It is now time for oral questions and I recognize the leader of Her Majesty's Loyal Opposition. Thanks. Thanks very much, Speaker. Speaker, we're in big trouble here in Ontario. We now have 790 patients in ICUs in our province, 72 new admissions over the last 24 hours, 32 more people have lost their lives to COVID-19 in that time just in this last day. And we know very clearly what to do. I mean, the science table has set out very clear and simple recommendations as to the measures that the government needs to be taking. And of course, one of those key recommendations is paid sick days. So my question to the Deputy Premier, Speaker, is after a year of ignoring this advice to bring paid sick days to Ontario, the advice from the science table and so many others, is the government finally prepared to listen? Government House Leader, your thoughts. Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. As the leader of the opposition will know, of course, we moved very quickly on this a number of months ago with respect to paid sick day. The Premier negotiated a very comprehensive agreement, Mr. Speaker. We were, as I said earlier in this House, I believe it was Monday, we were disappointed that the federal budget did not include some of the enhancements that we had asked for, Mr. Speaker, that we were assured would be in that budget. And given that those enhancements that we had advocated for, Mr. Speaker, we have been very clear that the government of Ontario will be coming forward with additional enhancements in the very, very near future. The supplementary question. Well, Speaker, we'll see what tomorrow brings. But we know what the track record is of this forward government. The two measly sick days that we had in Ontario were cancelled by this forward government, one of the first things they did when they took office. We know that the government of Canada proposed a national program, and here's what our Premier said when that was announced. I don't support it. That's what Doug Ford said, or that's what the Premier said. I don't support it. He also said it's a waste of taxpayers' money to save people's lives with paid sick days. And then he accused folks who have been advocating for paid sick days for some time, including his own science table, that we were trying to confuse people about the need for paid sick days in our province. Speaker, what has changed now that the government finally acknowledges that paid sick days are exactly what Ontario workers need and deserve, when for the last year they've been saying it was the wrong thing? Obviously, Mr. Speaker, just the opposite. That's why the Premier worked so hard to ensure that there was a very comprehensive made in Ontario plan.  The national leader of the NDP, who the leader of the opposition spoke, who's conventionally the leader of the opposition recently spoke to, made a great deal of hay out of the fact that he had negotiated a nationwide sick benefit for all Canadian workers. Look, Mr. Speaker, there have been certain changing circumstances. We've seen that variance of concern are troubling, Mr. Speaker. We're seeing troubling circumstances at our border. As the vaccine supply has not materialized as the way it should have, it's very clear that we need to supplement the original plan that was negotiated by the Premier, given that there's a $700 million surplus in that program. Given the failure of the federal government to move on it, we will be moving on it very quickly. The final supplement. Speaker, entire families are in the ICUs of Ontario, because of this government's inaction when it comes to paid sick days. We can't wait another week for the Premier to dilly-dally around doing the right thing for our workers in this province. We're over a year into this pandemic, Speaker. Workers have lost their lives. Young mothers are in ICUs with COVID-19, getting sick. Children have lost their parents, Speaker. This government can no longer ignore the science. It can no longer come forward with half measures and delays. When will the government bring forward a real, effective, paid sick day program for Ontario's workers? Again, Government House Speaker. Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Obviously, as I've just said, given the failure of the federal government to address the challenges, the obstacles in the current kind of sickness response benefit, the Province of Ontario will be moving to supplement that for Ontario workers. Look, we understand how important essential workers are to the Province of Ontario, Mr. Speaker, and not just the frontline workers in our healthcare system who have been extraordinary heroes throughout this. But, yes, those workers who have kept the supply chain going, Mr. Speaker, when we go to our grocery stores and we see the cash here, is when we go to the grocery stores and are able to buy things, it's because somebody is working somewhere to ensure that we have the ability to do that, Mr. Speaker. That is why we work so hard with the federal government to ensure that there was an original benefit for workers, Mr. Speaker. We thought, we have been explaining to the federal government, even the lack of vaccines and giving the shortage of vaccines, that that had to be supplemented, Mr. Speaker. It's very clear on the measures that we think needed to be taken and the Government of Ontario will move quickly to make sure that that happens. The next question, once again, the Leader of the Opposition. So much, Speaker. My next question is also for the Deputy Premier. Speaker, yesterday I was joined by Dr. Daniel Raza to talk about the need for paid sick days in our province. And he was pleading, like so many others, pleading with the Government for a true paid sick day program where workers don't lose any pay if they stay home sick. Working people don't take paid sick days if they think they're going to lose pay. So it's a matter of acting, but getting it right. My question to this Government is, will they do exactly the right thing and make sure that no worker will lose pay by taking a paid sick day? They will be fully paid when they stay home sick. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Of course, we moved very quickly to protect workers in the province of Ontario with respect to protecting their employment as the COVID-19 pandemic unfolded, Mr. Speaker. We did work very closely with the federal government for a number of months, Mr. Speaker, where the federal government was to handle transfers to people and individuals in the province of Ontario would focus on health, long-term care and education. But as the variants of controls we've seen the challenges that we're facing at the border, as the supply of vaccine failed to materialize in the way it should have been, or the way we were told, Mr. Speaker, and given the failure of the federal government to move on Monday as we were assured they would, it is absolutely correct. We need to ensure that these essential workers who are so important, not only to the economy, but to ensuring that we can get through this pandemic, we need to ensure that they are taken care of, Mr. Speaker, and we will be moving on the exact same things that I mentioned in this House on Monday. Something, actually, a question. Last things, the last thing that sick and dying workers in this province need are empty platitudes from a government. It's too late for any of that. We see what's happening to the workers in this province because the Premier refused to act. What we need is a program for paid sick days that is easy for people to see through, easy for people to take advantage of, where there are no barriers, where there are no requirements for doctors' notes, where there are no application forms required, where there's no waiting for benefits. This is the kind of program that's necessary to actually help workers to stay well. In fact, my colleague from London West, Bill 239, does exactly those things.  Just vote for that, Bill, and we'll be good. Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Again, we will be working very quickly to fill the gaps that the Canada Sickness Response Benefit currently has, Mr. Speaker. We, as I said, we were assured that those gaps would be filled. I too, like I know a number of members, was disappointed to see in the federal government that budget on Monday that that didn't exist. I was even more surprised when they celebrated a $20 billion surplus in their pandemic response, Mr. Speaker. But having said that, the Leader of the Opposition is quite correct. Those essential workers who are working to keep this economy going, but more importantly, to help us get through this pandemic, workers like those at Novel Plastics and the Riding and Markham Unionville, these are people who are working very hard every single day. They're working at more than one job in many circumstances, Mr. Speaker. It is very difficult for them. They had a benefit that was there. It does not go far enough, Mr. Speaker, especially given the fact that we have not been able to vaccinate and supplies of vaccines in as quickly as we were told they would be in February, March, April, and now heading into May, Mr. Speaker. The Government of Ontario is going to move quickly to fill the gaps that the federal government left behind, Mr. Speaker, and that it's coming very shortly. The final supplementary. Speaker, we all know that doctors and nurses and experts, the government's own science table has been pleading with this Ford government for over a year to do the right thing when it comes to working people in this province. The stakes could not be higher as we all know. The ICUs are bursting at the seams. Working frontline healthcare workers are working off their feet. They are stressed. They're fearful going into work every day to see what might be facing them at every shift. The government needs to do the right thing. They need to bring in paid sick days and they need to bring in a program that works for working people. The NDP has a motion today on the order paper that is supposed to be debated.  It calls for paid vaccination time off. Will the government do the right thing? Stop trying to get rid of that NDP opposition day motion. Debate that motion with us and then support us and start working to save workers' lives. Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. I do appreciate the question from the Leader of the Opposition. Look, the Leader of the Opposition himself just refused unanimous consent to have the legislative session today go through until midnight on the order paper. I know she's very upset about this, but on the order paper are two very brief motions which will not take away from the Opposition day timing with respect to night sittings going forward to the end of the session. I think it's very important, Mr. Speaker. With respect to the Opposition day motion on the order paper, I can tell very clearly the Leader of the Opposition we will not be supporting that motion because it is vague. It does not provide enough specifics. And as the Leader of the Opposition just said, we have to provide the people of the province of Ontario, the essential workers in the province of Ontario, who have been working so hard to keep this economy going, but more importantly, to help us get through this pandemic, we need to give them real measures, Mr. Speaker, in light of the fact that the federal budget didn't accomplish that. We will, Mr. Speaker. No half measures, Mr. Speaker. That's why we will not be supporting that motion. And I look forward to the fulsome debate on it this afternoon. Order. Order. The next question, a member for Brampton Senate. Thank you and good morning, Speaker. My question is for the Premier. The science table is clear that non-essential workplaces must be shut down to save lives and save workers from contracting COVID-19. Yesterday, a group of 40 doctors, medical professionals and scientists released an open letter and I'll quote, Ontario is now facing the most challenging health crisis of our time. Our case counts are at all time highs and our hospitals are bucking. Younger people are getting sicker. This disease is ripping through entire families, end quote. But, Speaker, the government is still not listening to these experts. In Peel, Chief Medical Officer Dr. Low had to take steps to protect workers because this government clearly won't. Dr. De Villa in Toronto echoed similar sentiments. Speaker, Dr. Low has said that in the absence of paid sick days, he was left with no other choice. And that's why he issued an order to close any workplaces with outbreaks of five or more cases. Why is the Premier refusing to protect workers in Brampton and Mississauga, like the science table, their own science table is recommending? Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Just to be clear, these are, of course, authorities that the Chief Medical Officer of Health, Peel and Toronto have had throughout this pandemic. These are not new measures. In fact, as I said, they've had these authorities throughout, Mr. Speaker. We have, of course, done a number of measures to address hotspot and essential workplaces, even given the fact that the vaccines have not materialized as we were promised. They would in February, March, April, and now heading into May, Mr. Speaker. We've moved vaccines so that we can go directly into hotspot communities, Mr. Speaker. We've gone into these essential workplaces so that we can ensure that we are getting vaccines to them quicker, Mr. Speaker, because I think, ultimately, that's what the workers in the essential workplaces that I've talked to, they want. They want to be working, Mr. Speaker. And the way that we can ensure that they are working is by getting vaccines in their arms, Mr. Speaker. But in the absence of that, we have to protect those workers. In the absence of federal leadership on this, the province of Ontario will fill the gaps that we were assured would be closed on Monday. They weren't, and we will take action to ensure that they aren't. The supplementary question. Speaker, what workers want in the province of Ontario is paid sick days and actually to be protected by this government, but they continue to ignore those pleas. And the science table has made it abundantly clear yesterday. They wrote, the list of what stays open must be as short as possible, end quote. We know from Dr. Lowe's orders that workplaces in Brampton and the rest of Peel continue to be unsafe. But this government hasn't enforced additional safety measures in any of those workplaces. They haven't provided paid sick days or prioritized workers in these warehouses and workplaces for their vaccine speaker. And as a result of this, people are risking their lives getting COVID-19 and spreading this to their families. This is putting our ICUs in distress. What does this government not understand about this speaker? My question is simple. Has the government calculated the cost of providing paid sick days to workers versus the cost of their inaction and the cost to our healthcare system and economy? Thank you. Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. As I just said, Mr. Speaker, we have made significant movements with respect to ensuring that our essential workers could be safe. That is why the Premier negotiated an initial, the initial Canada sickness response benefit. Mr. Speaker, we were assured that on Monday that that would be supplemented to fill in some of the gaps that we had, especially in light of the fact that the vaccines did not arrive in February, March, April, and now probably heading into May, Mr. Speaker, despite the fact that our international borders were causing us tremendous difficulties, but the member is right. We have to do more to protect essential workers and that's what we are doing. We're transitioning to ensure that essential workplaces are vaccinated. We're ensuring that hotspots are vaccinated. Despite the lack of supply from the federal government, if I'm not mistaken, close to four million Ontarians have received their first vaccination. We're getting the job done. More has to happen. It's unfortunate that that didn't happen in Monday's budget as we were assured it would, but we will move quickly to ensure that all essential workers, Mr. Speaker, who are so important to getting past this pandemic are protected. The next question, the member for Peter Rowe. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We're in the middle of a dangerous third wave of COVID-19, a wave largely caused by variants of concern brought here from other countries. Yesterday, in India alone, more than 300,000 daily new cases were reported and 2,000 deaths, a third of yesterday's global case counts. While it's not yet confirmed by public health authorities, the evidence seems to suggest that the new double mutant variant 1.617 may be more virulent, more transmissible, and may be responsible for India's overwhelming second wave. Mr. Speaker, it's really very simple. We need to close our borders to stop the variants from getting in. Will this government call on the federal government to secure our international borders immediately? Government House Speaker. Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. And the member is right. Let me first say this. We have really enjoyed a wonderful relationship with the people of India, so our hearts go out to them. We understand how difficult this is for them. They have been incredible partners for us, Mr. Speaker. I've heard from a number of my constituents of family back in India who are very concerned, Mr. Speaker, on this. But ultimately... I can't exactly hear what's being said by the opposition, but I would caution you and please stop heckling. Government House Leader, reply. Mr. Speaker, what we're calling on is that the federal government do a better job of securing our borders. This is very, very important, Mr. Speaker. We have seen variants of concern coming from other international jurisdictions into the province of Ontario, into Canada, and the federal government has to do a better job of helping us secure these borders. Hundreds of people are coming in, landing every single day, bringing in more variants of concern, and we have to get a handle on this. So I say very clearly to the Prime Minister, please close down our international borders. A supplementary question. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In the last two weeks, there have been at least 17 flights from India to Toronto with confirmed COVID positive cases. On these 17 flights, more than 260 rows of passengers were deemed as affected by the confirmed cases. Mr. Speaker, this could represent literally thousands of possible exposures. The right thing to do is to secure the borders, and only the federal government can do that. Will this government insist that the federal government act now before it is too late? Yes, Mr. Speaker. Again, it's a very, very good question. It is very important. It is essential, Mr. Speaker, that the Prime Minister heed the words of those provinces that still have international flights coming in. Mr. Speaker, it is time that we get control of the borders, and I'm pleading with the Prime Minister. I'm pleading with the Prime Minister that he take action to secure our borders. These variants of concerns that are coming from international jurisdictions are having a dramatic impact on places like Ontario, British Columbia, Alberta, Quebec, Mr. Speaker, and we have to do all that we can to secure our borders to stop this from happening. And it's not only about importing variants of concerns, it's about exporting it as well. It's about Canadians going to other jurisdictions and people coming to this country, Mr. Speaker. This is an enormous problem in Canada right now, and I am pleading, I am pleading with the Prime Minister to secure our borders so that we can get control of these international variants. We saw what has happened with the Brazilian variant. We saw what happened with the UK variant. We saw what happened with the South African variant, Mr. Speaker. He needs to take control of those borders so that we can get control of this pandemic here in the province of Ontario and across Canada. Thank you. The next question, remember for Algoma Manitoulin. Thank you, Speaker. My question is to the Deputy Premier. This question is about government ethics and priorities. The Premier managed to shock Ontarians once again by planning a political fundraiser with tickets costing $1,000 per person in the middle of a disastrous third wave. This week's fundraiser has now been postponed, but over the last week, the Premier has held a slew of cash for access fundraisers and charging thousands for a chance to meet the Premier. While our hospitals are overrun with COVID patients in ICUs, why is this Premier meeting with donors instead of the doctors and experts who can get us through this crisis? Prime Minister. In fact, Mr. Speaker, that is what not only the Premier, but I would certainly hope all members of this legislature have been doing. Meeting with officials in their ridings, meeting with constituents in their ridings. I know that I have been doing that on a daily basis, Mr. Speaker, and I would hope that all members. In fact, I know that all members have been doing that. This Premier has been working full non-stop since well before the pandemic to put the province on Ontario back on the right track. We inherited a devastating situation where there was out-of-control budgets, whether it was a healthcare system that hadn't received proper investments in over a decade, Mr. Speaker. Long-term care, that was a mess. Transit and transportation systems that were outdated and needed renewal, Mr. Speaker, and this Premier got to work right away. And when the pandemic hit, Mr. Speaker, this Premier moved into action right away. And it wasn't just this Premier. It was all of the colleagues on the side of those. Respond. And to the great credit of all members of this legislature, we all worked together to help defeat this pandemic, Mr. Speaker. There is a light at the end of the tunnel, and if we continue to work together, we will get past this. A supplementary question. Thank you, Speaker. Again, to the Deputy Premier, this question is about the priorities of this Premier and this government. The essential workers this government calls heroes could never afford to afford these exclusive fundraisers. But those are the people the government needs to hear right now. Last Thursday's fundraiser happened at the same time Cabinet was supposed to be meeting to plan a response to COVID crisis. In the middle of an unprecedented crisis, will this government finally focus on the issues that matter to all Ontarians? And that is what we have continued to do, Mr. Speaker, right from the beginning. Now I note that the leader of the opposition actually spoke