Bromont plans to run despite Canada’s COVID crisis

[Jealoushe]

I just saw on Fb UL riders talking about Bromont being open for entries and they have a plan to run first of June.

Excuse me while I anger more riders but WTAF are they thinking.

If you aren’t aware Canada is in a huge COVID crisis. Borders are closed between provinces. ICUS overloaded. Patients being transferred to smaller towns to help with all the overflow in large cities. Patients being triaged soon. Full on lock down is happening now. We can’t go anywhere.

So Bromonts plan is if you are vaccinated you can travel to Quebec but have to stay at the luxury hotel and only there and the show grounds and back.

I guess I find it extremely tacky that people would come event here while the general public can’t even leave their house.

I guess there really is a pandemic level for each socioeconomic class isn’t there.

[LadyB]

Assuming it’ll be the same people who travelled south for the winter…

[Saskatoonian]

I don’t even understand how that’s allowed: isn’t the border closed? And even if the people coming in are vaccinated, my neighbor’s elderly mother in Que hasn’t even had her first shot yet, so the people working at Bromont won’t be. Will a spectator-less competition bring in that much money?

[Jealoushe]

Bromont doesn’t even make money, it’s been in the red for a decade and only was saved by Mrs Mars and the new owner.

It’s ridiculous we have essential workers without vaccines but riders can get them to travel? Yikes.

It would just be qualifications and points and really, sad that that takes priority over our public and healthcare system.

We can’t even travel and yet Americans can come and go Eventing?

[Jealoushe]

Americans coming up for it too.

[Saskatoonian]

I didn’t even think KY should run - this sounds like an even worse idea. Ugh.

[leheath]

@Jealoushe

We can’t even travel and yet Americans can come and go Eventing?

Yes, I’d love to know how that’s OK, but I can’t come up to visit my elderly parents (who I haven’t seen in well over a year), even though we are all vaccinated, without expensive and impractical hotel, testing, and quarantine requirements?

[Pippigirl]

I would’ve thought that EHV-1 would still be a concern like it was for finding places to board…

[Salty]

This makes me think of a time when a fishing boat capsized. The people survived, but they lost their livelihood, their cats, all their possessions, and their money. As the pieces of the broken boat were being towed over a bar, they had to wait…for a surfer.

[SolarFlare]

Last year, the organizers of the new Nations Cup at Bromont held off for a long time before finally cancelling. They said they were going to run well beyond what I thought was reasonable. I was supposed to go volunteer so was checking in regularly on the status, although I decided I wasn’t going to travel so I cancelled my Airbnb, etc. Quebec was in a worse spot than Ontario last summer and it still took them forever to cancel.

We’re in a far worse position now than last year so it’s hard to imagine it will go ahead, even with more people vaccinated. How do you justify all the travel, the risk of injury needing hospitalization? I definitely am not volunteering this year, but if I wanted to, I don’t think I could even go across the border to get there.

Maybe this will be like last year, where they are continuing to plan in the event they can run, but as we get closer, will end up cancelling based on current restrictions.

[skrosenthal]

Yuuuuup. Like when they ran the winter H/J circuit at Thermal when California was in lockdown and Riverside County had some of the worst COVID rates in the US. Not a good look for the sport.

[SolarFlare]

IF Bromont runs - how are they going to enforce the “only go to the one hotel and to the showgrounds” rule? They don’t think competitors and their crews are going to want to go eat out (assuming anything is open)? Somebody forgets their toothbrush and needs to go buy one? I can’t figure out how they’re going to control several hundred people without tracking devices, unless it’s just the honour system.

On the other hand, if QC is in total lockdown so the travellers can’t go anywhere because it’s all closed, then it’s definitely a bad look.

The one thing that would be interesting is requiring vaccines. I want to see how that plays out. I’m all for it, I’m just interested to see any pushback, any exceptions made, etc.

[subk]

I don’t watch Canada very closely on Covid, but I just looked it up on WorldMeters. Your current daily death rate–which should be a decent reflection on the hospital load–is around 50. At the winter peak in January it was 3 times that at 150 and last April even a bit higher. So why is this a hospital crisis now, or maybe the real question is what did hospitals do in Jan? Not trying to be critical at all, just not understanding.

The seasonality of this is getting harder to ignore, as well as the similarity of the Gompertz curves that continue to repeat all over the world. Your case numbers look like they’ve tipped over in the last few days. Interestingly, almost exactly to the date that they tipped last year. I guess the good news is that if it is following a seasonal pattern, by the middle of June you ought to be into a very quiet time.

[Jealoushe]

It’s nothing like last year. People are much sicker and the hospitals are full. That’s the big issue, our healthcare system is at the breaking point.

[leheath]

On this date last year, Canada had just under 28,000 active Covid cases. Today they have approx. 83,500 active cases. The highest number of active infections was just over 88,000 on April 19 and the highest in January was ~3.5K lower. The number of patients in ICU and those requiring intubation is also at the highest it has been since the pandemic began - almost double what it was at it’s previously highest point in January. As @Jealoushe said, whether due to variants or some other factor, this surge seems to be making people sicker.

[SolarFlare]

@leheath

whether due to variants or some other factor, this surge seems to be making people sicker.

This is the key. We have been overrun with the variants. Ontario has predominantly the UK variant, which is affecting a younger age group than the original strain. We’ve also got the South African and Brazilian variants (in smaller numbers from what I’ve read) and recently, the Indian variant identified.

On the plus side, we’re expecting a big shipment of Pfizer vaccines in and Ontario is now saying everyone over 18 years of age should be able to get an appt by May 24.

[JenJ]

the vast majority of the covid deaths last year were LTC homes residents.

By mid February, the majority of these vulnerable residents were fully vaccinated. I believe this is the largest factor in Canada’s much lower death rate now.

The hospitals are now swamped with unvaccinated younger people infected with one of the variants, and they spend weeks if not months, in the critical care unit.

[Pippigirl]

That and our ICUs are filling up. Any more and they’ll have to consider some very difficult decisions on who gets ICU and ventilators.

[Night_Flight]

@SolarFlare

if QC is in total lockdown so the travellers can’t go anywhere because it’s all closed, then it’s definitely a bad look.

Quebec isn’t currently in a total lockdown, and if anything measures are expected to start easing up within the next couple of months. Restaurants are take-out only in red zones, but all stores are open, and other restrictions depend on the area you live in (curfew at 8 PM vs 9:30 PM, etc.).

This wave has hit the other provinces a lot harder than the earlier waves did; not to say that things are great in Quebec, but our numbers per capita aren’t as bad as in other parts of Canada, and within the next two weeks all adults will be able to make vaccine appointments.

Should anyone be encouraging people to travel in or out and mingle at events? Nope. But Quebec isn’t experiencing quite as bad of a wave as some are.

[Jealoushe]

The National on CBC last night said tighter restrictions were coming to Quebec next week.