Discussions

FWIW when I was out earlier in the Corral area the lineup at the biggest box at that particular time was about 30 deep of literally all adults on their own except a couple cases where one adult looked to have a child with them. The whole drive there and back was very tame as far as not being able to spot even one instance of someone doing anything that would raise an eyebrow. Dinsdale Park had just a few cars and anyone that was there were very sparse.  
 
I know there are cases of people doing stuff they shouldn't be and any one of them is beyond disappointing and contributing to higher percentages at a time when we don't need it. Any unnecessary contact that becomes a case is something we can't afford right now. I hope enforcement catches up to them and I hope obvious and dangerous ones like what the post a few up mentions are phoned/submitted in.... but I firmly believe that looking city-wide our contacts have been cut back massively over these past couple weeks. There's no room to even consider victory laps when PMH is at an all-time high for hospitalizations, the number is growing and we're hearing of cases having to be sent out of province for care... but the numbers these last few days in Brandon including an increase of just six cases today give a guy hope that maybe just maybe we're starting to see some difference.  
 
Posted in the facts thread that Brandon is showing at 62.3% vaccine uptake, above the provincial average. Provincially the target is 70%... for first dose initially, on pace to reach around June 7-9 and then second dose 70% July 29-31. Polls on vaccine intent show that we're highly likely to get there. This is a scary month but you can really truly see where this is headed over these next few weeks as we see vaccine numbers rise and as we do what's in our own power to keep our own contacts down. A huge thank you to everyone that's doing just that.

Awesome post and totally agree!! I saw lots of rule following this weekend as well. I was very impressed.

Reading today the suggestion from some doctors that it's time to consider a similar rule change to what we saw last year re essential/non-essential goods.  
 
Saw an example yesterday of why this sort of thing might end up being necessary. Mom, dad and kid get out of car at a not-quite-as-large corral big box and walk towards the store. Mom goes straight into store, dad and kid split off and stand outside at the front of the store about 20 feet away in what would be a blind spot for store staff from the inside. Count to about ten and then go inside themselves separately.  
 
Making a point of staying positive and pointing out that with a significant reduction in contacts over these last couple weeks there's a real chance that we're hopefully starting to see a difference made by the vast majority of people that have adjusted their habits... but in an environment where we just can't afford to be taking risks while vaccines continue to get us closer to the light at the end of the tunnel I do wonder if there are going to be more rule changes considered yet.

It’s all about percentage and opportunity. You’ll unfortunately never get every single person on board no matter what but if you can take a significant additional chunk out of contacts by doing something that won’t even shock anyone (we did it before) there’s a real case to be made to do it for a short period right now.  
 
If I go back to my example of the family a few posts up clearly and wilfully skirting the system, if 100 families do this right now I’d bet you at least cut that number in half with rules like what we had in November... probably much more. This was done at a store that would not be open to in-store shopping under the same rules we saw in November. This family would’ve had to do their shopping by Curbside or delay a couple weeks until hopefully the Hospitalization situation is less critical. Same rules province-wide would mean not simply going to the next town over. Some might suggest they would go to another province, but I’d bet my bottom dollar that describes 1 or 2 of those families at most. If under these circumstances you could reduce contacts by a much greater percentage still, thus reducing cases, thus reducing hospitalizations… it’s getting harder and harder to make the case that you shouldn’t when we’re hearing stories of a medical system at its limits and people having to be sent out of province for care.

General broad brushstrokes media attacking doesn’t really serve a lot of purpose. Like every profession there will be those that are good at it and those that make mistakes but the province’s media are on average doing an amazing job at doing their best to get answers to the questions they probably get asked a million times a day in a communication environment where disclosures going back to the beginning of the pandemic haven’t always had all of the info the public would like to know.  
 
It can be hard to watch sometimes when the answers have to come out through so much tension, but those that understand the role of media know that it isn’t their job to be friends with their subjects. If answers aren’t forthcoming, a significant portion of the public I suspect appreciate reporters pushing back to try to fill in the gaps and give us a clearer picture about what’s going on and where we’re headed.  

Some might suggest that in the here and now there’s only so much value in getting dragged down into fighting about mistakes that might’ve gotten us here (there will be time to look back when we’re through this). But at the same time media plays a key accountability role in these situations and government needs to be checked on past decisions so that it’s known they’ll be checked on future decisions. Delicate balance in doing that without taking away from the here and now.. a job I don't envy right now!

Thread is about the pandemic in Manitoba and in this case the amazing commitment of most Manitoba journalists to helping to fill gaps in knowledge around the pandemic response. I’m sure a lot of folks have opinions on the kinds of disinfo peddled by Fox South of 49 and how it bleeds onto this side of the border through some that are especially engaged in the USA soap opera but it really goes beyond the scope of talking about true pandemic response in Manitoba, rules in Manitoba, people understanding why they’re in place and why they have to follow them in Manitoba.