to the NDP National Convention last week or the week before, and I would have hoped that she would have brought a message to her former caucus colleague and now the leader of the of the NDP in Ottawa, the message that we needed the federal government to live up to its commitment to improve the Canada sickness response benefit. But that's not the message the leader of the official opposition took to a partisan convention, Mr. Speaker. Instead, I will ask her this point blank. Will she call her national leader and suggest to him that he vote against the federal budget, a federal budget that had 20 billion dollars in unspent pandemic response, a federal budget that did not improve the Canada sickness response benefit or the way we were hoping, Mr. Speaker, will the leader of opposition, will all of the members of the NDP stand in their place and ask their response to vote against that federal budget, Mr. Speaker, because it didn't meet the needs of the people of the province. Order. The next question, the member for Cambridge. Mr. Speaker, good morning. My question is for the solicitor general. Last Friday, this government tried to turn Ontario's police forces into its own political enforcement service by stating that officers can now randomly ask pedestrians and motorists for their identification and why they aren't at home. We were then led to believe that the government quote unquote walked back these regulations as a solicitor general publicly stated that the new regulation would add a belief requirement. Unfortunately, Mr. Speaker, upon reading the regulation, there is no belief requirement imposed on an officer and this government didn't walk back anything. In fact, the rewritten regulation is now even worse. Will the solicitor general admit that she didn't properly explain the rewritten regulation and confirm that the new regulation has tossed away one's right to remain silent by compelling them to give the police information and allowed the police to question people based, not on a belief, but on a suspicion that someone is attending an outdoor gathering? To reply, the solicitor general. Thank you, Speaker. You know, as I've said continuously, it is critical for all Ontarians to respect the state home order to prevent people getting COVID. We need to stop the spread. And although the vast majority of Ontarians have respected public health measures put in place, individuals continue to put others at risk by gathering with those outside of their household. Our priority has always been to address and discourage gatherings and crowds that violate the state home order. And we have the potential to do this right and stop the spread of COVID-19. Give our ICU capacity the space they need to protect people across Ontario. Thank you. Thank you. A supplementary question. Mr. Speaker, last year I encouraged the solicitor general to read Bill 195 and now I'm encouraging her to read her own regulations that clearly state reason to suspects and an officer may require an individual to provide information. With those two lines, this government has turned the police into judge and jury and it didn't take long to see the results. Reports appeared from Gravenhurst of a boy being taken to the ground by officers because he failed to identify and because the officer said, you don't talk to an adult like this. Mr. Speaker, if being rude was a crime, at least half of the Ontario PC Party establishment would be in jail. But being rude is not supposed to be a crime in Ontario. Does the solicitor general see that the language in her regulation that says individuals have to provide information and no longer have the right to remain silent can lead to physical clashes between officers and individuals who aren't doing anything wrong like we saw in Gravenhurst. Solicitor general. Thank you. So we have reinforced and refocused Ontario reg 8-21, the enforcement of the COVID-19 measures. If a police officer or other provincial offense officer has reason to suspect that you are participating in an organized public event or social gathering, they may require you to provide information to ensure you are compliant with the restrictions. As I have said repeatedly, this is all about ensuring that people only go out when it is absolutely necessary to ensure that we limit the spread of COVID-19 and protect our intensive care bed capacity. Thank you, Speaker. Thank you. The next question, the member for Peterborough Court. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Just last week, the Medical Officer of Health in my region confirmed that we are the highest percentage of variants of concern in our region. Yesterday, Prime Minister Trudeau was asked by the media why the borders are still open to international jurisdictions with high rates of COVID-19 cases and new and emerging variants of concern. The Prime Minister said the officials would quote, look at what the UK has done, suspending flights from other jurisdictions and what more can be done and should be done to ensure we're not getting cases from overseas. The Prime Minister suggests there's a lot to look into here and that there is a lot to study. Mr. Speaker, while the federal government looks into this, perhaps this government can tell us exactly what needs to be done to ensure that we aren't bringing in variants of concern from outside of Ontario. Prime Minister. I will say to the Honourable gentlemen, it is a very good question, but it is also about us exporting as well. So we will, again, let me reiterate to the people of the province of Ontario and Canadians in general, as much as we have seen an influx and we are seeing daily an influx of other jurisdictions and variants of concern, international variants of concern into the province of Ontario, it is also very important that we do our job not to export COVID to other jurisdictions, Mr. Speaker. Look, we have led the way with respect to the province of Ontario with respecting at international airports. We've asked the federal government to do that. Isolation centres, we asked the federal government to do that, Mr. Speaker. But when you're looking at those variants of concerns, other jurisdictions have moved more quickly to restrict access to their countries, Mr. Speaker. We have to get control of our international airports, in particular, Mr. Speaker, in our border crossings. These variants of concern are very, very troubling. And when combined with the lack of supply that we're seeing on vaccines over the next number of weeks, Mr. Speaker, it is very important and I plead with the prime minister take action on our international borders soon. The supplementary question. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And this is a very serious situation. We have thousands of flights each month, and tens of thousands of people flying into this country, potentially with exposures to COVID-19. At the outset of this pandemic, Canada closed its borders. Other jurisdictions have done the same. We could look to Taiwan, New Zealand, Australia, for example. Mr. Speaker, when will Canada take action? Will this government do everything in its power to call on the federal government to secure our borders and protect Canadians from the dangerous new variants of COVID-19? Again, the government has to do it. Yeah, and again, the member is correct. And look, we hold our hands out to the federal government. We want to work with you on this, the way we did with testing at Pearson Airport. It was, of course, this government that started testing of international travelers at Pearson Airport a number of weeks later, the federal government did help us help out on that, Mr. Speaker. It was this government that led the way on isolation centers for those international travelers who were coming into the country and needed to isolate because they were bringing in those who had brought in COVID, Mr. Speaker. We want to work with the federal government to ensure that our borders are secure. These variants of concerns, these international variants of concerns are causing a dramatic impact on our ability to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic Mr. Speaker. It's not just about those who come here, but it's also about Canadians exporting to other countries. So I plead with the Prime Minister work with us to secure our international borders so that we can put all the necessary resources that we need to into ensuring that the people of Province of Ontario and the people of Canada are safe. The next question to member for Hamilton West and Castro Dundas. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The L9K area in my writing of Hamilton West and Castro Dundas is currently dealing with an alarming outbreak of cases and positivity rates. But because the Premier and the Conservative chose their own political fortunes over the people of Hamilton we still can't get our fair share of vaccines or the extra support we need to keep people safe. So Speaker, my question this morning is to the Deputy Premier. This week we learned the Auditor General is now looking into the PC parties politicization of postal codes. My question, when will you stop playing politics and start listening to the experts who are begging you to do your job and keep people safe? Minister of Health. Thank you, Speaker. And I would say to the member opposite through you, Speaker, that I absolutely disagree with the elements of your statement. The hotspots were identified initially by the science advisory table working with the information that was available through Public Health Ontario. They were then reviewed taking into consideration other elements such as hospitalizations in that area ICU admissions fatalities issues with respect to language socioeconomic factors vaccine hesitancy a number of additional factors were brought into that decision which was then brought before the vaccine task force was accepted by the task force and that is the basis upon which we are doing the vaccinations and making sure that 25 percent from the top of all vaccinations before they're allocated equitably among all of the 34 public health unit regions based on population is making sure that they have those extra vaccines in those hotspots to halt transmission in those areas which will help all of Ontario. I appreciate the answer but I think we'll be interested to see what the auditor general actually has to say about this issue. And Mr. Speaker every day I hear from frontline workers teachers childcare workers grocery store clerks hundreds of people who despite putting their lives on the line every day still can't get a vaccine and Mr. Speaker you will know the science table has been clear they said so again yesterday we need to get more vaccines and more supports into hotspot areas and we need to ensure that those at the highest risk the highest risk of catching COVID are being protected that means vaccinating frontline workers so again my question through you Mr. Speaker and to the deputy premier will you listen to the science table this time or are you going to pretend that you know better since the beginning of this pandemic we have been listening to the advice of the medical experts and taking their advice the entire vaccination rollout plan was designed with the assistance of the medical advisers with a bioethics table to advise that we need to vaccinate based on age and at risk and concentrate in the vaccine hotspots that is exactly what we are doing that is why