@bolt. I don't know if you've seen this University of Cambridge risk/benefit decision aid . I found it really helpful for putting the risk/benefit in perspective.

I agree with Pam's entire post, but the bolded sums it up. The other thing to consider is potential exposure risk that's outside our control, like an unexpected non-covid medical emergency or other situational emergency or urgency (critical house repair, emergency travel). Partial protection now gives some insurance against that (ETA esp. now while cases are raging). ETA, I forgot the pep talk part. Yay OP!

I can raise her one and tell the same stories about people in their 20's. Seriously, covid is no joke. OP, congrats again on your decision.

Yes, since the AZ age limit was lowered to 40 in many provinces, lots of us have decisions to make. I think it depends on your age and exposure level. FWIW: My late 40's family member will be getting his AZ today. We are in a seriously ugly 3rd wave (and I think you said in another thread that your cases per population were really high too?) and he won't be eligible for mRNA vaccine until probably July. Less good protection now is more important than better protection later. Less good protection now is MUCH better than no protection now. By July, we will have a much higher proportion of the population vaxed, case rates will be lower, and we won't be in healthcare system overload - full protection won't matter as much then. If he were in his 20's and never left the house, then maybe we'd wait (higher VIPIT risk, lower covid morbidity and mortality risks, less impressive risk/benefit), though that's a moot point really since AZ isn't available for that age group anyway, but just as an example. Also FWIW, all my MD colleagues have come to the same conclusion wrt their 40's spouses. All will get getting jabbed with AZ in the next day or two.

Congrats on booking. It's a double good choice - protect yourself and protect others.

I've heard this advice for people with severe eczema that's chronically infected, and for people who are MRSA carriers who are under treatment - to avoid re-infection. For people without any special medical reasons, I don't think I'd bother. I mean, I actually don't bother. I stick my finger in the tub of cream and don't think twice about it.

It's not standard of care here, nor is it available in the community. Yet. ETA a link to current local treatment guidelines, for interest.

I believe it. The definition of the word "essential" seems to have drifted during this pandemic.

Closed for non-essential travel. There is still quite a lot of traffic back and forth despite the closure - hundreds of thousands of vehicles per month nationally. Essential reasons include work, commerce, trade, medical care, and citizens returning home. Lots of snowbirds still found a way to go south this year, and are now coming home. And quite a few are using land border taxi services to avoid mandatory quarantine hotels for air-travelers.

Hmm. 60+ have been eligible province-wide for at least a week now. 55+ have been eligible for AZ at "select pharmacies" for longer, though access has been a big issue. Actually scoring an appointment is a different story altogether. The provincial vaccine strategy has mostly used age as the deciding factor to distribute, along with some social groups (congregate living, nursing homes, retirement homes, Indigenous peoples), and then certain medical conditions. There aren't very many occupations that qualify. Front-line and patient-facing HCW and people working in congregate living settings are pretty much it. There has been a lot of criticism about this. Some think that younger workers should be prioritized next, because the virus is ripping through work places that's what's propogating the wave, rather than 60+, who are at higher medical risk if they get sick, but are more likely to be able to stay home and haven't been contributing to spread in the population as much. Vaccinating to protect society as a whole (young workers) vs vaccinating to protect individuals most at risk of bad outcomes individually (older people). We've chosen the latter. It's a thorny problem without an easy answer.

Thanks everyone. ICU's at 741 today (up from 725 yesterday) We've been in an "emergency-brake" pseudo-lockdown since April 1 (that felt like a bit of a joke, really), a stay-at-home order since April 8, and enhanced measures since April 16. Schools closed April 12. All have been initiated way too late. The definition of "essential" remains very broad. Our next 2-3 seeks are already carved in stone, so to speak. There has also been more public resistance this time - both protests and people just not complying. The virus is still ripping through workplaces - most working people don't qualify for vaccine yet (too young). Public health in my area is overwhelmed. Contact tracing is falling apart. Two months ago, 80-90% of positive cases were contact traced within one day. That fell to 70"s in March, 43% in the past week, and now "The percentage of newly reported cases reached within one day is temporarily unavailable due to changes in case management". Public Health is also asking positive cases to notify their contacts themselves. We are keeping up with testing, locally at least. 57% resulted by the next day, and 96% withing two days in my health unit

