Everything Playoffs-2021

[Primer]

Some of those stats are definitely helpful for sure. But, in my opinion, it's not just about the hospitals and ICU beds.. someone might sneeze and go running to their doctor or to the ER to get looked at. And that costs us, the tax payers, money. When something is free, it gets abused.. including (and especially) health care.

So with that, the government has to ensure it can save people money in the long run. And not over abuse nurses and doctor's who are government employed here. The US does not have to worry about this variable at all because everything is privatized.

Canada also pushes hard for a flu vaccine here, and I doubt the US cares at all about flu vaccinations.

Our government is bad, no doubt.. and there should have been a task force setup that have number crunchers that look at those stats. Or maybe there is and they just use vaccinations as their currency. At least in Ontario that's how they've decided to do things.

We'll get to that goal though. I want to be fully vaxxed so bad, but I'm an idiot and took AZ as my first dose, and have to wait a minimum of 8 weeks before my second. I should have waited a week and got Pfizer or Moderna instead. I'll get my second dose in a couple of weeks.. just have to have a little more patience.

Those numbers will go really up once AZ first dosers can get their second dose. I bet we'll get to 75-80% fully vaccinated by the end of August.

Canada is a monetary sovereign, you create your own currency and federal taxes do not fund the federal government. Taxes fund at the provincial level and below but not at the federal level because the federal government creates the currency. The only thing you should be worried about is resources and capacity, are there enough doctors, nurses, hospitals, and clinics to see everyone in a timely manner. The federal government has an unlimited ability to pay any medical costs, but that doesn't mean much if there aren't doctors to see patients.

I also don't think going to the doctor when you're sick is abusing the system, that's what it's there for, to treat sick people. No one is scheduling doctors visits for fun just because they won't get a bill afterwards.

[Primer]

It would take a lot more balls in Arizona to not do what they've been doing. As was mentioned upthread, there's a pretty strong culture of individual rights and freedoms which, in areas with strong Republican support, approaches 'Gubmint damn well better not tell me anything about anything or there's going to be trouble', which is way too far in that direction.

My province (Manitoba) has been doing really, really well (75% of eligible people have had had their first dose and 50%+ have had their second, and it's looking likely that we'll hit the 80%/75% target for full reopening sometime in the first two weeks of August. Ontario is a little behind us, but I would expect that you will likely have similar uptake (or better) by the first two weeks of September, if not sooner. That should almost certainly be enough to allow at least 50% capacity for Raptors home games, or full capacity if only vaccinated people are allowed to attend.

The only real question about a Raptors season at this point (despite Silver's caution on the subject) is going to be about teams travelling into and out of Canada, but given that NBA teams and their travelling parties have high vaccine uptake (because the league and the PA have been very forward-thinking on this) that should not be a major issue once the border has opened a little more.

The Tampa Bay Lightning just traveled to Montreal for 2 hockey games so I don't think NBA teams are going to have any issues.

[golden]

The Tampa Bay Lightning just traveled to Montreal for 2 hockey games so I don't think NBA teams are going to have any issues.

Our health officials are already talking about a potential Delta variant "surge" in the fall, so you never know..... we could be in lockdown again.

[Ebonhawke]

Saric injured.. Frank the tank appearances incoming

Saric has a torn ACL

[slaw]

Our health officials are already talking about a potential Delta variant "surge" in the fall, so you never know..... we could be in lockdown again.

Ontario is fucked. You guys have lost your minds. Everyone else in North America (red, blue, liberal, conservative, moderate, radical) is moving on and taking new approaches except Ontario. You've got to get out of this before cold and flu season starts in the winter or you'll be in your basements again.

[golden]

Ontario is fucked. You guys have lost your minds. Everyone else in North America (red, blue, liberal, conservative, moderate, radical) is moving on and taking new approaches except Ontario. You've got to get out of this before cold and flu season starts in the winter or you'll be in your basements again.

When I say "health officials" warning about Delta variant, I'm talking about Dr. Theresa Tam, who is the chief public health officer of Canada. She's the one advising Trudeau, if I'm not mistaken. Delta variant, if it materializes as a threat, will be a Canada problem, not just Ontario. That's what could keep borders closed.

Ontario already approved all pro sports to return to play, but it's waiting on the Feds. This is a Trudeau thing, not Ford.

[S.R.]

Canada is a monetary sovereign, you create your own currency and federal taxes do not fund the federal government. Taxes fund at the provincial level and below but not at the federal level because the federal government creates the currency. The only thing you should be worried about is resources and capacity, are there enough doctors, nurses, hospitals, and clinics to see everyone in a timely manner. The federal government has an unlimited ability to pay any medical costs, but that doesn't mean much if there aren't doctors to see patients.

I also don't think going to the doctor when you're sick is abusing the system, that's what it's there for, to treat sick people. No one is scheduling doctors visits for fun just because they won't get a bill afterwards.

I currently live in a part of the country that really struggles with the attraction and retention of qualified health professionals, it's crazy. Been that way for years and has been worse during COVID as staff were reassigned to ICU's which were also understaffed even after the reassignments. That system gets overloaded pretty quick then you have even worse COVID impacts as critical patients are being transferred to other regions by helicopter etc.

What's crazy is there are hundreds (or thousands) of internationally educated health professionals that can't get into their profession because of an archaic, protectionist, and fragmented credentialing system. So instead we've got doctors pushing buttons in factories and intermittent, unplanned closures of rural ER's due to lack of staffing.

Canada needs to completely dispense of interprovincial barriers to labour movement imho, literally costs this country billions of dollars. Dated systems that have too much inertia (and too many unions) to change easily but you can make the argument that some of them, like health, literally cost lives. Closed and short staffed ER's are no joke but we live with them like that's just the way it is. This is completely self-inflicted.

