Winnipeg Free Press | Newsletter
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A roundup of COVID-19 developments for Monday June 22, 2020
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In a St. James strip mall, you’ll find a Safeway Canada grocery store and a Service Canada location that are practically neighbours.
One is open and has been open throughout the pandemic. The other is closed and has been closed for most of the pandemic.
One is home to those the prime minister has called heroes deserving of extra pay for keeping shelves stocked and cash registers ringing. The other is home to staff who have been, well, working from home.
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I mention the difference between the service Safeway Canada has provided and the service you can no longer get in person from Service Canada because Ottawa is now gearing up to have roughly 250,000 federal public servants eventually return to their workplaces. But the federal preparations — which include a 30-page guidebook — still include a big chunk of remote work, and that likely means Service Canada won’t be in service anytime soon for those who want to access a myriad of federal services from employment insurance to pension benefits to passports.
I get that Ottawa had to quickly pivot when COVID-19 hit. I understand it needed to protect employees on the front-lines, but as much as the federal government can pat itself on the back for its response to this unprecedented threat, it seems odd the federal bureaucracy is still reluctant to interact with Canadians face-to-face at its Service Canada centres. Even if it is behind plastic screens or masks.
Sure, the stats show that federal employees haven’t been immune to the coronavirus as 409 civil servants have tested positive. Of those diagnosed with COVID-19, half were in Quebec and 74 in the National Capital Region.
But that shouldn’t mean that Service Canada locations outside those viral hotspots have to be closed, too.
Today, Treasury Board President Jean-Yves Duclos, who oversees the federal bureaucracy, had high praise for how speedy and nimble the civil service has been through the pandemic. However, he might have wanted to check out the Safeway next to his Crestview Service Canada location before he made that claim.
— Paul Samyn, Winnipeg Free Press editor
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THE LATEST NUMBERS
Note: Manitoba and Canada figures may not match due to differences in data sources.
THE LATEST IN MANITOBA
• The province announced one new case of COVID-19: a male truck driver in his 40s from the Southern Health region. The total number of COVID-19 cases in Manitoba now stands at 314. There are 14 active cases. None are hospitilized.
• Manitoba is planning to reopen nursing homes to visitors. Health Minister Cameron Friesen says a limited number of visitors will be able to go inside nursing homes starting Tuesday but they must be screened and wear masks. Education Minister Kelvin Goertzen also announced on social media that students will head back to class on Sept. 8 — the normal start time for the school year.
• Manitoba’s chief provincial public health officer Dr. Brent Roussin is cautioning against reading too much into the fact no cases of COVID-19 have yet been linked to the Justice 4 Black Lives Winnipeg rally held June 5. An estimated 15,000 people participated. With the two-week incubation period now past, it appears the large event did not create a new cluster of cases.
THE LATEST ELSEWHERE
• Canada’s top central banker says there will be long-term economic damage from the COVID-19 pandemic as the country charts a “prolonged and bumpy” course to recovery. In his first speech as governor, Tiff Macklem says the central bank expects to see growth in the third quarter of this year as people are called back to work and households resume some of their normal activities as restrictions ease.
• Ontario farmers who employ temporary foreign workers received a warning Monday from Premier Doug Ford and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau: Protect those workers from COVID-19 or face consequences. The strongly worded messages came amid outbreaks on farms that have seen hundreds of migrant workers testing positive for COVID-19 and the Windsor-Essex region held back from moving to Stage 2 of reopening.
• American visitors attempting to use a loophole allowing them to travel through Canada on the way to Alaska ran into the long arm of the law in Banff National Park last week. The RCMP issued seven tickets to individuals who were violating the Public Health Act during the COVID-19 pandemic.
• Two more members of President Donald Trump’s campaign working on his rally in Tulsa, Okla. have tested positive for the coronavirus. The president’s campaign put out a statement Monday that said the two staffers, part of the advance team for Saturday’s rally, tested positive before they boarded their flight out of Oklahoma. The two were then quarantined and the campaign began contact tracing protocols. These positive tests follow the news that six other staffers, including two Secret Service agents, tested positive in the hours before Saturday’s rally.
• The record levels of new daily COVID-19 cases are due to the fact that the pandemic is peaking in a number of big countries at the same time and reflect a change in the virus’ global activity, the World Health Organization said. At a media briefing on Monday, WHO’s emergencies chief Dr. Michael Ryan said that “the numbers are increasing because the epidemic is developing in a number of populous countries at the same time. Some countries have attributed their increased caseload to more testing, including India and the U.S., but Ryan dismissed that explanation. “We do not believe this is a testing phenomenon,” he said, noting that numerous countries have also noted marked increases in hospital admissions and deaths — neither of which cannot be explained by increased testing.
QUOTE, UNQUOTE
“I’m going to tell it the way it is, farmers just aren’t co-operating. They aren’t sending out the people to get tested. We’ve got to bang our heads off the wall and figure out why. It’s good for the farmers, good for your workers, good for the food supply chain on safety.”
