There are never any guarantees in medicine.

But I would certainly take Chemo over someones support of Cannabis on facebook , one is scientifically sound and supported.

Doing your own "research" is also disingenuous.... People do research all the time... And because of that, there is an entire community using pseudo-scientific "evidence" to prove the Earth is flat... Or that vaccines cause Autism or Chemtrails or any of the other crazy conspiracy theories that float the internet these days.
Plus your statement reads like I haven't done any reading into this topic, simply because it comes into conflict with your own statement, which couldn't be farther from the truth... Plus I am not the one spreading/reading from "sources" from groups with a financial conflict of interest.

What needs to happen is an adherence to the scientific method and the experts in the field...
It always baffles me how some random redneck bogan from the "school of hard knocks" who watched a random Youtube video... Somehow thinks he has done more "research" on a topic and "knows more" than someone who spent 3 years studying for a degree, then a further 3 years studying for a PHD, spent more years in a professional capacity studying, forming hypothesis, building functional models, formed conclusions with findings published and peer reviewed...

It's absolutely bullshit.

The internet literally has the information to backup -any- argument you could possibly hypothesize, meaning "doing your own research" is a rubbish response whichever way you cut it.

This is also disingenuous.
Something that is natural doesn't equate to it being healthy, helpful, or good.

Nightshade is "natural" but the atropine and scopolamine will kill you.

Tobacco is natural... And the millions of people who have debilitating illnesses and have thus died from it... Ranks in the millions.

Cannabis when consumed in it's most popular form... Aka. Smoking shares over 50 of the same carcinogens as Tobacco, thus it can actually cause cancer, not to mention the attributed deaths and injuries associated from reduced motor functions which can impair your ability to perform tasks such as driving.
It's not the "perfect little drug" that many portray it to be I am afraid.

Either way... I would NOT be using cannabis, disinfectant or whatever home "cures" to treat anything, even COVID, speak to a professional first.

So countries like Japan, Singapore, Hong Kong, S. Korea, Taiwan, New Zealand and Australia never did a good job containing the virus as the international media has been saying, the virus hit them in ~February.

Meanwhile it hit several EU countries and New york State already back in Oct/Nov. But we never saw it intill it exploded in march.

The first COVID case was identified in Australia on January the 25th from an individual who came back on the 19th of January... WHO didn't declare it as an outbreak until the 30th of January.

We started to "screen" incoming travelers on the 23rd of January, with information packs given to all travelers about the virus and what to do if they show symptoms.

So Australia was already taking action before the World-Health Organisation started to make any movements.

The first COVID death didn't occur in Australia until the 1st of March, by then we had already activated the emergency sector health plan and various emergency services were stepping up to take on the problem by stockpiling PPE, training and so on to assist the Ambulance and various health organizations.

The ball was rolling to tackle COVID here well and truly in advance before we initiated lockdown measures.

We were successful at halting the spread through a world-class health system, appropriate dissemination of information and advice from trusted resources and quick and decisive action from government that people adhered to.

Yes you guys starting screening folks in late Jan, what would happen if the virus hit your country already back in Oct/NOV? Sweden was in that military world games, New zealand and Australia was not. But I notice S. Korea, Thailand, Vietnam were in that game, but not the other countries I mention.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2019_Military_World_Games

Wouldn't have made a difference if it dropped in October or January, the response plan was already in place and we would have responded the exact same way... The Government doesn't enact health-related policies without first conversing with the various health agencies and professionals first.. And thus tends to act on their advice rather than think they "know what is best" and do their own thing.

That is ultimately the difference between the Australian and American situation.

Contrary to popular belief, many nations across the planet had been preparing for this exact scenario for decades, I trained in it every few years as a firefighter and first responder.. And we took lessons from Bird Flu, Swine Flu, Ebola and more to build the appropriate comprehensive all-hazards approach response to pandemics and other health-related issues.
We built stockpiles of resources and PPE, we engaged other necessary stakeholders at every level, we were as best prepared as possible.

And so was New Zealand who we closely affiliate and work with on most aspects of international and national issues and have built various memoranda's of understanding to build frameworks to manage these scenarios effectively... And that is why we both had similar outcomes.

The geographical advantage that gave us extra time certainly didn't play against us either, but we cannot attribute those successes to just that.

The USA for example is about to open up their economy at the expense of American lives before "defeating" the virus. Again, chalk and cheese responses.

Blaming everything on China is just a very convenient way of distracting from your own failures. And it plays right into the hands of those who you think have all the influence. It's an interconnected world and most countries have influence over most other countries in one way or another. Bigger countries have bigger influences. The US influence on every other country alone is crazy. Pointing that influence out is healthy and important. Blaming home made issues on foreign influence is not. One fake news story isn't the reason why the President is a babbling idiot.

If you really think that Chinese influence is the reason why everything sucks in the US you maybe need to look a bit more into that country. Unless of course you would like to take the easy route and just treat every news piece as foreign propaganda. It's so nice to not have to think for yourself, right?

This is what I mean by doing my own 'research'
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2828614/
Not anecdotes, or twitter or you tube or face book crap...

All I meant with sleep as a cure, is it's the opposite of stress making things worse.

Cannabis helped me through a bad back injury, too much pain to sleep for months, less negative effects and less damaging to the liver as apposed to subscription and over the counter pain medication. It's not a "cure", it facilitates the healing process by reducing inflammation and stress levels. It was more effective than toradol (ketorolac) which you can't even use for more than 5 or 6 days.

But very true, smoking is no good in general. And you shouldn't be driving with pain killers either. Smoking is no way to dose either, oil extracts with known concentration is the way to go.

