Thread by @Lidsville

"It’s hard to look this in the eye. But COVID’s worst is coming" - Bruce Arthur, @TorontoStar

thestar.com/opinion/star-c… #covid19BC #Omicron #cdnpoli #bcpoli

@TorontoStar “Honestly, I’m not sure I have been as worried as I am now. Probably not..." - Dr. @beatesander

"It’s hard for the human mind to grasp; part of that is the sheer bloody wall of exponential math. The numbers feel imaginary."

@TorontoStar @BeateSander "With a 400 % increase every week, Sander points out the numbers do something like this: 145 today, 600 in a week, 2,400 in two weeks, 9,600 in three weeks. That would be New Year’s Eve, and left unhindered it would mean almost 40,000 cases per day a week after that." #Omicron

.."Omicron is so hellaciously transmissible that it moves faster than we can think. It will explode. Even it is was slightly less virulent, the sheer number of cases will make up the difference... The hospital system is fragile..."

.."Even it is was slightly less virulent, the sheer number of cases will make up the difference. And there are 330,000 unvaccinated Ontarians between 50 and 69, and another 500,000 between 30 and 40. Omicron will find them."

The unvaccinated are going to collapse health systems.

“When I look at the capacity of those local health systems & how they’ve been able to perform for the last weeks, there are real concerns” - Dr. Martin Betts. “We see what’s happening in South Africa, UK, Israel. We’re 2-4 weeks behind these places. It’s hard to see that coming.”

“Every day we don't step up is a lost day” said Sander.
Provs should sharply reduce capacities in everything from restaurants to arenas; order all office workers who can work from home to do so; reinforce masking & emphasize airborne; go all out on 3rd doses, esp to those in LTC.

"“At the moment, the public doesn’t recognize the enormity of what’s ahead of us,” says Morris, grimly. “But they will.”

Canada has seen awful things, but it hasn’t seen the worst of COVID, the way some other countries have." #bcpoli #covid19BC #Omicron

.."A wave like this, after it seemed like we were winning — with five-to-11-year-olds being vaccinated, boosters on tap, society closer to normal — is hard to look in the eye. I don’t want to, either.

We will not have a choice."

Thanks for this, @bruce_arthur
#Omicron #bcpoli

@bruce_arthur And in the face of this sobering #Omicron news, what is BC doing? Rolling kids' vaccines out more slowly than other provinces. Rolling out boosters more slowly than other provinces. Shutting vaxx clinics over the holidays. NO RAPID TEST. Moving HCWs to part time on Jan 4. #bcpoli

If anyone can't see the Toronto Star article, I can append screenshots - just ask.

Here's the whole Toronto Star article for those who can't access it:

"It’s hard to look this in the eye. But COVID’s worst is coming"

#Omicron #bcpoli #Covid19BC

2nd and final part of article:

Note: we are in Delta still and Nanaimo Regional General Hospital is completely full, over 100% census. When #Omicron hits we're in trouble. Too many unvaccinated, & with transmissibility this high, more of them will get severe illness. Just hope you won't need a hospital #bcpoli