— Ontario Premier Doug Ford asks for partnership from producers as migrant workers in the province continue to test positive for COVID-19
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LOCAL NEWS
Carol Sanders and Larry Kusch:
Province to allow limited indoor visits at PCHs
For the first time in more than three months, residents of personal care homes Tuesday will be able to visit with a loved one in the comfort of the great indoors.
"We're taking this step because the evidence supports it," Health Minister Cameron Friesen told a conference call with reporters Monday. And to make sure visits won't be halted when fall flu season hits, the province plans to have semi-permanent, all-season visitation shelters in place, adjacent to all 127 personal care homes by October.
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Maggie Macintosh:
Manitoba students to start school year Sept. 8
Manitoba students will get their summer vacation in full before returning to school after Labour Day. Teachers will be called back to classrooms a few days beforehand for public health and recovery le...
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Winnipeg Free Press | Newsletter
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NATIONAL NEWS
Lee Berthiaume, The Canadian Press:
Ottawa assessing office needs after COVID-19
OTTAWA - The federal government is taking a close look at the amount of office space it will need in the coming years as it considers how some of Canada's hundreds of thousands of federal public serva...
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Jordan Press, The Canadian Press:
Macklem warns of bumpy economic recovery
OTTAWA - The COVID-19 pandemic will leave some long-term economic damage that will only become clearer as the country moves further along a "prolonged and bumpy" course to recovery, Canada's top centr...
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The Canadian Press:
Canada's recovery may have begun, report says
OTTAWA - Canada may have already begun to recover from the deepest recession on record, assuming the country can avoid another national COVID-related shutdown, a private sector forecast said Monday.Th...
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Jordan Press, The Canadian Press:
Jobs outlook not 'rosy,' Qualtrough says
OTTAWA - Canada's employment minister says federal officials are looking for ways to fill gaps in a key, but decades-old, safety net for unemployed workers to catch those left out from upcoming change...
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Jim Bronskill, The Canadian Press:
Feds must 'do better' on access to info: Duclos
For the first time in more than three months, residents of personal care homes Tuesday will be able to visit with a loved one in the comfort of the great indoors.
"We're taking this step because the evidence supports it," Health Minister Cameron Friesen told a conference call with reporters Monday. And to make sure visits won't be halted when fall flu season hits, the province plans to have semi-permanent, all-season visitation shelters in place, adjacent to all 127 personal care homes by October.
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Christopher Reynolds, The Canadian Press:
Airlines face MPs' frustration over refunds
Airlines faced a tough reception at the House of Commons health committee Monday as MPs grilled them on the lack of refunds for customers whose flights were cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Par...
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Mike Blanchfield, The Canadian Press:
AG seeks more money due to pandemic demands
OTTAWA - Auditor general Karen Hogan said Monday the government needs to boost funding to her office because of the unprecedented demands of the COVID-19 pandemic.Hogan said her predecessor, interim a...
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The Canadian Press:
RCMP lay fines against U.S. residents in Banff
BANFF, Alta. - American visitors attempting to use a loophole allowing them to travel through Canada on the way to Alaska ran into the long arm of the law in Banff National Park last week.The RCMP iss...
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Allison Jones, The Canadian Press:
Toronto, Peel to enter Stage 2
TORONTO - Ontario's two largest regions will enter Stage 2 of the province's reopening plan Wednesday, with restaurant patios, hair salons and swimming pools in Toronto and Peel Region able to resume ...
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Stephanie Levitz, The Canadian Press:
Mexico to resume send farm workers to Canada
OTTAWA - The Mexican government says it will resume sending farm workers to Canada after securing promises for more inspections and oversight to curb outbreaks of COVID-19.At least two Mexican men hav...
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Keith Doucette, The Canadian Press:
N.S. firm's workers assemble shields at home
HALIFAX - A small Halifax-area company that has transitioned to making face shields during the COVID-19 pandemic has taken a novel approach that doesn't involve a production line.Dartmouth, N.S.-based...
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Stephanie Levitz, The Canadian Press:
The dystopian experience of COVID-19 travel
OTTAWA - Watching the farms and highways of Ontario out of the oval windows of an Airbus A320, it's easy to forget for a moment how COVID-19 has so thoroughly changed familiar routines.From cruising a...
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The Associated Press:
NHL pares down hub city shortlist
The NHL has begun winnowing its possible locations to resume the season amid the COVID-19 pandemic, but all three potential Canadian cities are still in the running.The Blue Jackets were informed Mond...
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INTERNATIONAL NEWS
Ross Marowits, The Canadian Press:
Materials, tech help S&P/TSX composite rise
TORONTO - North American stock markets moved higher to start the week on conflicting reactions to concerns about COVID-19.The World Health Organization reported a record increase in global cases of vi...
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COVID-19 BASICS
COVID-19 FAQ
How to protect yourself and others from infection, and what to do if you think you have symptoms
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What to do if COVID-19 suspected
Manitoba's health department has implemented guidelines for who to call and where to go if Manitobans are concerned they may have been exposed to the novel coronavirus or are exhibiting symptoms consi...
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