Creating a competitive advantage for non-big box stores? This is an incredibly odd policy.
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Quebec bans unvaccinated from buying groceries at Walmart, Costco
111–120 of 183 posts
Re: Quebec bans unvaccinated from buying groceries at Walmart, Costco
#112The UK, Denmark and others moving to get rid of ALL restrictions. Meanwhile Canada, Australia and others devolving into police states... Edit - forgot some other countries. Netherlands, Ireland also ditching restrictions...
Article that really reinforces your point about Australia, can it even be called a democracy anymore?
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2021/09/pandemic-a...
Re: Quebec bans unvaccinated from buying groceries at Walmart, Costco
#113This is a state fighting its own citizens for a political act of ignorance. 90% of eligible individuals have received at least one dose in Quebec.[0] What's the point of additional marginalization of a very stubborn group of people? It's playing with fire and with no responsibilities, as I severely doubt anyone will be convinced to get vaccinated because they can't go to Walmart after one year of restrictions, but it…
As someone who live in Quebec this make sense to me and apparently the vast majority of the population. There is more opposition to vaccine mandate to access retail store than taxing the unvaccinated.
I don't think anybody would be surprise to hear that smokers pay a tobacco surcharge for their health insurance in the US.
High pressure from covid patient is causing healthcare system cost to skyrocket. You have the 10% of unvaccinated who are causing for 45% of that load increase.
In a system with universal healthcare system, where everyone pay for the system with taxation, surcharge have to happen with taxes. If a few decide to get vaccinated great but I don't think it's the point. Honestly, they haven't announced the specific but I doubt the tax will be high enough to account for the real healthcare cost of population vaccinated.
Re: Quebec bans unvaccinated from buying groceries at Walmart, Costco
#114Earlier quoted context omitted.
Yeah, but cars don't hitch rides in your lungs and jump into nearby people's mouths, occasionally injuring them.
Based on that reasoning we should ban free association because people randomly assault others occasionally too.
Well, no, which is why we don't mandate vaccines against viruses which don't cause once-in-a-century pandemics. But that's separate from what I wanted to respond to, which was the false equivalence between seatbelts/helmets and vaccines.
Re: Quebec bans unvaccinated from buying groceries at Walmart, Costco
#115Earlier quoted context omitted.
Just to be more precise, unvaccinated people represent 26% of new hospitalizations in quebec, and 40% in ICU according to the official dashboard [1]. The efficiency against omicron is very limited, thus the huge deprivations we see here are politically motivated. I feel like I’m living a scary dystopia. 1 - https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FJt95WHXMAEHzyp?format=jpg&name=...
The current vaccinations are actually reasonably good at preventing Omicron hospitalizations, enough so to be worthwhile on an individual level anyway. The problem is that they're not 100% effective and if Quebec is anything like the UK, almost all the people who're actually at risk of being hospitalized are already vaccinated - there just aren't enough left that vaccinating the remainder will do much about hospitals…
> The current vaccinations are actually reasonably good at preventing Omicron hospitalizations, enough so to be worthwhile on an individual level.
It’s at most halving them. For fit people under 50 the risk low enough to make this vaccine useless.
Thus broad measures like this one are absolutely and insanely disproportionate.
Re: Quebec bans unvaccinated from buying groceries at Walmart, Costco
#116Earlier quoted context omitted.
Quoted post unavailable.
Have you payed for building the roads you drive or walk on to work? The pipes that deliver your water? The fire services? Do you imagine you pay the full cost of the food you are eating? Of the irrigation systems? Garbage pick up and disposal? Management of your local community, including things like accounting for its money etc? Calling taxation "theft" is delusional.
No post body was provided.
Re: Quebec bans unvaccinated from buying groceries at Walmart, Costco
#117Earlier quoted context omitted.
Just to be more precise, unvaccinated people represent 26% of new hospitalizations in quebec, and 40% in ICU according to the official dashboard [1]. The efficiency against omicron is very limited, thus the huge deprivations we see here are politically motivated. I feel like I’m living a scary dystopia. 1 - https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FJt95WHXMAEHzyp?format=jpg&name=...
The vaccination rate of the vulnerable population is significantly higher than the vaccination rate in the general population. Your data helps prove that vaccines are quite effective.
It’s effective for people over 50.
Thus for most of the victims of this discrimination, vaccine is marginally useful.
Re: Quebec bans unvaccinated from buying groceries at Walmart, Costco
#118Earlier quoted context omitted.
Based on that reasoning we should ban free association because people randomly assault others occasionally too.
Well, no, which is why we don't mandate vaccines against viruses which don't cause once-in-a-century pandemics. But that's separate from what I wanted to respond to, which was the false equivalence between seatbelts/helmets and vaccines.
The new authoritarian infrastructure that we put in place in order to "combat the pandemic" will live long after the pandemic, and negatively affect the lives of everyone going forward. Governments do not have a track record of giving up power.
Telling people to stay indoors if they're scared is much more preferable to injecting government into every aspect of our lives.
Also I'm not sure why you're mentioning false equivalence to me, since I am also highlighting the false equivalence between vaccines and seat belts.
Re: Quebec bans unvaccinated from buying groceries at Walmart, Costco
#119Earlier quoted context omitted.
Not sure if you're from Quebec so this wouldn't be news to you, but our healthcare is BAD. Like comically bad. Nurses are routinely forced to do doubles because they don't have enough staff, hell we don't even have enough beds either! Because of COVID a lot of non-critical but still pretty important procedures were cancelled for lack of workers. So in that context the government is legitimately scared of it all crash…
That sounds like a problem with health infrastructure. So because leaders did not put in the needed health infrastructure to serve the population, basic rights(buying food) are violated for some.
Yes, that's what I wrote. Health infrastructure does not exist in a vacuum and between non-vaccinated having to shop at a regular grocery store and people literally dying because we don't have beds in hospital I'll take the lesser evil.
FWIW I agree that after 2 years of the pandemic I see it as a failure of leadership.
> Basic rights(buying food) are violated for some
Let's not resort to hyperbole here. They can shop at Loblaws/Provigo/IGA/Metro/Maxi/Traditions like most people. They don't have a right to shop at Walmart.
Re: Quebec bans unvaccinated from buying groceries at Walmart, Costco
#120This is a state fighting its own citizens for a political act of ignorance. 90% of eligible individuals have received at least one dose in Quebec.[0] What's the point of additional marginalization of a very stubborn group of people? It's playing with fire and with no responsibilities, as I severely doubt anyone will be convinced to get vaccinated because they can't go to Walmart after one year of restrictions, but it…
Not sure if you're from Quebec so this wouldn't be news to you, but our healthcare is BAD. Like comically bad. Nurses are routinely forced to do doubles because they don't have enough staff, hell we don't even have enough beds either! Because of COVID a lot of non-critical but still pretty important procedures were cancelled for lack of workers. So in that context the government is legitimately scared of it all crash…
They had almost 2 years to prepare for this.
Further, hasnt the "lack of workers" been exacerbated from vaccine mandates on workers?
So, you have a system that cannot competently do its work prior to crisis cannot plan with enough time and *further chooses to shoot itself of the foot by limiting their labor
None of these seem to indicate that those in charge care about taxpayers in the process.
What is the government scared of? - incompetence? - lack of planning? - labor practices?
No. None of these. They are scared of doing something different because "no one got fired for buying ibm". Nothing scares them more than doing something different from what is coming from the top.