As for chemo, I know people that have simply said enough is enough. Stick it out with pain management and make peace with the inevitable. I'm not saying that's what your friend did, maybe he was truly misled which really sucks. My wife has been burned so many times with 'alternative' cures, last one being the chiropractor promising to help her chronic headaches. 100 treatments later, no improvement.

I'll keep using disinfectants to treat wounds and cannabis for getting at least 6 hours of sleep at night instead of 3 or 4 and being exhausted all day. Driving while tired is even more dangerous, I've had mornings where I really should not have been on the road. I've actually fallen asleep while cycling a couple times, down an embankment or clipping a pole while fighting to keep my eyes open :/

Anyway sorry if I hit a nerve. By the history of articles I link you should know I don't get my 'research' from you tube. (hate that medium with a passion when it comes to information sharing)

As you already corrected, Australia and New Zealand were not in the games, and yep the out breaks were detected and happened much earlier in Japan and South Korea. South Korea was already getting over their super spreader out break before Australia started charting.


There is also some concern that a mutation could have made the virus more contagious, no evidence of it being more or less dangerous, but showing up more in samples.

https://www.ctvnews.ca/health/coronavirus/has-the-new-coronavirus-mutated-to-be-more-contagious-experts-weigh-in-1.4930666

The study’s authors said this one particular mutation, named D614G, appears to be more contagious than its predecessors because it has quickly infected more people than earlier strains of the virus that first emerged in Wuhan, China.

The scientists came to this conclusion by analyzing more than 6,000 coronavirus sequences from around the world, which were collected by the German-based organization the Global Initiative for Sharing All Influenza Data (GISAID).

They tracked the virus across different regions since its emergence and said they identified 14 mutations related to the now-infamous spike protein that is visible on the surface of the virus. They focused their attention on the spike protein because this is what allows the virus to enter human respiratory cells.

Of the mutations they discovered, the researchers said D614G appeared to be of the most concern because it became dominant wherever it was spread, although they said it’s still unclear why that is.

What’s more, the study didn’t show that the mutated strain of the virus actually made people sicker. The team studied data from 453 hospitalized patients in Sheffield, England and found that, while people with the particular mutation had higher viral loads in their samples, they weren’t sicker or in the hospital for longer periods.

It could tie in with covid19 spreading slower at first from November, then accelerating when it hit Europe. However it's all still very hypothetical and needs a lot more research:

Dr. Isaac Bogoch, an infectious diseases physician and scientist with the Toronto General Hospital, said the study didn’t prove that the mutated strain is more virulent just because it was more common in their sample size.

“It’s not to say it can’t happen. It’s not to say it won’t happen, but they don’t provide the level of proof to determine that this has happened,” he said.

“It’s not that a mutation didn't occur. It’s not that there aren’t different variants of this virus around. But does this mutation confer some special advantage over other strains of this virus? And the answer is maybe, maybe not, but they don’t show that in this paper.”

It can be important for vaccine development though

As for the study’s potential impact on vaccine development, the team from Los Alamos National Laboratory explained that was why they published the results of their research before it had been peer-reviewed.

“These findings have important implications for SARS-CoV-2 transmission, pathogenesis and immune interventions,” the authors wrote.

Sort of good news, farmers are hiring locals to help with the planting season
https://www.theweathernetwork.com/ca/news/article/farmers-hire-locals-as-pandemic-puts-pause-on-migrant-labour




Unfortunately we're stuck with Ford in Ontario

The medical officer of health in the Kingston area — where the proportion of cases is less than one quarter of the provincial average — wrote to Premier Doug Ford this week asking him to consider a regional approach to easing restrictions

But Ford has now ruled out any geographic differences in phasing out pandemic measures.

In Quebec, restrictions will be lifted last in Montreal, which has been far harder hit by the novel coronavirus than the rest of the province. Businesses outside the Montreal area have already been allowed to reopen and elementary schools in the rest of Quebec are set to resume classes May 11, two weeks before any restrictions are due to be phased out in Montreal.

"We're asking the province to consider a regional approach to the easing of restrictions in places where the COVID-19 situation is evolving differently than other parts of the province," reads the letter from Kingston's top public health doctor, Kieran Michael Moore.

It was jointly signed by the city's mayor and the municipal leaders of the neighbouring counties of Frontenac, Lennox and Addington.

"If we look at the road that's ahead of us, having to live with this virus for the next year and a half, a one-size-fits-all approach may not be the best," Kingston Mayor Bryan Paterson said in a phone interview Thursday.

The regional differences in the impact of the novel coronavirus are most apparent when comparing northern Ontario with the rest of the province. The seven public health units north of Muskoka — an area with a population of nearly 800,000 people — currently report a combined total of just 42 active cases of COVID-19. No long-term care home in northern Ontario has had a cumulative total of more than seven confirmed cases.

But this week, Ford firmly nixed the notion of treating any part of the province differently from the rest. "The answer's no," Ford said in reaction to the request from Kingston. "We have to run the province as one unit."



Ontario is over a million square kilometers in size, about the size of France and Germany combined with very low population density in the North.

Anyway at least he's focusing on where social distancing is most important and while likely not waiting until community spread is eliminated in the more densely populated areas (things are opening up again already) the more remote areas have a good chance of actually getting rid of it (for a while at least)

Regional measure do make more sense though, Quebec is handling that part better, however they are also opening up too soon imo.

Nightclubs, bars, movie theaters, amusement parks, sports stadiums, concerts, cruise ships... ect.

That sort of places should stay closed for along time yet imo.
Too high risk of mass spread.

Nurseing Homes, and prisons shouldnt be haveing visitors either.
To protect the people inside them, from outsides bringing it in.

Trying to track down everyone someone that goes night clubbing a few differnt places, a week ran into...... thats a nightmare.