This is a pure JAWM, please. Please don't quote. We are really struggling with covid here. Our third wave is the worst one yet, and is well en route to becoming a true catastrophe. Covid hospitalizations and Covid ICU admissions are at an all-time high. Provincial ICU admissions for Covid peaked at 410 last wave. Yesterday's number was 659. Today we are at 725. It's only going to get worse. Greater Toronto Area ICUs are full. They've been shipping patients out to peripheral hospitals for weeks. The peripheral hospitals are in turn filling up and shipping out further afield. It's only going to get worse over the next 3 weeks or so. Paediatric tertiary care hospitals have opened their ICUs to adult patients - this is unprecedented. The SickKids adult ICU unit filled within days. There has been a formal request to have HCW sent from other provinces. True healthcare system collapse is a real possibility, maybe even probable. Vaccine supply remains a problem. Just over 2% in the province are fully vaccinated, and just over 20% have had their first shot. Eligibility is still restricted to 60+ year-olds and certain high-risk groups. Our provincial government is decidedly lacking in backbone. This wave was entirely predictable (and was predicted by the smart people our government hires to predict such things) and preventable. They've ignored their own science table's policy recommendations, and dragged their heels and waffled on decisions. They like to make announcements announcing that there will be announcements. Then leak details. Then make policy based on public reaction to leaked plans. Then walk-back policy within 24 hours when people complain (in the case linked, complaints are legitimate, I think). It's exasperating. It's been a year - we know how to prevent this. It's heartbreaking. Health care workers are so tired. It's beyond burnout for many of us at this point. "Moral Injury" is the term I'm hearing - it's apt.

Cooking in cast iron can increase the iron content in foods by a small but measurable amount. Especially acidic foods. Probably not enough by itself to reverse a deficiency. But, like many daily habits, it might make a meaningful difference over time.

It's not. But the practical effect is the same for the neighbours: the family is in formal quarantine either way. The reason for the quarantine doesn't change that, and isn't "need to know" information for these neighbours/acquaintances. Reading Tap's post it sounds like this is a delicate situation without a lot of trust. I think this might be a need-to-know rather than a nice-to-know situation.

I think this is the best plan. You could be even more vague and just state that your household is in quarantine because of a covid exposure. Of course, you don't actually have to tell them anything, but I think not telling anything might turn out worse. Assess the difference in risk of telling and not telling: Would it be worse if DD ends up positive and you hadn't told up front?

A funny-sad story from "Under the Influence" (CBC radio show) about how the general public's poor math skills help the Quarter Pounder win out over a competitor in the 1980's. Poor understanding of fractions is nothing new, apparently. "More than half the people in the focus groups questioned the price of the third-pounder. They wanted to know why they should have to pay the same price for a third of a pound as they did for a quarter pound at McDonald's. They said A&W was overcharging them. You're ripping them off. People genuinely thought a third of a pound was less than a quarter pound. Because 3 was less than 4."

My understanding is that that AZ shipment to Mexico is also a loan, not a gift.

Nitpicky but important detail wrt to Canada: Loan, not give. To be repaid.

Because you didn't have the good fortune to bear only left-handed children who struggle with righty scissors and therefore only ever use their own scissors.

NYT article on influence of western vaccine "pauses" on vaccine hesitancy in the rest of the world. Makes me want to cry. https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/14/world/europe/western-vaccines-africa-hesitancy.html?action=click&module=Top Stories&pgtype=Homepage

An interesting article on CBC about risks of the AZ vaccine vs risks of covid, and how we communicate relative risks. It links to this Cambridge paper about communicating AZ vaccine risk.

Maybe I should call myself an "independent private homeschooler".

I think this is true. Most of my acquaintances have no idea what I do. They all seem to think that I am required to follow the provincial public school curriculum, and that I'm provided by the province with the books/on-line resources to do so, and that we're somehow evaluated and kept in line by the province. All are surprised to hear that I am completely independent, provided with nothing, not beholden to the provincial public school curriculum, not evaluated by the province, and free to teach anything I like. I am required, as per the provincial education act, to provide a "satisfactory education", and there isn't actually a clear definition of what that means, so I get to decide. They really have no idea. Many of my acquaintances who done public school on-line when schools were shut down, and know that I've homeschooled all along, want to commiserate with me about how hard it is to get kids to pay attention on zoom, how stupid the online classes are etc. They call it homeschooling, and they really believe that what they've been doing is homeschooling. I gently educate, one at a time, that what they've been doing is nothing like what I do. There is no Zoom in my school, not much of online anything actually, we learn what choose and we choose how to learn it. There is no stupid work or stupid classes, because we don't choose to do stupid stuff. And I have great empathy for them; online schooling with disengaged kids while trying to work full-time sounds absolutely miserable. I've started to call myself an "independent homeschooler" when the topic of schooling comes up. Otherwise people assume that homeschooling means public school online at home.

We've planned a few summer family camping trips in nearby provincial parks. I hope they will be open by then - they've all closed for camping now due to the third wave that's hitting us hard. We'll probably meet with friends for outdoor days at the beach or hikes. Assuming our third wave settles down. Our stay-at-home order expires in early May, but who know if it will be extended. Cases are still rising sharply, so I'm actually not hopeful. The kids' usual summer camp is cancelled again this year. Which is just as well. It's very unlikely that my kids will be eligible to be vaxxed in time, so I wouldn't have sent them anyway. No indoor anything. We're lucky to be walking distance to our nearby lake for swimming, so that's nice even if we're still shut down.

We have municipal composting here, with curbside pick-up on garbage day. I think it's province-wide. So I have 2 compost pails on my counter: one for my own garden compost, which takes veggie scraps, eggshells, teabags and coffee grounds, and a second pail for municipal compost, which takes cooked food, meat scraps, bacon grease, and even soiled paper food packaging (like paper coffee cups). It's great.