Don't get together for Christmas
December 13, 2020 5:59 PM Subscribe
Covid loves the holidays. A short, funny, nightmare-fuel video from the Government of Alberta.
Some context: Alberta's really struggling with the second wave. Like the mayor from Jaws, the provincial government was reluctant to tighten restrictions on the economy as cases rose. But the video is a memorable one.
Bonus: El Pais explains aerosol transmission in a room, a bar, and a classroom.
Some context: Alberta's really struggling with the second wave. Like the mayor from Jaws, the provincial government was reluctant to tighten restrictions on the economy as cases rose. But the video is a memorable one.
Bonus: El Pais explains aerosol transmission in a room, a bar, and a classroom.
Don we now our plague apparel
Fa-la-la fa-la-la la la la
Shun the novel virus peril
Fa-la-la-la-la la-la la la
posted by Greg_Ace at 6:16 PM on December 13, 2020 [22 favorites]
Fa-la-la fa-la-la la la la
Shun the novel virus peril
Fa-la-la-la-la la-la la la
posted by Greg_Ace at 6:16 PM on December 13, 2020 [22 favorites]
You have 10 children in a room doing kraft projects.
Only one project involves glitter.
How many kraft projects have glitter on them?
All of them.
posted by blob at 6:26 PM on December 13, 2020 [48 favorites]
Only one project involves glitter.
How many kraft projects have glitter on them?
All of them.
posted by blob at 6:26 PM on December 13, 2020 [48 favorites]
To repeat my Twitter Take: The year is 2055. RNA vaccines have eliminated disease. There is a student who is asked to present a social studies project on 2020, a plague year. He uncovers this ad. It goes viral on the neural network, disrupting collective productivity...
posted by warriorqueen at 6:29 PM on December 13, 2020
posted by warriorqueen at 6:29 PM on December 13, 2020
I was on a very nice outdoor walk with my boyfriend I've only been in an inclosed space ONCE in the past 10 months (and even then, we were masked and windows were open -- we don't live together and the people we do live with are either at risk or doing risky things, so ... it's what it is) and we talked about how we felt Thanksgiving scared people enough & the impending vaccine may mean people don't go home for Christmas. But this is the U.S. so ... well.
I do think this gets the point across really well. I want more people to take this to heart. None of this is fun. All of it sucks. We all need to be into this together and maybe there's a better way.
posted by edencosmic at 6:38 PM on December 13, 2020 [3 favorites]
I do think this gets the point across really well. I want more people to take this to heart. None of this is fun. All of it sucks. We all need to be into this together and maybe there's a better way.
posted by edencosmic at 6:38 PM on December 13, 2020 [3 favorites]
The premier of Alberta is a piece of poop, like some Canadian premiers...
posted by ovvl at 6:47 PM on December 13, 2020 [4 favorites]
posted by ovvl at 6:47 PM on December 13, 2020 [4 favorites]
Honestly? The ads are so little, so late, and they feel like an attempt to make the UCP's response to the pandemic seem anything other than the worst in Canada.
Dr. Hinshaw, with her unwillingness to disclose any information about the process by which she's recommending things to the government and statement that she will attempt to uncover the whistleblower who revealed that the Provincial Government was pushing her in the direction of certain, economy-first measures, has also lost a massive amount of the goodwill that she'd built up in the early month of the pandemic.
If these ads had been part of strategy from the first, rather than attempts to blame certain communities in Calgary, the elderly, those with comorbidities...
I don't know. As someone who lives in Alberta and has been listening to the daily news conferences and lists of deaths, all I can think of is how poorly we've handled things up until this point, and how actual action on a government level - as opposed to Kenney's drumbeat of personal responsibility - would have changed how our Christmas is going to look.
posted by sagc at 8:11 PM on December 13, 2020 [20 favorites]
Dr. Hinshaw, with her unwillingness to disclose any information about the process by which she's recommending things to the government and statement that she will attempt to uncover the whistleblower who revealed that the Provincial Government was pushing her in the direction of certain, economy-first measures, has also lost a massive amount of the goodwill that she'd built up in the early month of the pandemic.
If these ads had been part of strategy from the first, rather than attempts to blame certain communities in Calgary, the elderly, those with comorbidities...
I don't know. As someone who lives in Alberta and has been listening to the daily news conferences and lists of deaths, all I can think of is how poorly we've handled things up until this point, and how actual action on a government level - as opposed to Kenney's drumbeat of personal responsibility - would have changed how our Christmas is going to look.
posted by sagc at 8:11 PM on December 13, 2020 [20 favorites]
I am also here for the airing of Alberta grievances.
