This was just a sickening article to read. There’s no two ways about it.
To get the information and the importance and significance behind these stories, I turned back to the Public Health Ontario tool. Again, I plotted the cases in South-Western Ontario with the updated information. (Information is updated at 11:30)
What about provincially?
The tools definitely show two different stories. Obviously, the y-axis is different in each case but there’s enough data to view and understand trends.
How I’m still seeing people walking around without face masks in public is just beyond me. My heart goes out to the communities of Kingsville and Leamington and my friends there.
I know that there are all kind of plans in the works for testing and isolating but not everyone can be reached that way. You can’t go through a day without reading this news; success in defeating this will only come from all of us being smart.
Yesterday was a big day for us. Essex County (or most of it) is out of Stage 1 and into Stage 2 with the COVID recovery. We celebrated by going out to dine on a patio that’s part of the downtown open air plan. You may have read about it here.
It started out delightfully, hand sanitizer as we entered and we were seated on the patio quite a distance from anyone else. It was clear that the restaurant had taken this very seriously. We watched our server as she waited on people and the sterilized their tables and menus with each group of customers. Now, truth be told, the server is a family member so we got the entire story and how she’s had to enforce the “put on a mask” rule to go into the restroom. It seemed to work well.
Then, as we were enjoying our lunch, a BIG group of people came walking down the street. This was either the biggest family ever or a group that really didn’t understand the concept of social distancing. There wasn’t a mask in sight but everyone was dressed incredibly nicely. My wife guessed that it might be a big wedding until we saw some mortar boards. This was a big graduation event.
They all walked past the bylaw officer without comment so I guess he thought they were distanced. We were across the road so maybe our perspective was wrong.
Essex County claimed to be wronged when the rest of the province had the chance to move to Stage 2 and we were left behind. There was a review and since the number of positive cases came from migrant farm workers, most of the county eventually got to move to Stage 2, except Kingville and Leamington. I feel for those folks; I have good friends in Leamington and we meet monthly for a lunch. That hasn’t happened since February.
It’s the numbers and the statistics that are curious. As the Premier noted, the workers were not positive until they got here so we can’t point fingers at them. In trying to stay on top of this, I’ve been following the news media which gives kind of a fuzzy overview of things. Inevitably, it’s noted that Toronto is happy but we’re not.
So, I decided to go deeper with statistics and ended up finding this fabulous resource from Public Health Ontario. The overview map lets you mouse over counties to see actual numbers. I found this so helpful as news tends to be local or Toronto-based.
This data tool is so flexible with all the data that’s available.
When looking at data by health unit and digging into the spikes you can see the big story by district.
There’s no doubt that there’s a visible leap in numbers here. Of course, the y-axis allows you to put the numbers in perspective. I can see the Premier’s concern for our area.
I just wish that everyone would take the time to realize what’s happening. We see the numbers from US and European sources all the time. The graph shows how sensitive to change in numbers that we’re experiencing.
This tool lets us dig into our community. We need to be smart about what we’re doing folks.
Are you a STEM subject teacher in Ontario?
You can help us out with our study on your experience with online teaching during the COVID-19 pandemic.https://t.co/sidEvuPzuy…
Email mestaite@uwo.ca if you have questions!
Here’s a summary of some of the things I learned and published this week.
Readings
You can follow my daily readings as they happen here. Below are a selected few, with commentary, from the past week.
A day after school districts were given three options for opening here in Ontario, the Minister of Education says that he “directed” boards to begin the year with a mix of in-person and remote learning.
From the New York Public Library, here’s a collection of equity resources for educators.
It was a real surprise to see Windows supporting a subsystem for Linux but here we are.
Maybe all that it will take to kick EQAO to the curb is for the US to drop standardized tests. They’ve never had universal support.
Hamilton-Wentworth quits the school liaison program that it has had with the police department. What other boards will follow?
The June 27th Miracle for collecting dry goods throughout Essex County had volunteers picking up donations on front porches. Those of us who live outside a town had to drop them off ourselves. Here’s a map showing the locations at the time. Wow.
One of the challenges of using multiple browsers is making sure that my password manager is installed in each of them. It’s my way of doing things these days. Here’s a list of the best for 2020.
For those who like to download YouTube videos, here’s a collection of the best that are available for free.
Music legends in action photos – Grace Jones, Mick Jagger, Lady Gaga and more.
This doesn’t surprise me. Dell shipped my Mini 10 with Ubuntu on it years and years ago. Now, the top end XPS 13 will come with Ubuntu installed. It’s what I want for my birthday.
One of the last places where students can chat with friends with no limits in in the school cafeteria. That’s all going to change, going forward. What happens to food fights?
This is great news for Twitter users using Opera. Version 69 puts Twitter in the sidebar. I always have it open in a tab in my browser but I’ll be sure to check this out to see if it makes things more efficient.
Given Apple’s claim to protecting your privacy, I’m really surprised that it took this long to add this feature. I’d be more impressed if they actually put ad blocking and fingerprinting right in the browser.
There really was a sigh of relief as Essex County was allowed to move to Stage 2 of recovery. And yet, it’s not complete with Kingsville and Leamington not joining us.
I keep finding myself being impressed with the actions taken by our Premier. In this case, he’s slamming the US approach to reopening. The numbers from the sunshine states surely back his position.
I knew about these various punctuation marks but thought it was cute and useless because there’s no key to type to generate them. But that could change, I suppose if there was enough interest. I doubt it would ever happen though.
Zoom has this feature and it’s kind of fun to place with. One thing that came from all this home schooling is that people don’t always want to share their background with others. Now, Google Meet lets you get rid of it too.
This is a great article about dining out during a pandemic. I guess common sense is too much to expect in all cases. Still, it’s a good read and a reminder for some.
So, you might not get a chance to go overseas or to the United States for a holiday this summer. Don’t overlook these amazing things to see right here at home.
Blog Posts on doug … off the record
My daily contributions to this blog. If you’re looking for a week in review for doug–off the record, you came to the right place.
This week on voicEd Radio, Stephen Hurley and I chatted about Being online, Post-it Notes, Virtual Visits, Courageous Leadership, and Courageous Cleanup.
Tuesday is going to be interesting. For years now, I’ve had internet access through our carrier and have never had an issue of going over the limit. Yes, we can’t afford or choose not to afford unlimited internet.
There will come a day.
Anyway, on Friday, I got a courtesy email from the company letting me know that we had reached 75% of our allotment. Once we hit 100%, we’ll be throttled way back until the first of July.
My problem is that I have to do my research and collect blog posts for discussion on the show. Will the connection last?
My problems are undoubtedly small compared to others. But, it’s what I do.
Video of the Week
It was an amazing Saturday in Essex County for the June 27th Miracle. Here’s a bit of what’s going on.
Photo of the Week
What a handsome dog. Now, the story behind the story. This dog can tell time. I’m lying on the couch and he notes that it’s time for an after supper stroll. So, he positions himself between me and the television. Folks, this dog is spoiled.
Thanks for reading.
Please join me daily for something new and, hopefully, interesting for you. Time willing, this summary appears every Sunday afternoon.
doug --- off the record 