π¨π¦ Did you know that more Canadians have died of COVID than died in World War II?
(πΊπΈ Also, did you know that more of our American neighbours have died of COVID than dies in combat in every war they've fought since 1775?)
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π¨π¦ Did you know that the *lowest* number of COVID patients in hospital has been increasing through 5 waves of Omicron and that the troughs have all been higher than the *peak* of the Delta wave?
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π¨π¦ Did you know that summer 2022 had twice as many deaths as summer 2021?
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π¨π¦ Did you know that the main issue with Omicron variants is no longer "tsunamis" caused by individual variants, but rising sea level with high and low tide? This imposes sustained pressure on the healthcare system.
(Image with area under the curve courtesy of @allard)
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π¨π¦ Did you know that 15% of Canadians infected with COVID (1.4 million people) report long-term symptoms?
π¨π¦ Did you know that there are now more than 700 Omicron subvariants, and that many of them can escape prior immunity and are resistant to available treatments?
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π¨π¦ Did you know that mitigation measures like high-quality (N95) masks worn properly, ventilation, air filtration, and avoiding high risk contact are all variant-proof?
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π¨π¦ Did you know that the pandemic is not over?
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Quick note about the not-low lows of hospitalizations since Omicron. Same pattern happening in various places (New York, UK, France, Denmark, etc.).
Here's hospital *admissions for COVID* in England:
So, I'm not sure the American right has thought through the implications of annexing Canada yet.
A few things to consider...
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First of all, Canada has a slightly larger population than California, so presumably we'd get at least 54 electoral college votes in presidential elections. Polls here showed that about 61% of Canadians would have voted for Harris and 21% for Trump.
Now, it would be pretty weird and surely a big ego bruiser to have one state being physically larger than the entire rest of the country combined, especially if it's blue on the electoral map. So presumably Canada would represent several states, not one.
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(Sarcasm alert) The way viral evolution works is that if you have a naΓ―ve idea of how it works and that helps with calm-mongering, that's how it works. Need some examples? π§΅
For example, if it helps with calm-mongering to think that viruses have to evolve to become mild or else they will drive their hosts and themselves extinct, that must be what happens. Don't let actual evolutionary biologists convince you otherwise! (Sarcasm)
Oh, oh -- how about this? If a virus can infiltrate the host's genome permanently and then not cause any harm, that would give it a huge advantage in long-term survival. Therefore, all viruses must evolve to become endogenous in the genome! This is fun! (Sarcasm)
One side is consistently painted as violent and the other as being unsafe. Is that accurate? Well, all of these happened on video in Ontario, Canada. π§΅
Attacking with a nail gun while shouting "All Palestinians will die".
How sure are you that only certain people are susceptible to severe acute COVID, and that you're not one of them?
What is your level of certainty that only specific people are vulnerable to long COVID, and that you're not one of them?
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Are you certain that repeated SARS-CoV-2 infections won't have cumulative effects?
How confident are you that you don't, or won't ever, harbour a persistent SARS-CoV-2 infection?
Are you totally convinced that SARS-CoV-2 will necessarily become mild and seasonal?
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Do you truly believe beyond doubt that "immunity debt" explains the surge in other infectious diseases, years after most major mitigations were dropped and even among kids who weren't born yet during lockdowns?
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