One interesting thing, for anyone who likes to play amateur epidemiologist, is that we're just entering the start of a 4-week lockdown period (as of last night), after the premier really couldn't ignore the situation any more. About three weeks ago, after quite a lot of foot dragging and apparently desperate for any way to avoid closing sit-down restaurants, the province tried the half-measures of closing schools for grades 7-12 starting Nov. 30, as well as some other minor fiddling around with various permitted activities. There was obviously criticism of this, and as infections and hospitalizations and deaths kept climbing and the hospitals got more and more stretched they reluctantly announced the lockdown last week.
The interesting thing is the detected infections suddenly stopped climbing in the first week of December. There could be lots of reason for this, but a week after partly closing in-person schooling there was a pronounced change in the apparent rate of spread. That might be useful information for other jurisdictions.
posted by figurant at 8:36 PM on December 13, 2020 [12 favorites]
One interesting thing, for anyone who likes to play amateur epidemiologist, is that we're just entering the start of a 4-week lockdown period (as of last night), after the premier really couldn't ignore the situation any more. About three weeks ago, after quite a lot of foot dragging and apparently desperate for any way to avoid closing sit-down restaurants, the province tried the half-measures of closing schools for grades 7-12 starting Nov. 30, as well as some other minor fiddling around with various permitted activities. There was obviously criticism of this, and as infections and hospitalizations and deaths kept climbing and the hospitals got more and more stretched they reluctantly announced the lockdown last week.
The interesting thing is the detected infections suddenly stopped climbing in the first week of December. There could be lots of reason for this, but a week after partly closing in-person schooling there was a pronounced change in the apparent rate of spread. That might be useful information for other jurisdictions.
posted by figurant at 8:36 PM on December 13, 2020 [12 favorites]
One interesting thing, for anyone who likes to play amateur epidemiologist
2020 has proven this to be quite a large set. Anyone is two YouTube videos away from being a self-declared expert.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 9:00 PM on December 13, 2020 [5 favorites]
2020 has proven this to be quite a large set. Anyone is two YouTube videos away from being a self-declared expert.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 9:00 PM on December 13, 2020 [5 favorites]
The prairie provinces have been complacent even as the Dakotas to the South showed what business-first policies would do for the pandemic. They had a good lead on Ontario and Quebec and wasted it on indoor restaurant dining.
posted by benzenedream at 11:08 PM on December 13, 2020 [4 favorites]
posted by benzenedream at 11:08 PM on December 13, 2020 [4 favorites]
but muh Wings Wednesday
posted by elkevelvet at 11:29 AM on December 14, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by elkevelvet at 11:29 AM on December 14, 2020 [1 favorite]
The Tyee left-ish overview for the curious.
Also, Reddit r/canada usually leans right-ish, but there's been a lot of grumbling from the prairie contingent about how Kenney has fumbled the Covid crisis.
Meanwhile in Ontario, the not-very-lovable Conservative premier Doug Ford felt the love this summer, basking in praise for his kinda late but not-terrible response so far. But wait, there's some criticism about various Conservative politicians investments in for-profit elderly care facilities experiencing poor care conditions and nasty Covid rates.
posted by ovvl at 4:40 PM on December 14, 2020
Also, Reddit r/canada usually leans right-ish, but there's been a lot of grumbling from the prairie contingent about how Kenney has fumbled the Covid crisis.
Meanwhile in Ontario, the not-very-lovable Conservative premier Doug Ford felt the love this summer, basking in praise for his kinda late but not-terrible response so far. But wait, there's some criticism about various Conservative politicians investments in for-profit elderly care facilities experiencing poor care conditions and nasty Covid rates.
posted by ovvl at 4:40 PM on December 14, 2020
> of course in the last scene everyone should be a Covid-head
I think that's a really important bit they missed. This is too much like a "you have bad breath and don't realize it" ad for mouthwash.
posted by The corpse in the library at 9:15 AM on December 15, 2020 [3 favorites]
I think that's a really important bit they missed. This is too much like a "you have bad breath and don't realize it" ad for mouthwash.
posted by The corpse in the library at 9:15 AM on December 15, 2020 [3 favorites]
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posted by russilwvong at 6:00 PM on December 13, 2020 [13 favorites]