Coronavirus - how much do you worry ?

[ross]

Doable here but won’t guaratee you will get or brands & still have to go in to pay or use cash . But is another way for sure . One Foodmart down the road small town where we went 2 wks ago had no one in with us . 1 retired couple showed up as leaving .

[Killerbunny]

OK I know this post won't be popular but in this flu season so far there have been 40,101 confirmed cases. This doesn't excuse the way our medical professionals and other frontline staff are shorted on supplies.

[Ontario Chick]

To those who are frightened to go grocery shopping, have you thought about shopping online and picking it up outside the store? We are going to try that at Loblaws on Wednesday. There's a bit of a wait (5 days when last I looked), but I'm hoping that it will be safer than having to go inside...….

Tried for delivery, not to our postal code, so will look for pick up now.

[kenya]

Some stores are saving the first hour for seniors only

[Ontario Chick]

That seemed to have caused line up's of seniors in front of the store, I saw it on TV because frankly 7am, not my best hour

[Bayvistafarm]

Anyone remember Sandy Max? She sent me this today.

Elizabeth F.MarshallPresident All Rights Research Ltd.Jeff Bogaerts, President Ontario Landowners AssociationMarch 28, 2020Dear Premier Ford and Ministers:Firstly, I would like to express, on behalf of the people I have spoken with, a sincere thank you for the way you have been handling theCovid-19 crisis. It has been a very trying time for everyone and we appreciate the amount of effort you are putting into continuing to keep theprovince operational.After speaking with a number of people in the agricultural community there are some serious concerns regarding the foreseeable food shortages. With this we have categorized some problems/situations and have included suggested solutions. If you would like more information please contact us and we will gladly do what we can to assist you. The problems/situationsand suggestions,are:1. Foreseeable food shortages. This cannot be denied considering some farmers (hot-house) cannot get seed to plant. Suggested solution SeedsAll bulk seed orders take precedent over retail sale of seed. Farmers, both large and small,with hot-house/green-houseability need to ensure they have the seed for planting. With suppliers unable to fillorders,due to panic purchases at the retail level,there may bea shortage and farmers,who do this on a mass production scale,seem not able toobtain seed. Perhapscontacting the likes of Amazon, Home Hardware, Co-ops, etc., asking them to restrain the sale of seeds until the orders for the farm producers have been filled.This would not take a lot of time to fix.2. Migrant workers are going to be late and they must be quarantined,1causingcrops tobe late, perhaps not even being ready for production,due to delays. Fruit and vegetable farmersareconcerned with migrant worker shortages, canneries,2transport, harvesting and direct sales at markets.
Suggested solution Migrant workersThe Federal and Provincial governments have expressed that migrant workers are “essential” and yet they must be isolated for the 14 day period. England has testing available for the Covid-19/Coronavirus which merely takes half an hour.3Could the government obtain these tests for migrant workers ensuring they are available for work? Could the 14 days isolation be reduced to a 7 day isolation to ensure no residue ofthe virus? This may assist farmers who are in need of the migrant workers and ease some of the pressure on the food chain.Canneries4The province should encourage the construction and operation of canneries and could initiate grants and/or interest free loans to accomplish this,as it was the previous government’s initiative to shutter the small canneries and fruit/vegetable processing. This, as with the meat processing plants, could eliminate a bottle-neck in the food chain because it wouldn’t rely on merely a few plants in a few selected areas and/or transport into Ontario.TransportSee 3HarvestingMigrant workers are needed to ensure the harvest is successful for fruit and some vegetables. Other farm crops such as hay, wheat, soy, etc., also needto be harvested by the farmers for feed for animals as well as human consumption. More and more farmers are looking for farm hands to assist with this therefore the province could look to those receiving E.I. benefits to fill in these gaps.Direct salesMany farmers have direct sales at farmer’s markets and road side kiosks. Hand sanitizerand/or glovescould be used and/or made available for these efforts. There would also be the need for plastic and/or paper bags to continue for the customer’s use.Farmers and their businesses are and should be considered essential now and in future. 3. Borders between Canada and U.S. being closed, not only to non-essential travel, but eventually to essential travelers such as transport. Provincial borders being closed to essential transport of goods and/or the eventual quarantine of transport drivers and the goods5(re –contamination and transfer of the virus from one jurisdiction to another).Suggested solution There is potential that an essential worker,who is crossing U.S.-Canada and/or provincial borders,will be positive withthe virus. With that potential it would be remiss for the provincial and federal governments not to restrict even “essential” workers, such as truck drivers, couriers, etc. Therefore, would it not be in the best interest of the province to make the half hour test kits available at the borders, ensuring that there is no cross-border infections? This could elevate the potential of shipments being destroyed and/or community transfer between jurisdictions. Everyone wants to ensure the food chain is protected for the benefit of the residents of Ontario and Canada.
4. Cattle, chicken, pork farmers, etc., are realizing the price of beef/meat is going up (supply and demand) and yet they are looking at difficulties of transportto end users, with fears that if one person in the meat processing plant is struck down with the virus the entire plant must be closed.6Suggested solution Meat processing plantsThe province could be actively involved with re-opening numerous abattoirs throughout the province ensuring there are inspections which meet the CFIA criteria. This would stave off the possibility that if one major processing plant is closed, creating a bottleneck in the food chain, others could fill in the gap, remaining clear of contamination. The province could initiate grants and/or interest free loans to accomplish this as it was the previous government’s initiative to shutter the small abattoirs and meat processing plants through egregious building coded standards(CFIA), as expressed by a farmer. His statement to me was that the cutting room had been determined to be 4 inches too small therefore the entire premise was closed. These smaller processing plants could still maintain the processing of private as well as meat for populous consumption as they used to, ensuring that they do meet the CFIA inspection criteria. There would also have to be an increase in fees charged for these smaller processing plants but well worth it if the food chain can be maintained.5. Restrictions on the use of the land through egregious designations by means of planning, heritage designations, conservation designations, endangered species protection of habitat, Niagara Escarpment designations, etc., etc., etc.7Suggested solutionAllLands designationsin the Official Plans pertaining to rural lands need to be removed.These designations include but are not limited to: -Future Secondary Plan Area; -Special Study Area; -Escarpment; -Wetlands; -Hazard Lands; -Major Open Space; -Areas identified as containing Provincially Significant Areas of Natural and Scientific Interest; -Other areas identified as potentially containing significant or sensitive natural heritage features. All of the aforementioned designations restrict the use of rural lands which can be put into production. One property owner, who is not a farmer, leases out his land for cattle grazing. He is restricted as to how much land he can lease out due to these egregious designations of “wetland,” purported “sensitive natural heritage features,”and “karst areas.”If we, in Ontario, want our rural areas and farming communities to meet the challenges presented,we need, as a province, to remove these restrictions. Not only