we have designated the top 25% of vaccines to go to those public health units where they're having particular difficulty and I would specifically mention Peel in Toronto where a lot of the hotspots exist right now but the issue is supply of vaccine we are being supplied with vaccines as the member will know by the federal government we had delays in vaccines through part of February into early March we're receiving more vaccines from Pfizer now the AstraZeneca we will be receiving more Moderna has been laid three times and the supply has been cut in half but I can't advise that as of yesterday we were able to administer 136,353 vaccines so we are thank you very much the next question the member for Ottawa Vanny thank you Mr. Speaker my question is for the Solicitor General last Friday I think we can all say that there was a collective shock and frustration felt across the province over the proposal of sweeping and dangerous police powers so much so that even regional police services spoke out against these enforcement measures then on Monday many essential workers commuting from Gatineau to Ottawa found themselves caught in hours long traffic jams while Ottawa police were stretched in trying to monitor seven crossing points it seems like there was absolutely no coordination or consultation done ahead of Friday's announcement resulting in confusing and frustration for so many people across the province so did the Solicitor General and the government consult with any of our municipalities and regional police services before their announcement of outrageous policing policies to reply the Solicitor General thank you Speaker so as I've mentioned the COVID-19 variants of concern continue to pose a significant threat to Ontario citizens and those variants come to Ontario from other jurisdictions that's why our government issued an emergency order restricting travel into Ontario through land and water crossings from the province of Manitoba and Quebec while continuing to advocate for the federal government to restrict travel from federally regulated aviation you know and I think it's important to note that the province of Quebec has instituted a similar travel ban into their jurisdiction local police services are best positioned to determine the operational deployments necessary to ensure the continued safety within their communities thank you supplementary question thank you Mr. Speaker and again to this minister general Mr. Speaker racialized and low-income Ontarians have already shouldered a disproportionate share of the pandemic's negative impacts the science table gave clear recommendations and advice close all but essential workplaces have paid sick leave vaccinate essential workers allow safe outdoor activities two meters apart and do not further arm racialized and marginalized people so how could the Solicitor General possibly think that increasing police control is what this province needs government house leader in fact there are a number of measures that the province of Ontario has taken to ensure the safety and security of the people of the province of Ontario Mr. Speaker the first thing what I would suggest to the member opposite and I think she would probably agree with me the first thing that we need to do is to ensure that we have a proper supply of vaccines that we can get into the people into the arms of the people of the province of Ontario despite the fact that we've seen reduced shipments in February March April and heading into May we have gotten four million vaccines into people's into people's arms Mr. Speaker but there's still so much more work more work to be done I would ask the member opposite if she could work with us work with us to reach out to the federal government to ensure that we can get some control of our borders work with us so that we can get control of our international board international borders where these international variants of a concern have become so difficult in helping us beat the pandemic here in the province of Ontario and across Canada thank you Mr. Speaker Member for Peterborough Court thank you Mr. Speaker many jurisdictions are struggling with the possibility of more transmissible and more virulent variations of COVID-19 like B117 first discovered in the UK or B1.427 first discovered in California or B11617 that I've already spoken about in the last two weeks we've seen at least 17 international flights with confirmed cases of COVID-19 on those 17 flights we can estimate possibly 2500 passengers are at risk of exposure to the virus Mr. Speaker if the federal government is not willing to secure our borders and ban flights from hot spots what can we do to keep these dangerous new variants from entering the country the government has to thank you very much Mr. Speaker and it really is an important question that the member opposite raises and I can't say it enough we are pleading to the Prime Minister of Canada to do his part help us secure our international borders and ban flights from hot spots it is so important Mr. Speaker Order we are seeing hundreds of flights come into Pearson Airport every single week with hundreds of variants of concern Mr. Speaker this cannot continue we need the help of the federal government to do this it's not enough that we instituted a testing program at Pearson Airport unilaterally the province of Ontario it's not enough that we instituted isolation Mr. Speaker for those travelers with COVID we need the help of the Prime Minister and the federal government only they can stop traveling between response Canada and those jurisdictions with variants of control that are out of control Mr. Speaker please help us and get control of those international borders supplementary question thank you Mr. Speaker I believe the minister is quite right the only way to stop the variants from entering the country country are banning flights from those hot spots countries across the world are tightening their borders you just have to look at Taiwan at New Zealand at Australia and meanwhile Canada is accepting travelers from everywhere on more than 120 international flights in just the last few weeks Mr. Speaker the Prime Minister has acknowledged the effectiveness of border closures earlier last year and he said from the beginning we brought in some of the toughest and most stringent travel restrictions of any of our peer countries around the world Mr. Speaker perhaps the government can shed some light on if these measures were effective a year ago where are they today order that's Mr. Speaker and frankly it is it is shocking to see that the opposition in this place is not supportive of measures that will keep the people the province of Ontario and frankly the people across Canada safe Mr. Speaker it is not just about us protecting our borders from international travelers who bring in these variants of concern whether it was the UK variant whether it was the Brazilian Brazilian variant whether it was the South African variant Mr. Speaker we are in the midst of a third wave that started outside of our borders Mr. Speaker we need to do more to protect our international borders and our international airports I am pleading with the Prime Minister I am pleading with the Prime Minister to help us it is not enough simply to do testing Mr. Speaker it is not enough to do isolation Mr. Speaker we need to control our borders and stop flights from these international hot spots Mr. Speaker if we are to get control so I directly to the Prime Minister of Canada help the people of the province of Ontario close our international borders to hot spots we are very Thank you the next question the member for Ottawa Centre Thanks Speaker my questions to the Minister of Health as many people have already raised this morning Speaker our ICUs are near the breaking point we are getting close to a hundred patients now being treated in our ICUs but despite this fact the government has refused to make public its plans for critical care triage in those ICUs we don't know people with disabilities and their loved ones and advocacy organisations still we don't know what has been negotiated in secret and what actually will happen when those life and death decisions take place but Speaker at home Dr. David Neely Povitz the ICU Director at the Ottawa Hospital told CBC News it would be naive for us to think that triage or changes in the standard of care have not already come about let's think about that yesterday the Minister rose in this house and said there is no clinical triage protocol but we know Speaker that hospitals have received one on January 13th and we also know that a training was done for medical professionals on YouTube on the 23rd of January so Speaker I would ask them the Minister who is very well versed in these issues what instructions have been sent out and drafted to emergency medical technicians or ambulance services or health professionals about who will live and who will die in our ICU's Mr. Brown Thank you very much Speaker and I can certainly advise the member that no triage protocol has been activated or approved by the government of Ontario there have been discussions I understand that there were a number of disability groups that were concerned with respect to a previous draft that was prepared in earlier this year that was then reviewed with the Human Rights Commission there have been a number of discussions about modifications to it but nothing has been activated nothing has been approved by this government what we are doing instead is to create the capacity so that we can care for all the patients that come into our hospital whether they're COVID patients or emergency patients that come in otherwise we have created over 3,100 beds since this pandemic began increased our intensive care capacity by 14 percent we're looking at bringing in other health professionals from other provinces and other countries so that notwithstanding having the creation of those spaces we will also have the health human resources in order to be able to operate them safely carefully and professionally Speaker earlier today I was joined by disability rights leaders for a media conference all of whom are calling upon this government to make public its plans for critical care triage Speaker I know this minister served as patient ombuds person for this province for years and knows full well that every patient physiological neurotypical or not has a right to fair care at the point of service but the minister also should know that hospitals got a critical triage protocol on January 13th that a training has been conducted so I must admit Speaker my extreme frustration that today when our ICUs are nearing capacity we are still hearing there are no plans Speaker let me say very clearly for this House I didn't know at this point not an acceptable answer I was just following orders at this point not an acceptable answer please forgive me to disable patients and their loved ones not an acceptable answer will you make sure that people with disabilities are not discriminated against in the ICUs yes or no Thank you very much speaker the rights of people with disabilities has been one of my strongest passions since I got to this place 15 years ago and I don't need to take any instructions from anybody including the leader of the official opposition about this issue I have always stood up for rights of people with disabilities Opposition come to order Member for Northumberland