Hard Times in Canada

Recently, I received news about someone that I used to support testing positive for COVID-19. This is the first person that I have known face-to-face to contract it. Before this, I knew people who knew people who had it, but this feels a lot closer to home.

It was pretty inevitable. She kind of hits the trifecta of vulnerability, as she's elderly, she's immunocompromised, and she lives in a long term care facility. However, so far, she has yet to develop any symptoms. We are finding that a not-insignificant percentage of people are asymptomatic, meaning that, while they carry the virus and can spread it to others, they do not suffer any symptoms themselves. Since we are largely prioritizing testing people who are at severe risk, since there aren't enough tests to go around, it is difficult to pinpoint what percentage of the population is asymptomatic or minimally symptomatic. I take it that the person I know who is testing positive but not showing symptoms was considered a priority for testing because of where she lives. Some people returning after traveling are also considered priority without demonstrating symptoms.

While being asymptomatic is nice for the people who don't suffer from the virus, it creates a risk in that, they may further the spread because they don't realize they are contagious. The fact that most people are contagious before they are symptomatic also adds to how tricky it is to contain this virus.

I would love to believe that the person I know is asymptomatic, but I'm only going to be cautiously optimistic. We will only know for sure two weeks after taking the test.

Since we're covering a sinister topic today, let's keep going forward with the gloom. Last Saturday, in Nova Scotia, Canada had its' worst mass shooting to date. It resulted in at least 22 dead over the course of 13 hours.

He wore clothes resembling a Canadian Royal Mounted Police uniform and drove a vehicle that looked passibly like a police car. After attacking the residence of his former romantic partner, setting fire to the house and gunning down bystanders, he managed to successfully escape. However, the next day, he continued his rampage, approaching houses and killing residents, and performing traffic stops while disguised as an officer and killing the drivers.

He survived an altercation with two police officers, killing one and injuring the other. After this, he changed into civillian clothes and stole the vehicle of one of his victims to throw police off his trail. He was finally intercepted and shot dead by officers while en route to Halifax.

I feel bad for the families of victims at this time, as they are unable to gather and mourn the deceased.