on farm land but land which can and does have the potential to be used as farm land. Not only do these designations restrict the agricultural community’s efforts during a crisis, but when land is offered for sale,if it is designated for anything but agricultural land,thefarming community will not even look at it. The restrictions decrease the amount of available land as farm land. As a final note, Premier and Ministers, again we would like to thank you for your efforts during this trying time. We appreciate how difficult it is,and will continue to be,until this crisis is over. It is hoped that this letter is received with the best of intentions and that this letter is of assistance to you and the people of Ontario.Sincerest Regards,Elizabeth F.MarshallPresident All Rights Research Ltd.,Jeff Bogaerts, President Ontario Landowners Association1-613-222-3174cellDirector of Research -Ontario Landowners Association,Board Member -Canadian Justice Review Board,Legislative Researcher –MPs, MPPs, Elected Officials,Legal Researcher –Queen’s Counsel, Lawyers, Litigators and others,Tom Black, Past PresidentOntario Landowners AssociationAuthor –Property Rights 101: An Introduction, Second Edition1“She doesn’t see the 14-day isolation period for the workers as a problem. “We can isolate the workers. That’s not an issue. They have separate housing,” Hambly noted, reassuring the public.“We can do this, and we are willing to do this.”https://www.orilliamatters.com/coronavi ... 62“Actions like the closing of fruit processing plants in the Niagara area, and the ploughing under of acres of apple orchards in Bowmanville, because fruit is cheaper half way around the world (at present) puts us in a very precarious position.” https://oldottawasouth.ca/archives/2008 ... er/file3“A team from the University of Oxford’s Engineering Science Department and the Oxford Suzhou Centre for Advanced Research (OSCAR) has developed a new COVID-19 test, based ona technique which is capable of giving results in half-an-hour.”https://www.sciencefocus.com/news/new-c ... hour/4“The General Mills plant in Trenton, fruit-canning factories in Exeter and St. Davids and a Hershey’s chocolate plant in Smiths Falls are among the casualties.” https://www.pressreader.com/canada/nati ... 5340945“In a pair of back-to-back press conferences, Quebec and Ontario —the two most populous provinces in the country —announced there would soon be full shutdowns of non-essential businesses as health officials grapple with the outbreak of the COVID-19 virus that has sickened more than 1,400 people in Canada and killed20.”https://nationalpost.com/news/covid-19- ... totals6“In my opinion, based on what we have seen in other workplace situations, it’s hard for me to believe that the consequences of a COVID-19 case at a packing plant would not be a shutdown for quarantine of all employees in the plant.”https://www.realagriculture.com/2020/03 ... sector/7“7 NATURAL GREY Background Natural Grey focuses on the environment. The natural beauty of Grey County is a major reason why people choose to live in or visit the County. Grey County needs to be supportive of not just people,
but of the plant and wildlife species as well. We need areasfor people to interact with nature without overwhelming it. The County also needs to consider our changing climate, and do our part to reduce our impacts on climate change. Natural Grey features include land use types including Hazard Lands and Provincially Significant Wetlands and Significant Coastal Wetlands that are identified on Schedule A. These land use types include specific policies and permitted uses that can be considered either within these areas or adjacent to these areas. The other natural features and areas are constraints, which are identified on Appendix A and Appendix B. For constraints, development can be permitted within these areas or adjacent to these areas, subject to addressing the specific policies identified in this Section, or any provincial and federal requirements. Natural Grey land use types and constraints are as follows: Land Use Types •Hazard Lands •Provincially Significant Wetlands and Significant Coastal Wetlands Constraints •Significant Areas of Natural and Scientific Interest •Other Wetlands •Significant Woodlands •Karst Areas •Core Areas •Linkages •Hazardous Forest Types for Wildland Fire •Significant Valleylands •Fish Habitat For the constraints listed above, the policies of section 7 of the Plan apply, in addition to the policies of the underlying land use type shall apply. Natural Grey features also include the following features which have not been mapped: •Significant Wildlife Habitat (including Deer Wintering Yards); •Habitat of Endangered/Threatened Species.In those areas that have not yet been mapped, the existing mapped natural features capture the majority of, but not necessarily all, of these features.Some of these features may also be subject to existing conservation authority regulations, where they overlap with regulated areas. Each of these natural features were mapped with information provided by different ministries and agencies, the County Plan considers all available data sources to provide an integrated approach to the environment. For the purposes of Section 7 of this Plan, adjacent lands means those lands that are beside a natural heritage feature where development or site alteration may havea negative impact on the feature. The adjacent lands width listed below come from the Natural Heritage Reference Manual, (2010). Reductions to these distances do not require an amendment to this Plan or a municipal official plan, but will generally be supported by an environmental impact study (EIS) prepared by a qualified individual knowledgeable on the environment and natural processes. Reductions in these buffer areas may also be considered on a site-specific basis in accordance with section 7.11.3 of this Plan. Feature or Area Adjacent Land Width Habitat of Threatened / Endangered species 120 metres Provincially Significant Wetlands / Significant Coastal Wetlands 120 metres Other Wetlands 30 metres Fish habitat 120 metres Significant Woodlands 120 metres Significant Valleylands 120 metres Significant Wildlife habitat 120 metres Significant Area of Natural and Scientific Interest -Earth Science 50 metres Significant Area of Natural and Scientific Interest -Life Science 120 metres Core areas 120 metres Linkages Not Applicable....