Peterborough South come to order Minister of Health please reply the rights of people rights of people with disabilities have been one of the issues that we have cared about and dealt with as part of this entire pandemic the rights of people with disabilities are equally as important as the rights of anybody else that is something that I've always stood by that I always will stand by and I can assure the member opposite that no triage protocol has been approved a draft was circulated in January that was not approved by this government it was something that has been discussed but I understand that the rights of people with disabilities have been brought forward I ask them Member for Ottawa Senator come to order Member for Hamilton West Ancestor Dundas come to order The minister please conclude a response I asked that this issue be dealt with with the right people with disabilities groups as well as with the Ontario Human Rights Commission there have been numerous discussions but nothing has been activated yet and I can assure you nothing has been approved at this point we are working to make sure Thank you Thank you The next question the member for Ottawa South Thank you very much Mr. Speaker my questions for the deputy premier yesterday the COVID science table released a roadmap of what Ontario needs to do to get a third wave under control and to help us safely reopen the report highlights all the public health measures the science table has been asking for for months and what the government has failed to implement reduce the list of essential workplaces reinstate paid sick days prioritize vaccinating essential workers and hotspot neighbourhoods encourage people to get outdoors and have activity not carting shuttering playgrounds or $1,000 ticket fundraisers Speaker it's a roadmap it's a prescription for success so through you will the premier stop ignoring the science and take the advice of the COVID-19 science table so we can end this third wave nightmare Minister of Health Thank you Speaker since the onset of this pandemic our government has relied on the advice and recommendations of our chief medical officer of health to inform our response we have also been advised by a number of independent groups and organizations including the Ontario COVID-19 science advisory table they have provided us with critical data with modeling and with feedback which has been continuously incorporated into our plans to fight this pandemic one key difference between wave one and wave three of this pandemic is the increased mobility of people this compared paired with the contagious variants has created the the response and one of the greatest determinants of spread is how much people move around the reducing the mobility is something that has been recommended by the science table that is we what we have brought into our plan and we've learned from other jurisdictions such as Australia that limitations responsibility work to control the pandemic that's what we are working on that's what the plan is going forward and that we have relied upon including from the scientific advisors on the science advisory table the supplementary question because throughout this pandemic the Premier has been slow to act and quick to lay blame today there are 790 people in ICUs most of them are essential workers this government took away two paid sick days in 2018 imagine if those two paid sick days had been here for Ontarians at the beginning of this pandemic they need more but imagine less sickness less hospitalizations less longer effects of long-term effects of COVID fewer people dying science table has been asking for it for months just about everybody in Ontario it is incredible to me this government hasn't moved and now they're saying we're going to fill the gap a gap they created and until yesterday refused to acknowledge refused incredible and now they're going to pat themselves on the back like they do every time they come in late so Speaker through you will the Premier take the advice of the COVID-19 science table and reinstate paid sick days in Ontario today Government House Leader Mr Speaker I certainly won't take the advice of the member opposite and reinstate two paid sick days that the Liberals are advocating for obviously not Mr Speaker we've said right from the beginning when the NDP were asking for 14 and now the Liberals are asking for two we said that we had to have 20 paid sick days for the people of the province of Ontario that's what we fought for Mr Speaker and that's what we got we know that the federal government has been responsible for transfers to people while the province is focused on health long-term care and education Mr Speaker we were given assurances that that would be changing on Monday when it didn't happen Mr Speaker we have been very clear we will move quickly to ensure that essential workers are taken care of but what this member could have done as he sat in the government for 15 years is ensure that Ontario didn't have the lowest ICU capacity per capita in America Mr Speaker he could have built more than 400 long-term care beds Mr Speaker he could have made sure that we had the health and human resources that are needed for long-term care beds he could have stopped cutting healthcare Mr Speaker he could have stopped attacking education he could have done more on transit and transportation orders next question member for London Fanshawe Mr Speaker my question is to Deputy Premier and Minister of Health Speaker this government's choice to put politics over people and their safety is putting lives at risk in London plain and simple London's N6A postal code is dealing with one of the biggest COVID outbreaks in the province right now but instead of stepping up with the help we need the government is ignoring their own science table and refusing to declare us as a hotspot denying London's essential life-saving supports Speaker my question through you to the Minister of Health why are you choosing to ignore the advice of health experts when you know doing so as putting Londoners lives at risk Minister Teller thank you in fact we have been informed by the medical experts about the initial designation of the 114 hot spots that is why and we are prioritizing those hotspots to receive extra doses of vaccines 25% off the top because we know that if we can get the transmission in the hotspots under control get more people vaccinated that's for the benefit of people across the province now we know that there are other hotspots that are currently being declared we are distributing extra doses as well from the allocations that are coming forward we know that the original hotspots aren't always going to be the only hotspots so there are other ones coming forward and we are prioritizing those areas and giving them extra allocations of vaccines as well as we will do with London Speaker the Middlesex unit health units Dr Mackie just said this week that or excuse me over the weekend that our vaccines are being cut by 25% to fund some GTA hotspots and he also said but our rates here in London and Middlesex have actually caught up so we are a hotspot we're just not recognized so to make matters worth on top of refusing to declare us as a hotspot the Conservatives are now actually scaling down the amount of that vaccines that Londoners will get that decision just isn't reckless Speaker it's heartless and it goes against every piece of advice doctors and scientists have been giving this government for months Speaker again through you to the minister every day you wait to act means more Londoners in ICU more stress on our hospitals and families and even potentials more lives are lost will you reverse this decision and finally ensure that London hotspots get the support they so desperately need Mr. Health thank you very much Speaker well an actual fact the change in the allocation of vaccine doses was recommended by experts at the science advisory table doing some modeling to determine what that would mean in terms of reduction in hospitalizations in ICU admissions and in preventing deaths that is why we have made that change that is what the medical experts have advised us to do because that will have benefit not just for the people in those hotspots and those areas it will benefit the entire province because it will stop the spread from those hotspots which we know is going into other areas of the province this is we've been advised by the medical experts that this is the best way to reduce transmission and to reduce the hospital numbers overall Member for Scarborough Gilbert thank you speaker my question is to the deputy premier you know last week when you announced that 25% more vaccines would go to hotspots I really was excited about that I thought finally Scarborough is going to get the help that it needs but instead the opposite has happened Scarborough has received nothing in fact not only has the two hospital clinics closed canceling 10,000 appointments today three additional community health center clinics like Tai Buu and the SHSC the Scarborough Center for Healthy Communities has also closed so the people of Scarborough when they thought they were getting the help and the support from this government that they need to save lives are not receiving that they are not receiving those vaccines those resources are now sitting idle so my question to the deputy premier will you give Scarborough the priority vaccines that it needs instead of letting its resources sit idle Minister of Health thank you speaker well the answer is yes we are giving Scarborough the priority resources it needs it depends on when the supply comes in when the supply comes in then we have the resources to be able to do that we expect the Pfizer vaccines to come in we know the Moderna vaccines are coming in very shortly and as well we will be receiving more AstraZeneca but what is happening there's two different situations happening here one with respect to those clinics is there's the allocation that is granted to the Toronto Public Health Unit Toronto Public Health Unit then distributes the vaccines among the providers that are coming forward when the providers run out of vaccines that is they can ask the Toronto Public Health Unit for more resources but that is the allocation that they've received the 25% is going to be a granted to particularly in Scarborough because Scarborough has 15 of the hot spots but I can also advise that just due to a response agreement that was made with Shoppers Drug Mart they are going to be operating 24-7 in pharmacies in 20 locations across the province of Ontario five of which are going to be in Scarborough so Scarborough is going to be receiving extra vaccines and extra times and extra locations for a receipt of that thank you that concludes our question period for this morning there being no further business this House stands in recess until 3pm


The study found that women with low perceived comparative risk had a decreased chance to participate in mammography screening annually compared to those with high perceived comparative risk. Additionally, the study found that overestimation and accurate estimation of comparative risk tended to be associated with a decreased chance of MS attendance. Educational level, occupation status, and family history were determined as factors that decreased the chance of women having MS. This article was authored by Sayonara A., Yusina Vieira Alves, and Mathias Weller.


