Constant hygiene theatre eroding faith in institutions.
The entire testing and contact tracing infrastructure has crumbled. You have to wait 3+ hours to get a test, and you have a good chance of being sent back home. Meanwhile, there is an 81% chance that one of the two people next to you in line are positive, and there is not enough space for you to distance themselve from them.
Now even the most optimistic projections are that within two weeks there will be a shortage of ICU beds, so a lockdown is required.
Did you mean days or is it faster in Quebec? Where I am in Ontario, it takes 3 days to book a PCR test appointment. God forbid anyone who might be positive interact with other people in those 3 days.
Have a look at the Quebec graph: [1]
In just 7 days, Quebec has gone from 'mid-low' levels and hopeful for a normal Xmas with Delta 'mostly going away' ...
... to a massive spike, the most daily cases ever seen during this pandemic, absolutely no definitive evidence that Omicron is somehow less lethal, and of course knowing that thousands have died from this already, and aware of the likely consequences?
Imagine having just a meagre bit of insight, knowing how those numbers relate to Hospital beds (they track that very closely), and that within just 1 more week, you're going to be totally overwhelmed?
Imagine being person with actual responsibility like a Politician, Health Advisor, or even Dean, major CEO, Provincial/City Official knowing that your failure to act will probably cause death?
It is what it is, we have to deal with it.
Closing gyms and cinemas for a few weeks while Omicron crashes through (and FYI Xmas season where people tend to gather) is a relatively small price to pay.
Pretty much all evidence coming out of South Africa is showing that omicron is very mild and hospitalizations are extremely rare.
Oxford Study of early Omicron in UK shows it's no different than Delta, but they cautioned that data is limited. [1]
The point is: while we might get lucky with Omicron, we don't have definitive data on it, ergo, we have to rely on our past experience with Alpha/Beta/Delta to inform policy.
And FYI what is 'definitive' is that we are 100% sure that it is 'much more transmissible' by about 3x.
If Omicron is 'as bad as Delta' - and - we knew it was 3x more transmissible - and we were not sure of it's legality - and the government didn't take decisive action, the resulting death would imply dereliction of duty on a criminal scale.
There are 10x more people who are 'pro vaccine' than 'anti' and the 'protests' over needless death would be much worse.
I am hopeful that Omicron will be less lethal but esp. with Xmas and 3x tranmissability, we have not choice but to take action.
[1] https://www.research.ox.ac.uk/article/2021-12-14-omicron-and...