concern about privacy, like everyone's email address shared with everyone else in the group, have been resolved with the oddly-named "See all event details" access permission, which doesn't even show the guest list.
But there are still other privacy concerns I want to check.
Obviously, the owner of the shared calendar would have to know the email addresses of the PFC members who want to subscribe to it.
I don't know if any one of the subscribers can see who the other subscribers are, or their email addresses.