Anyway, I've got a feeling some of our per capita health resource numbers in this country are pretty bad. I work primarily with immigrants and people coming from all over the world have never seen wait times like we've institutionalized here.

Sports related point of relevance - I do hope we get back around to seeing home games in T.O. I'm not sure what to expect as in general the Canadian goal posts seem to have shifted from some sensible public health targets to just a general feeling that risk has to be avoided at all costs. Some provinces are moving on from the fear mongering, hope we all get there.

[slaw]

When I say "health officials" warning about Delta variant, I'm talking about Dr. Theresa Tam, who is the chief public health officer of Canada. She's the one advising Trudeau, if I'm not mistaken. Delta variant, if it materializes as a threat, will be a Canada problem, not just Ontario. That's what could keep borders closed.

Ontario already approved all pro sports to return to play, but it's waiting on the Feds. This is a Trudeau thing, not Ford.

Fair enough, I didn't think anyone listened to her anymore but yeah the feds are definitely a problem as well. Point still stands about the lunatics and incompetents running Ontario.

[Kagemusha]

Some of those stats are definitely helpful for sure. But, in my opinion, it's not just about the hospitals and ICU beds.. someone might sneeze and go running to their doctor or to the ER to get looked at. And that costs us, the tax payers, money. When something is free, it gets abused.. including (and especially) health care.

So with that, the government has to ensure it can save people money in the long run. And not over abuse nurses and doctor's who are government employed here. The US does not have to worry about this variable at all because everything is privatized.

Canada also pushes hard for a flu vaccine here, and I doubt the US cares at all about flu vaccinations.

Our government is bad, no doubt.. and there should have been a task force setup that have number crunchers that look at those stats. Or maybe there is and they just use vaccinations as their currency. At least in Ontario that's how they've decided to do things.

We'll get to that goal though. I want to be fully vaxxed so bad, but I'm an idiot and took AZ as my first dose, and have to wait a minimum of 8 weeks before my second. I should have waited a week and got Pfizer or Moderna instead. I'll get my second dose in a couple of weeks.. just have to have a little more patience.

Those numbers will go really up once AZ first dosers can get their second dose. I bet we'll get to 75-80% fully vaccinated by the end of August.

Lol.
Good luck if you all think that vaccines IS the real solution.
The vaccines that only 'works' on certain variant at best.

This overblown covid pandemic is nothing more than a deadlier flu which affects mostly the elderly and should never have been the cause for global panic and eventual economic shutdown.
The effects of this shutdown can be far more deadlier than the virus itself.
And why is NOBODY seem to be interested in finding the CURE instead of the band aid easy $$$ 'solution' ie the jab.

Of course many people don't and won't understand that.
The key to fighting and ending this menace is by boosting our immune system, investing in our health.

[GOLDBLUM]

Lol.
Good luck if you all think that vaccines IS the real solution.
The vaccines that only 'works' on certain variant at best.

This overblown covid pandemic is nothing more than a deadlier flu which affects mostly the elderly and should never have been the cause for global panic and eventual economic shutdown.
The effects of this shutdown can be far more deadlier than the virus itself.
And why is NOBODY seem to be interested in finding the CURE instead of the band aid easy $$$ 'solution' ie the jab.

Of course many people don't and won't understand that.
The key to fighting and ending this menace is by boosting our immune system, investing in our health.

[DanH]

Lol.
Good luck if you all think that vaccines IS the real solution.
The vaccines that only 'works' on certain variant at best.

This overblown covid pandemic is nothing more than a deadlier flu which affects mostly the elderly and should never have been the cause for global panic and eventual economic shutdown.
The effects of this shutdown can be far more deadlier than the virus itself.
And why is NOBODY seem to be interested in finding the CURE instead of the band aid easy $$$ 'solution' ie the jab.

Of course many people don't and won't understand that.
The key to fighting and ending this menace is by boosting our immune system, investing in our health.

Wait, so, vaccines then? That's, uh, what they do.

[Kagemusha]

Wait, so, vaccines then? That's, uh, what they do.

Vaccines boost your immune system?
that's a couch potato mentality.
lol
go out and work out bro.
eat healthy, sleep early, de stress.

Btw, being infected is not the end of the world. The vaccinated will get infected too.
It's like how even the healthy ones get the seasonal flu, point is how our body fights the virus.
I get the flu shot too, and still catch the flu. So does most of us.

[slaw]

Yikes....

Tuesday’s game — which comes about a month after the league’s usual early June berth for the Finals — is off by 37 percent compared to game 1 of the 2019 series between the Golden State Warriors and Toronto Raptors (13.51 million viewers).

[Primer]

Yikes....

It's up 15% from 2020. So not yikes at all. Stupid to compare it to 2019 when there was no Covid. Last year was the Lakers and LeBron against the Miami Heat, two of the supposedly most popular teams in the NBA. This year is freaking Phoenix and Milwaukee and it's up by 15%. I'd call that a huge win for the NBA.

[slaw]

It's up 15% from 2020. So not yikes at all. Stupid to compare it to 2019 when there was no Covid. Last year was the Lakers and LeBron against the Miami Heat, two of the supposedly most popular teams in the NBA. This year is freaking Phoenix and Milwaukee and it's up by 15%. I'd call that a huge win for the NBA.

I would say it's stupid to compare it to 2020, which was played against the NFL and in the bubble on an irregular schedule (which were the reasons we were given for its poor ratings). Even then, they are barely above the worst rated Finals of all time. How is that a 'huge win'? It's a disaster.