Okay. All right. Good morning, everyone. Welcome to 30-minute training session with Adiwali Isuf. Today, I'll be giving you some tips on some Excel functions that you really need to change the way you work.  So I'll not spend much time adjusting Excel functions. We just look at different scenarios of how you can use all these functions that we've mentioned. So these are the functions I listed on my screen. The first one for me is text before and after, then the text split, the sequence, choose calls, vstack, each tag, to calls plus to row, take, drop, and filter. So for me, these functions are amazing, and I feel it's something I should share with you all, since I find them amazing while using them. So I'll start with text before or test after. So let's say, for example, in Excel, you have this kind of DETI test right here. This is not really DETI, just that they squash things together. This is names, star ID, and department, and you want them to just extract some kind of test from this thing. What most of us use in Excel, then is whether you use a text to column or use a function in Excel called left. Even when you use left, one of the problem of left is when I use left here, I want to use left to extract. I need to specify number of characters. Now, you need to now combine another formula. Maybe you combine a find formula, or you combine a search formula to be able to get the names that you need. If I combine a search formula now, I can see I want to search for where there is comma, and then that is when this test should stop, because if I don't specify that I want to drag down, it's not really going to be easy for this formula to identify where I want to stop. So if I do this, I'll be able to extract the name, but with the help of text before or test after, it makes things easier for you. So instead of doing that, all the way of doing things, I can just see equals to text before. On test before, you just ask him for some few arguments. I want to extract this text. What is the delimiter? Text before which delimiter? So the delimiter I want to extract is before comma. Before comma, and I can select an instances. So which instance do I want to select it? I can put a match mode. I can even put even offense. So what should I do? But I can stop here. So what this is doing is I'm extracting a text before comma. So you can see this is very fast compared to you doing left, or you even doing text to column. Same thing for department. If I want to extract this department from here right now, I'm going to combine three or four formulas to be able to extract L and G. If I want to use formula, I may probably use right, learn and also find or search. Those three formulas to be able to extract L and G alone. Or I should just use FlashFuel or test to column. But sometimes people really want to use formulas. They don't want to use FlashFuel because it's just the two and it will not change when the data set updates. So you can use test after here as well in this scenario. So you just come to your test after, you select whatever you want to do. I'll say I want this, right? And then after which the limiter is comma. So if you look at this test where you see I have name comma, I have star ID comma, then I have L and D. So this L and D is like the second instance of my comma because I have one comma here, I have another comma here. So what I'm going to specify my instance number right now is going to be two. Because I'm saying that I want the test after the second comma. So when I close my bracket and I do enter, then you're going to see L and D. Consider that kind of fast. I'm using only one formula. If I want to achieve this in the old way, using formula, I'm going to combine three. Formula to be able to do the same thing, all right? So that is the first formulas I want to share with you which is kind of interesting. So another one is called test splits, right? Which I find very, very interesting. So imagine you want to split the data and just split it right there with a formula. I don't need to use a test to column or anything. I don't need to use formula one by one. If I want to achieve these three things, that means I have to use left here, I have to use mid here and I have to use right here, right? But even all these formulas I put here, I see I have to combine some things with them so that they can work effectively. Like left now I have to combine find, mid I have to combine learn, I have to combine search, right I have to combine learn and search. So it's kind of very tasky. But with this one single formula, I can just split everything right there by using a function called text split in Excel, right? This is it here, text split. And what are the argument of text split? What text do you want to split this text? And what is the delimiter? I'm going to pull my delimiter is comma, right? And you have a root delimiter, I don't have that ignore empty, match modern, whatever, do I want to pad it with something? So that's another thing that I can kind of think of. So if I do this, I can just hit enter. And you see immediately I kind of split the entire text into three using the dynamic array, which kind of makes something this very, very interesting. And when I drag it down, just look at this. When I drag this down, you're going to split it for everything as well, right? So text split is kind of interesting. When you're working with text in Excel, it's something you should try. Another interesting formula that I see that I like using a lot is sequence, right? A lot of people don't use the sequence, right? I think you should start using it because I have so many things you can achieve with this. Just see, let's say for example, we want to create a random serial number, right? I can use a sequence and say equals to sequence, just very basic. And I want you to create a random rule, right? Now I'm using rule. How many rows do you want to create row, right? I want you to create serial number for 10 rows, right? Now it's going to give me serial number for 10. It kind of makes sense. Another instance of how you can use sequences, you can say, okay, maybe I want you to create a serial number based on whatever I type in this, under this name, whatever I type here, that is when you should create a serial number. So I can do equals to sequence of this sequence again. And I will say canter of, I'll just combine canter with this and say canter whatever is inside here, right? And anytime I type, it kind of create a serial number for me automatically. So you see this is showing crack right now because there's nothing here. So if I put Wally here, so I have serial number one, that is one. I put Pellume here. So this is creating the serial number automatically. I put Musin, I put Philip here. And as I'm typing, it's generating a serial number automatically, which kind of makes sense, right? Another instance where you can use a serial number is you can use it to generate a random number or you can use it to generate a random date. So if I say equals to sequence right now and I want to generate a number of rows, I can see, okay, I want to generate 10 serial number in a row. Then I want to create it for a column. No, I don't want to do for column, but you can as well do for column. Let me even show you example of a column. If I do two columns now, right? I want you to generate a 10 serial number within two columns. Look at how it's going to generate it. This is one, two, three, four. So just generating those numbers are cutting to the 10 rows in two columns, right? But that is not what I want. So I'm going to step the row. So I want to generate a random number and I want the random number to start from 50, right? Start from 50 and I want to step that 50 by five, right? Which means you'll be adding an additional five, I can even say 10, should add an additional 10. It should just keep on switching the 50 by 10. So if I close the bracket and I enter right now, you can see I have 50, 60, 70, 80, 90. So I'm stepping this 50 by 10. So I create a sequence of 10 numbers and those 10 numbers, I start from 50 and I'm stepping it by 10. I can do the same thing for dates. Let's say for example, I want to create a random date that change based on seven days in a week, right? So I can say equals to sequence, right? Give me a 10 row of data, right? I'm not doing anything in column. Then start from dates. I'm going to specify and use a date formula, right? Start from 2023, month is maybe January. So I'll just put one here and days one as well. So then I want you to step this by seven, which is every seven, seven days. So it's returned the date by seven days. So if I hit enter right now, okay, this is not formatted. So let me just format it. Yep. So if you look at this date now, you can see that it is stepping it by seven, seven days because you have one here, then you have eight here, then you have 15 here, then you have 22, 29. So it's stepping it by seven, seven days. So sequence is kind of interesting. If you are not using it before in Excel, I think you should start using it, right? So moving on to the next top four. So the four for me is the choose column. Choose column is kind of very interesting in Excel because I found out this choose column, I think some couple of weeks ago, and I was very, very amazed by what this guy can do because one of the problem people have when using filter in Excel, the people that are used to using filter or those that use filter very well, one of the problem we have in Excel when using filter is you want to choose columns, right? When you're using the filter function. But what some of us now do is that we now combine sequence with filter to be able to select some appropriate columns that we need and all that. And the formula kind of look very, very big, but we choose columns. We can do a lot of things very easier because just allow you to choose columns. Let's say for example, these tables I have to the right, right? I have name and I have department and I have gross allow, right? But the columns I really need here is name and then gross allow. I don't need this department column. I just want to choose name and gross allow, right? So I'm going to use my choose column measure, I would say equals to choose columns, right? And I'm going to choose, I'm going to highlight the entire table, which is this table. And then I'm going to put comma here. So, and I'm going to choose the columns that I want. So I want to reach out the columns. I want column one. Then I also want really comma again and I want column three. So I want one and three. So I'm choosing column one and three. Once I hit enter, you see that the dynamic array we speed this and it's only choosing column one and three. Right? It's leaving the department column out. Imagine me using this with filter. It's to be very, very interesting. There's also choose rows as well. So you may as well want to choose rows. There's a formula called choose rows as well. You want to choose, okay, I want to choose this row and this row and this row and this row. So, but for that, I will know it's not part of my top 10. So the next formula I found very interesting is VStack. I was so happy when this VStack came out because a lot of people in Excel don't know how to use a part query, right? They just want to do some manipulations right there in the Excel, right? They want to do some consolidation right there in Excel. Although we have a tool in Excel called Consolidate, but the tool is kind of very old. I'm not sure a lot of people even use it.  