Welcome to Coronatown - Beaches Closed

[C36]

I definitely don't want to be irresponsible or push the boundaries inappropriately but as of now the public health orders still allow people to go outside and get some fresh air as far as I'm aware. Unfortunately although the tone from Horgan was very stern about fines etc. there isn't a lot of clarity about what the actual orders are or where they can be found.

The forecast for 3rd Avenue on Saturday looks good. I haven't heard whether 3rd Avenue is closed but likely not as people go for walks along that foreshore with their dogs. The tide is very low at 2pm meaning that self-launch and land is an easy safe option from the bank.

I'm curious what people in the community think. No way, or go kite?

Orders from the BC Public Heath Officer can be found here and the federal ones can be found here (click on "Orders and Regulations" on the right) but these are the basic legal requirements. Good practice and best practice extend beyond these.

"Go home and stay home."
Justin Trudeau (2020 March 24)

"The evidence is clear: with every person in British Columbia 100% committed to physical distancing, we can flatten the curve."
Adrian Dix, Minister of Health, and Dr. Bonnie Henry, Provincial Health Officer (2020 March 27)

"The only thing more annoying then staying at home is knowing other people aren't".
Bianca Bujan

All the information points to the importance of action on the frontside of the peak.

I'm pretty sure it was Dr. Bonnie Henry the PHO who said that it was the actions of one person in South Korea was linked to the 50% of the all the cases there. Unfortunately we are all potentially links in the chain or have the ability to break the chain - the choice is ours.

For anyone that likes graphs - check out the PDF of the technical briefing by Dr Bonny Henry/Adrien Dix provided on Friday that showed some hope that the physical distancing is working - please keep it up!

This site tracks data by province and there are some big differences - like Quebec (growing fast) versus BC.(much flatter).

As much as my body and soul need to go windsurfing I'll not be going. We shouldn't be having this conversation, stay home please!

+1
I am really struggling with withdrawal from the things I love to do outside (so this is written as much to myself as it is to others) - the reward (one session) isn't worth the risk to others - so I am trying my best to support the common good with this one (one day at a time).

[Slappy]

I wouldn't really trust those numbers, the amount of testing being done is directly proportional to the number of infected and we are doing a really poor job on testing in Canada.

B.C. is currently testing those with respiratory symptoms who are:
1. Hospitalized, or likely to be hospitalized
2. Health care workers
3. Residents of long term care facilities
4. Part of an investigation of a cluster or outbreak.

This is a terrible approach to dealing with this thing and it makes me angry more people aren't angry about it. All you have to do is look to South Korea, Taiwan and HK to see that aggressive testing is the key to defeating a highly contagious virus with a 1 week asymptomatic contagious period.

Schools and workplaces aren't even closed in those places and they have their infection rates completely under control.

So far BC has only tested 38,697 people. South Korea performs 10,000 test every day.

[Alton]

Hope it doesn't come to this ...

[Andrew P]

I have to admit that I have been tempted to go for a "sanity" kite session. I have been checking out various kite forums reading the to kite or not to kite threads and opinions do vary widely on the topic. The one quote that seemed to stick with me the most was:
Our grandfathers were asked to go to war, we are being asked to sit on the couch.
With the sacrifices that many are being asked to make in order to win the war against CoVid19 I am going to forgo a few kite sessions.
At some point our lives will return to a new normal that will no doubt contain social distancing measures until CoVid19 has been defeated. It is up to us as kiteboarders to make sure that we are doing what is best for the greater community. Last spring at 3rd Ave there were a few windy weekend days that drew big numbers to the beach. I witnessed several launches gone wrong including a kite wrapped around the roof of the first house south of the pathway to the beach. These days that kind of crap is going to get us banned from 3rd in a heartbeat. So when you do get a chance to kite again and you see someone doing something a bit sketchy or ill advised, or see people gathered in groups, or anything that draws negative attention to our kite community please speak up - from 2 meters away of course. Let's make sure that we maintain access to our beaches for now and the future.

[8mdude]

The sun is out and so are the viruses.

Stay home

[Michael]

I’ve come to the same conclusion thanks Michael. Just providing observations in case people think some places are still open for use - they are not.

Sorry Brian that was not directed at you. I knew how you felt from your post earlier.
Hope the trip to the Island went well and it doesn't cause to much anxiety upon your return.

[Michael]

The outlook for the summer season is not looking good.

[8mdude]

It seems social distancing will be extended. Are you ready? I am ready.

armaggeddon.jpg (52.99 KiB) Viewed 9386 times

And in worse case scenario, I got this:

tabo.jpg (12.19 KiB) Viewed 9384 times

[telus022420]

FYI:
Source: https://www.canada.ca/en/public-health/ ... ction.html


National Microbiology Laboratory's summary of people tested in Canada as of March 29, 2020, 6 pm EDT
Total number of patients tested in Canada Total positive Total negative
210,435 5,814 195,379


National Microbiology Laboratory's summary of people tested in Canada as of March 30, 2020, 6 p.m. EDT
Total number of patients tested in Canada Total positive Total negative
225,705 7,298 211,379

One day numbers show 15k tested in Canada for 1 day. There are a multitude of reasons for this number (availability of testing facilities, kits and personnel, chg in screening policy,.....).

[Ryan]

I got this from some Cape Town friends, a surfer sneaking out.

https://imgur.com/a/vNVk6dc