Chair: Danny Cassidy

Toast to Queen, Canada, and Rotary: President Danny

Attending: 12 members and guests: Dorothy Evans, Joan Masson, Takayuki Kawai (Yuki), Kaniyanoor Narasimhan

Speaker: Arthur Retnakaran

 

- Arthur informed the Club that the Community Services Committee was scheduled to meet the same night, Wednesday, January 26 at 7:30 p.m.

 

 Danny spoke with Kim regarding running the next meeting, February 2, from our new in-house location. The following week, February 9, members will be allowed to attend. A caterer providing boxed lunches will be in attendance.  Danny has enquired of the caterer regarding minimum orders and will send additional information. 

 

The Club Services Committee is exploring options for the Club’s upcoming 60th anniversary.  Danny reached out to Larry Watmore seeking to have our Club work with Jennifer Jones during her visit to the Clubs. With the help of Ron Dick, this might be possible in July. 

 

Danny also spoke about the current campaign “Love Scarborough”.  Scarborough Rotary Club wants to bring the Scarborough Rotary Clubs together to support SHN (Scarborough Health Network).  According to President Danny, Scarborough is not treated fairly and he will share a video that supports that point of view. 

 

The President and CEO of SHN will speak at the club at the end of March.  This event will likely include additional Scarborough Clubs.  Danny will send additional information. 

Separately, we (RCNS) are looking for speakers and Danny asked members to suggest speakers. 

 

He also sent out a memo regarding a Membership Committee and a Fundraising Committee. Two members have volunteered to be part of the Fundraising Committee, and we are still looking for participants to join the Membership Committee.

President Danny emphasised that the focus for the remaining five months ought to be fundraising and membership.

 

Lastly, he announced there will be a board meeting on Monday, January 31.

 

 

Speaker:

Topic: Update on Covid

 

- the virus originated in Wuhan, China

- believed to have started in the wet market in Wuhan, China

- jumped from the bat to humans

- suspicions existed that suggested the virus sprung from a local lab in Wuhan, but that theory has been largely rejected

- first reported by Dr. Li Wenliang who later died from complications associated with Covid

- from China, it spread to Thailand and then beyond

- it’s Corona virus (RNA with no DRA) that can anchor itself in a lock and key manner to the human cell

- it’s an aerosol virus

- the virus can undergo mutations

- the faster the virus can reproduce is the faster the virus can mutate

- mutations with spike proteins are of greatest concern

- each mutation is allocated a specific code that represents the nature of the mutation e.g. D614G

 

Current – Omicron:

-  Variants of concern are Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta (prevalent in Canada), and Omicron (prevalent in Canada)

- Omicron spreads very fast and spreads easily

- Covid 19 vaccines (Pfizer BioNTech, Moderna, J & J, AstraZeneca, Sinovac) act differently with some having more efficacy than others

- Omicron is 2.7 to 3.7 times more contagious than the Delta variant and multiplies 70 times faster

- Less severe than Delta with less hospitalization

- Vaccines are less effective against Omicron than Delta, but boosters almost restore vaccine effectiveness

 

Prognosis:

- Omicron is more infectious than earlier variants but less virulent

- incidence will plateau and become an endemic (this may not mean less hospitalization or fewer deaths)

-  our best hope is universal, global vaccination, probably requiring annual repeats

- Finally, throughout the ensuing Q and A, Arthur continually emphasised the importance of getting vaccinated in the face of the current global health challenges

 

Happy that he got sick this week with a chest cold and is not positive; the cold has gone away.

 

Peter Masson:

Completed a battery of tests (had a TIA before Christmas and has a haltered monitor) and is happy it will be all over

 

We’ve all been told to use alcohol on our hands; I hope that drinking it also has been helpful

 

Had a group chat with relatives in England, Canada, and Trinidad with no alcohol and no one had a drink on the call.

 

Happy just to be alive and to be healthy

 

Michael Mushet:

Found the variants and fluctuations of the stock market to be entertaining

 

Tuesday, June 21 is National Aboriginal Day which is close to our anniversary.

Had a conversation with an engineer, and asked him what he was doing.  He said he was practicing aqua thermal treatment of ceramics, aluminum and steel under a constrained environment meaning he was washing dishes in hot water under his wife’s supervision

 

Shared information about a battery starter that can be purchased from Canada Tire.

 

Was at his lab and played around with some chemicals. He combined the Be (beryllium) with the Er (erbium) and was able to produce the product BEER.  Cheers to the elements.

 

Nothing exciting is happening.  Son has advised him to stay at home and his daughter has been taking him for errands. The zoo is offering courses and he has taken a course on animal welfare (San Diego Zoo).  Took it a second time, and with Google’s support scored a 100 %

 

Great weekend at the cottage and had a great time in a winter wonderland.

Nice relaxing quiet time at the cottage.

 

Kaniyanoor Narasimhan:

Was not aware of shingles (the illness) but learned recently that tablets and a vaccine against shingles are available and are effective.

 

Takayuki Kawai (Yuki):

January 26 was his birthday and he thanked the Club for inviting him to the meeting.

 

Courtney Fisher:

Lamented having to shovel the snow last Monday.

 

Adjournment:

Danny thanked everyone for coming out and wished everyone the best.  He left the meeting open in case there were additional questions for Arthur.