Your Consolidate is up here beside, I think in my years of experience, I only use this Consolidate once or twice and it's even during the par excellence training, right? So people use a part query now to Consolidate stuff. But with VStack in Excel, you may want to dynamically Consolidate some tables so that you can use it in your report. Imagine even use VStack plus two columns and filter inside the same expression. It's going to be very, very amazing, right? So let's say, for example, I have these two tables to the right here. I have the tables that give me the names of all staff and their departments and I have their go salary. Maybe this is for January and I have another table here that has the same names of staff, departments and go salary and this is for February. And I want to kind of Consolidate these two tables in June one, because I don't want to stress myself now doing the Consolidate one by one. What most people do, especially people that don't know Excel is they copy, they paste on that, they copy, they paste on that. So with VStack, you can kind of Consolidate the table together without stress. So I can call me and say equals to VStack. VStack here and VStack is asking for arrays which array did you want to Consolidate, right? So I'm going to go to my array or come here. I'll say I want to Consolidate this guy, right? That's the first array comma and then this is the second array. I want to VStack these two array. Then I'm going to close my bracket and it enter. Once I do that, you see that it has Consolidated the arrays for me. Now I have one single table. I have one single table, which is very interesting. Another example I can use for VStack is, let's say for example, you have a table like this. I have a sheet that has different tables. So this is people that has this January, February, March, different tables, right? This is just a lot of people, right? But it's in different sheets, right? And in different table. You can even be here to 11, 12, 12 and all that. And I want to Consolidate all these tables into one Consolidate file without using Park really. I just want to Consolidate them here. So I can kind of Consolidate it by selecting the array one by one, the way I did in the first example. But I can also name the array, right? For those that are used to naming in Excel. When you name the array like this, right? I'm just going to highlight it and you go to your name box here and you name it. So I have these array names as Chan. So what I'm using my VStack is kind of very easy. So I can come to here and say equals to VStack. I just want to Consolidate January to December and I will type Chan then comma Feb. These are the things I'm Consolidating March, April, May, June, July, July, then August and then September and October and then December. So by doing this, I have put all of these 12 sheets, right? Inside one single sheet, right? I've Consolidated it and when I hit Enter now, it's going to Consolidate everything, which is from January up to December. If I scroll down now, you will see this as January data, February, April, so everything is kind of here. So imagine me, you also want to do a report and I want to use this VStack as an anchor inside my account. So that's an example of how you can use VStack. Now, I also have HStack as well. HStack is kind of similar to VStack. So VStack is Vertical Stack and this is Horizontal Stack. So let's say I have something like this that I want to work on. I have months like this, I have a list of my month and I want to split this month into 2011 and then to do that, I want to split this month and I want to split this month into 2011 and then 2012 and I have a table right here that I have the year and the amount, right? So instead of me using pivot table or whatever, I can dynamically use the HStack here to do this. I'll just say HStack of what is my first array. My first array is the 2011 array. I will stop here in the input comma and start from the 2012, that's the second array, which is the number that I want to pull. All right, that's my second array and I'm going to close my bracket. So once I do this, it's going to spew the 2011 and the 2012 into two different columns, right? Which is interesting for each stack. So that's an example of another interesting formulas that I have, this is my top six. Now for top seven, top seven is kind of interesting for me because it just kind of make cleaning easier in Excel and working with text easier in Excel. So this is called to call and to row. So imagine you want to put all these list of names into a column. So I have different departments, right? I have the operation department, these are the people in operation. I have the sales department, these are the people in sales. I have the marketing department. So this three department are kind of one department. This is like staff names of everybody in D-Brow. Now I want to call, so you did this three guys. So instead of me doing copy and paste, I just copy this, paste it on that, copy this, paste it on that. What if I have like 15 or 16 things like that? Copy and paste may not really work well for me. So I can just do a formula called to column, right? I'm putting everything into a column. So that's called to call. So once I do to call, I will highlight the names, right? Which is the names of all the things I want to put into a columns, right? Then I'm going to hit enter. Once I do that, to put everything inside one column, when you scroll down now, you will see I have everything but I see I have the 000 here. So this zero here is just some blanks that I have here. So I can actually do that in the formula as well. Inside the formula, when you put a command, it will tell you, do you want to ignore something? That is the ignore arguments. Do you want to keep all value default? Do you want to ignore blanks? Do you want to ignore errors? Do you want to ignore blank and error? So I will pick three instead to say ignore all blanks and error. So when I close my bracket and enter to give me the list and right now I don't have all those zeros again. So I just have the list of all the stuff right here. Which makes a lot of sense. Now, the example of the second formula, which is to row is maybe probably I want to convert columns to rows. So look at this department. Let's say this department, for example, I want to change it into a row, right? That's something like I want to transpose it in Excel. So I can do equals to row equals to two row and I'm going to select my arrays. So I want to put this department into rows. Once I close my bracket and I hit enter, then it goes to split this into rows. Look at that. Going to split this into rows, which is kind of amazing. So when you're building reporting Excel, things, it's make things easier. Now my top eight, right? Is take. Take is kind of very interesting too. I like that. I've been trying to think of how I can get a use case for this time. When do I use a take, right? So let's say I have a list of tables somewhere and then I want to do like something like a pool to take only the top five first or to take only the top 10 first or to take only the first five. So that is what take does. So you have a list of tables. You have a list of rows inside your table and you want take to just take maybe five out of it or take the first 10 out of it or take the first 20 out of it. So you can kind of use that to kind of minimize kind of details that you have as well. Maybe do a top five. So I can say equals to take, right? And what do I want to take? I want to take, this is the array, right? I'm going to select the array and put a comma. So what do I want to take? I want to take the rows, not columns, right? I can kind of take columns as well. So I want to take rows and I want to take top five, right? Once I close my bracket and I hit enter, you see? It takes only the first five for me. Takes only the first five. Kind of makes sense. Can do top 10, can do top two. Just take the two and all that. Another reverse of this formula is something called drop which is the top nine for me. So drop also makes sense. Drop also just means that out of these columns, right? It's just the reverse of this one. Out of this table, which one do you want to drop? I can say I want to drop the first 10. Just remove the first 10 and give me the remaining one. I can say I want to drop the first 11 and give me the remaining one. So it depends on you, right? Or whatever you want to drop. So if I want to give an example of that, I'll just say equals to drop. Drop and I'm going to select my array which is this table up here. This table here and I'll put a comma and say what am I dropping? I'm dropping the first 10 row. So give me whatever remains. So you can see I've dropped the first 10 row and give me the remaining one which is just four rows inside my table. So this formula dynamically formalize. Amazing, that's my top nine. Now my top 10 is the filter functions, right? A lot of people have been using filter functions but for me, I just love using the filter functions, right? So I think it should be part of my top 10. Even if I have so many formulas, I just limit it into 10. Now for people that need to filter functions, filter functions in Excel kind of help you to filter a table or create some dynamic report in Excel without the need of using people table and maybe some other formulas in Excel. So let's say I have these tables right here. These tables have the list of names, the staff code, the department and glossary. And I want to do a filter that filtered this by department and also filtered it by maybe when salary is less than or greater than something. So I can do a simple filter here and say equals to filter, right? What is my array? This is my array. The table called table one is my array. Now what do I want to include inside this filter? So I want to include department when department is equals to maybe whatever I type up here. So look at this department here. And the department is equals to this. I'm going to close my bracket and then if I even close my bracket, if I put a comma there's an if empty. What if I cannot find any department you put here? Then I can put a condition that say just put not found right here, right? And I hit enter. So these filters only show me the department that are here. If I put L and D, right here, L and D, filter only showing me department related to L and D. Let me put operation and let's see if operation is found. So you can see there's no department of operation