[Craic] COVID cases UK vs. Ont.

[David Harvey]

Hi All;
Just some thoughts by a couple of "Snowbirds" stuck in the Caribbean.
Pardon me for being really Pis..ed Off"
My wife & I have been going to a little island, Bequia, part of the country
of "Saint Vincent & the Grenadines."  since I retired in 2000.
I have some serious medical issues and the sun, salt water & air work
miracles for me.
We left Canada on Nov.26th 2020 with a return ticket for April 15, 2021 on
Air Canada flying direct to Saint Vincent & th Grenadines, then ferry to
Bequia.  Please note that Bequia is 7 square miles in area and has about
5000 inhabitants, one health clinic and one doctor.  As we all know, Our
Federal govt shut down all the Canadian airlines flying to the Caribbean
and Mexico, so we could not get back to Canada until the airlines flew
again which turns out to be May 9th 2021. Since there are lot of Canadians
on this island, the May 9th flight and the May 16th flight were soon fully
booked so we got seats on the May 23rd flight. Please note that these
resumptive May flights are only out of Barbados. Due to Bequia being one of
the SVG Grenadine Islands, there is no airport on the island. Since our
flight from Barbados is on a Sunday, as are all the other AC flights, we
must take a ferry from Bequia to Saint Vincent on Sat, May 22, overnight on
SVG, then catch a connecting flight the next morning to Barbados. (Cost of
flight to Barbados is not covered by our return tickets and there is an
upcharge to return home).These AC flights are only on Sundays and there are
no ferries on Sunday.


*For your information, Bequia has never had, nor has now any Covid-19 cases
and it is immunizing the population with Oxford/AstraZeneca.*

*Based on the above rant, why are only Caribbean Islands & Mexico shut down
by AC when all the other "Sun" destinations are available?*

Now, returning to Canada by air has a lot of things that MUST be done by
the returnee, or else. Please note that I have no problem whatsoever with
covid-19 testing at the airport, BUT, even if we have our immunizations,
they ignore them and force us to quarantine in an "official" hotel at a
ridiculous price.  The only possible waiver of the hotel stay is for
"Medical Services" and, if I understand corrrectly it is a government
minion who determines the validity of the "Medical Services". I have had to
cancel several medical appointments due to the air shut down so now I need
to get them rescheduled, by my daughter still in Toronto. Some of the
rescheduled appointments MUST be in the  hospital since the arrival
protocols allow  "Medical services" only in the 36 hours after arrival in
Toronto, and May 24th is a holiday.

Finally, and sorry for the length of this missive, I found out the
following statements from the Canadian Snowbirds Association
      "Some Canadians have decided to go south despite the ongoing pandemic
and while various restrictions remain in place"
        * When we left Canada the ONLY restriction was an Advisory to not
fly*. *False!*

      "Snowbirds are getting vaccinated in Florida leaving some concerned
about equity as Canadians receive vaccinations before Floridians."
       * Who gets vaccinated when is solely up to the local government.*
*        What has this to do with shutting down air service to the
Caribbean & mexico?*

      "Snowbirds voiced concern about the new requirement for Covid-19
testing upon return to Canada and complained that the associated
 costs were unfair.  *Of course they are.*

*I also found out that the Hotel quarantine program is being managed by
American Express Global Business Travel which is available by phone only.
We do not have 1-800 numbers on Bequia.*

*Sorry for the length but since the popular beliefs seem to concern only *

On Thu, Apr 8, 2021 at 12:41 PM David Harvey <littlefort81 at gmail.com> wrote:

> Right on!
>
> On Thu, Apr 8, 2021 at 12:13 PM David Walsh via craic <
> craic at lists.integralshift.ca> wrote:
>
>> Right on Paul !!!!
>>
>>
>>
>> David
>>
>> David Walsh
>>
>> david at dwalsh.ca
>>
>>
>>
>> *From:* craic <craic-bounces at lists.integralshift.ca> *On Behalf Of *2docp
>> 2docp via craic
>> *Sent:* April 8, 2021 12:12 PM
>> *To:* Assisting virtual Craic <craic at lists.integralshift.ca>
>> *Cc:* 2docp 2docp <2docp at bell.net>
>> *Subject:* [Craic] COVID cases UK vs. Ont.
>>
>>
>>
>> Hello gentlemen.  You may consider Boris Johnson to be a bumbling oaf but
>> get a load of this:  we had more new COVID-19 cases in Ontario yesterday
>> than in the entire UK (3295 vs 3030).  If the UK leadership is inept, what
>> do you call the two excuses for leaders that we have to deal with in
>> Ontario.  Trudeau who procured far too few vaccines for our needs and Ford
>> who completely mismanaged the distribution of what we had and unnecessarily
>> frightened the population regarding the AstraZeneca vaccine.  But we can
>> only blame ourselves.  We elected these so called "leaders".  Paul.
>> _______________________________________________
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>> craic at lists.integralshift.ca
>> http://lists.integralshift.ca/listinfo.cgi/craic-integralshift.ca
>>
>
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