Here we go again and just in time for Christmas! The Omicron variant is having an effect on our lives, like it or not. Here a a few things we can look forward to.
1 – Closures. Already, Quebec (currently leading the coutry in new daily cases) has begun to shut society down. On Monday, they announced the closure of bars, theatres, spas, gyms, and schools. When other provinces begin to see the record numbers of new cases, you can bet that they will follow suit, at least to some degree.
2 – Shortages. Just like we saw in the first wave, there are likely going to be rotating shortages as various industries get hit with outbreaks. An outbreak in a food processing plant can have an immediate impact leading to short term shortages on various products and even rationing in the form of purchasing limits in stores. Speaking of stores, expect everything but the most essential retail establishments to close. For the others, get ready to be lining up outside grocery storess for your turn to enter as the number of customers will likely be restricted…again.
3 – Curfews. I know, only Quebec did it in past waves, but that doesn’t mean other provinces won’t try it. Like them or not (and most of us don’t) Quebec’s curfew coincided with a drop in cases. Whether the curfew was responsible for that drop is debateable, but don’t be at all surprised of other provinces give it a shot this time around.
My last post was a call to prepare yourselves for what was coming and hopefully many of you did ramp up your preps. Here in Quebec, some pretty interesting restrictions were put in place on Monday. Here we are only 2 days later and we are expecting more restrictions to be announced at 6PM today. This is going to move fast. It doesn’t really matter how deadly (or not) this variant is, people are scared. Either from past experiences or the constant conditioning over the past 2 years.
Here is an example…
Last Friday I received an email about a positive case in my kid’s school. On Monday, attendance went from 280 students to 115, far exceeding the principal’s expectation of 180. Later that day, the provincial government announced that schools would be closed as of the following day. By the time the busses were picking up students at the end of the day, there were only 75 students left. The announcement came at 1PM and school lets out at 4PM. That means 40 students were pulled from classes in 3 hours. That makes about 75% of parents did not want their kids anywhere near an active case.
Here is another example…
My better half works night shift in a long term care facility. On Monday afternoon, the phone started ringing off the hook. Her workplace calling for help as her coworkers systematically called in sick. In fact, she was the only regularly scheduled emplyee to show up for her shift on that floor last night. Yup, that’s right, health care workers are already abandoning their posts. The numbers are out this morning that over 4200 health care workers in the province were absent from work on December 20th. Strict isolation protocals have been put in place along with disinfection standards are back in place. Eye protection, isolation gowns, N95 masks and strict hand disinfection protocals are all back in place. Trust me, the pay rate they are offering for extra shifts mean they are desperate for workers. Really desperate. Regular Covid testing is also back in place. Employees are again being tested regularly.
This is goinng to get bad folks….really really bad.