so it's showing not found, right? Which makes sense. So let me type marketing back right here. Now I can have another condition that says only show me the marketing when the salary is greater than one million. And if you look at this marketing here, there's only one person that has salary of one million, right? So there's only two people have salary of like three million or two. Let's say I want to see the people that their salary is above one million or above two million. Then I only see these two people. Then I'm going to have made my formula. So inside my formula, I can say look at this. I can have two conditions. So one of the issues that people have is in Pabii, I said in Pabii, sorry, in Excel, the include argument is only showing one. So where will I add the second arguments that says when the salary is greater than one million, right? So there's a trick to do that. And how to do that is you put the first argument into a bracket, that's the first trick. You put the first argument into a bracket and you put multiplication sign to say, usually in Excel, it's supposed to be unsigned or maybe all signed, right? But future functions kind of work well when you put the multiplication sign. And you put the second argument into a bracket as well. Into a bracket. So I'm going to say when salary, so now select the salary column. When salary is greater than, maybe greater than whatever I type here, right? We turn that whatever I type here. That is my second argument right here. So I put those two into a bracket and I'm going to put comma and say not found as well in case you didn't find anything that is close to that. So close my bracket and just let's it enter. Okay, so I think I'm missing a bracket here. So table, okay, department. So my department is equals to this. But my department is equals to this multiplied by when gross salary is greater than whatever I put here. So if I come here and I type two million right now, I'm sure it's going to fit right into only three, only two. So you see, it's only two. Let me type L and D department. Did L and D departments have anybody that had any salary of above two million? Yes, it's only one person, right? What of above one million? So there are two people that hand above one million. So what of another department like sales? Do they have anybody above one million? Yes, so that is me just using few tasks to just check different things. I can check admin department. How is admin department doing? Do they have anybody above two million? Not found. There's nobody that hands above two million there in the admin department. So this is me just kind of doing a short report with filter function. Now let's try and see how we can combine filter functions and then choose call together. So let's say for example, I just want to return only the name and gross salary. I don't want to return everything. I don't want to put name, staff ID, department and then gross salary. I really want to do a filter for name and gross salary. So my formula is going to be very similar to what I have up here, right? But I'm just going to add choose call to it. So here I'm going to say equals to filter. Equals to filter. I want you to choose call, right? Choose column. What array do you want to work with? This is my array here. So I'll select this table, right? This table is my array. And then right here, I'm going to put the comma and I'll say, which column did you want to pick? So I want to pick column name and the gross salary. That's column one and column four. So I'll put one comma four, one comma four. And I'll close my choose call a bracket. So that's my array, right? Then I'm going to do a comma and say when my department, when department is equals to whatever I type of there. So when department is equals to whatever I put here, which is add me, right? I'm going to close my bracket and it enter. Now look at this. So this is only showing me names and gross salary now with the app of choose call. Because I've choose columns that I need. And I said I only need two columns. Try it. Now the people in the department that I selected up here excel here who are already familiar. So if I put another department here, marketing, marketing then you see the people here in marketing. These are just a deli key, something and then give me like a share gone, right? So this is my top 10 except formulas I feel that you shared with you.


Accumulating evidence suggests that psilocybin, the primary psychedelic compound found in so-called magic mushrooms, can be used to safely treat a range of psychiatric conditions. Prior studies have shown that just one or two doses of psilocybin can have a rapid and lasting positive impact on mental health, but the associated brain mechanisms aren't well understood. Now, researchers based in the United Kingdom have used functional magnetic resonance imaging to map the brain activity of 19 patients with treatment-resistant major depression who were given psilocybin. The results shed light on how the compound changes human brain function. The patients were dozed with the drug as part of an open-label clinical trial. Before and one day after treatment, the researchers used fMRI to look at cerebral blood flow and brain functional connectivity, a measure of how different regions of the brain interact. The imaging findings were compared against the patient's depressive symptoms, assessed using a self-reported questionnaire. The results showed that psilocybin produced rapid and sustained antidepressant effects. At one day after treatment, the group's mean depression score was roughly half that measured the day before. By five weeks post-treatment, all but one patient showed some decrease in depressive symptoms. On imaging, the researchers observed a link between decreased blood flow to the amygdala, an area that processes emotions such as fear and anxiety, and reductions in depressive mood. Intriguingly, the data on functional connectivity suggested that psilocybin seems to reset a portion of the brain known as the default mode network, which helps assimilate autobiographical information, thoughts of others, and considerations of the past and future. The drug essentially disintegrated and then reintegrated the network, analogous to a rebooting effect. This effect also appeared to predict treatment response five weeks later. By examining how changes in brain activity that occur just one day after the use of psilocybin can promote lasting improvements in depression symptoms, the study fills an important knowledge gap regarding the longer-term effects of psychedelics. Perhaps more importantly, the work may reveal new treatment strategies for mental illness.


Good morning everyone, welcome to OpenShift Commons and our first hybrid Commons. So hopefully appreciate you will bear with us a little bit. We were just trying to troubleshoot some things. There are a lot of people online. It seems like things are working well in Hoppin. We want to be able to hear that too because we have a couple of times today that we'll actually be able to watch some things virtually. We've got a group in Paris that is joining us. We have some presenters remotely. So hopefully may the demo gods be in our favor and we'll go with that. So by way of introductions, my name is Stu Miniman. I joined Red Hat actually one year ago today. So I was really excited to be able to be here because one of the things that drew me to Red Hat because I've been in this community, I've been at KubeCon for a number of years is community and that is at the core what OpenShift Commons is. Those of you that have watched this before, Diane Mueller actually is in Hoppin right now. She's based in Vancouver so unfortunately she can't join us but she is here with us virtually through Hoppin as well as if you saw there's a poster and a video that we'll show a little bit later to show that Diane is here with us even when she's not here physically. So I just have a couple of quick slides and then we're going to you know hop right into the agenda and thank you again for joining. So for anyone that is new to OpenShift Commons, this is really it's a new community model. Something that I have really believed in for more than a decade is one of the best ways to learn things is learning with and from your peers and that's what this community broadly at KubeCon and CloudNativeCon and specifically OpenShift Commons really does focus on. So how do we do that? We do that through peer-to-peer interactions. As you'll see we've got practitioners and some of the technology providers in the space sharing what they're doing, not a sales pitch. Some of the partners here have been nice enough to bring some swag and some knowledge to be able to help facilitate things. So I do encourage you towards the end of the day we do have some lightning round pieces and some time to be able to interact with some of the partners that are here and if you didn't catch on the way in there's a table back there there's little mini ring lights there's antibacterial things as well as some cable organizing pouches so feel free to grab all that stuff on the way. So it's open open source open communities open collaboration making those connections so hopefully you will make the most of this today as well as this week and do get to know some of the people here in the community. So we do OpenShift Commons throughout the year. There is not only what we do at KubeCon at Red Hut Summit we have activity as well as we have a number of online events so if you haven't already go to the website and sign up it is free to participate it is mostly as I said by the users for the users to be able to do things so there's roadmaps there's educational sessions if there's something that you'd like to be part of Commons please do let us know I tell you I think the hop and sound is actually working because I feel like I'm getting a little bit of feedback but hopefully that's okay


The most intriguing advancements brought by deep learning and neural networks is in the field of computer vision We associate any problem that has an image or camera input to encompass problems within computer vision Self-driving cars, FMR analysis, Mars exploration rovers, facial recognition systems, object detection and augmented reality are just a few breakthroughs in the field In this video, we will take a look at a new type of neural network architecture called Mast region-based convolutional neural networks Mast RCNN for short and in the process highlights some key sub problems in computer vision as well Mast RCNN works towards the problem of instant segmentation the process of detecting and delineating each distinct object of interest in an image


The Covid-19 pandemic is a global concern caused by the 7th coronavirus to cause pneumonia in humans, SARS-CoV-2, which has spread rapidly and may have many asymptomatic carriers. Vaccines against SARS-CoV-2 are crucial for preventing Covid-19. This article was authored by Saith Ezekuri, Jalal Nulil, Sumaya Benjalal and others.