[Bayvistafarm]

Well... covid has sort of hit home for this family. Gary's Niece (His sister's daughter), Sarah has a little boy 4 years old. She also has a 6 month old girl, AND a 2 year old boy.

3 weeks ago, they were at a wedding. Since last week, Sarah's boy (Drew) started showing covid symptoms. Charlotte (Sarah's sister) was at the same table, and is a nurse. She put herself in to self isolation at home. Shes 29 weeks pregnant.

Drew was tested last week and his results came in today. He has the disease. However, last week was the worst... sore throat, irritable, cough... hes on the mend, and feels much better, but still has the symptoms.

Seems the person at the dinner table also came down with symptoms, and told everyone at the table (and I assume the whole wedding) he tested positive. I always knew in the back of my mind, that every family will be touched by this. And we are only on the upswing of this pandemic. So sad.

[ross]

Some stores are saving the first hour for seniors only

Yep I saw that Kenya The super WalMArt Hyde Park London is one 7 am to 8 not for me that early .
We won’t be goin to London till this is over doing our shopping at Foodland /Foodmart nearby . Less people as long as can afford the higher costs as well

[ross]

Wow Shirley , wish all well . That stuff from Sandy to much for me to figure out . We’re gonna do the best we can with what we have & what ever will be will be . Found this before this virus came about .
Being seniors & had GREAT LIVES hope makes room for the younger ones

[Jaye]

I found out last night at work that there are three cases in Almonte. We share workers with Almonte. One of the shared workers who is a friend is now in quarantine with symptoms. Anxiously waiting on HER test results, because I worked in close contact with her last week. I knew it was coming, but foolishly hoped it would trickle in a little more slowly. Could not get home and into the shower fast enough, even though I know it's too late. I've been careful throughout this whole thing, even sanitizing all the equipment I use, every shift, before I touch it, even though I was never instructed to do so...but now I'm terrified that I've been spreading SARS 2.0 around for the last 6 days. People I love may be about to get very, very sick, or worse. Buckle up, people.

Oh dear, that's really not good news. Hoping for the best for all the residents and health care workers where you work. I'm sure they appreciate all the efforts you make to keep them safe and well.