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Winnipeg businesses forced to shutter for two weeks amid COVID-19 spike frustrated – Global News

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The owners of Winnipeg establishments ordered to shutter for the next two weeks while cases of the novel coronavirus continue to spike in Manitoba’s capital are frustrated — and think their businesses have been singled out.

Starting Monday, gathering sizes drop from 10 to five people, and restaurants, retailers, libraries and museums will be limited to 50 per cent capacity, after the province announced the move Friday while COVID-19 cases rise.

Some businesses — like beverage rooms, nightclubs, casinos and bingo halls — will have to close outright for two weeks.

Read more:
Casinos, bars, bingo halls closed under tighter coronavirus restrictions coming to Winnipeg area

Establishments that serve food, but have beverage room or entertainment licenses, are forced to shutter too.

The King’s Head Pub has an entertainment license — owner Christopher Graves thinks it’s unfair for him to have to close up shop for two weeks while other restaurants and lounges can remain open, albeit with reduced capacity.

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“What is actually truly disheartening is the fact that there are many establishments that have been doing the right thing and because of the way the province has announced the restrictions with licensing, we have to shut down,” Graves said.

“We fall under the entertainment license when we’ve been actually operating as a restaurant for the last four months.”

The pub is launching its own delivery service — using some of its workers to deliver the pub’s grub — which Graves said is meant to keep some of his employees in the red, rather than laying them off while the doors are locked.






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King’s Head Pub turning away out-of-town customers not following health guidelines


King’s Head Pub turning away out-of-town customers not following health guidelines

“I’m really angry, I don’t even know what to do anymore, I’m angry for my staff, I’m angry for our industry and I’m angry that the provincial government continues to look down on (the hospitality industry),” Graves said.

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Meanwhile, Ravi Ramberran’s Four Crowns Hotel and Restaurant is licensed as a beverage room, with a “family-friendly” addition to its license that allows minors inside until 9 p.m.

Despite its beverage room license (hotel bars are typically licensed as such), Ramberran’s offers a full menu.

In a classic beverage room, there’s more mingling and hustle and bustle, Ramberran said — but not so here, where Sunday afternoon it was mostly seated families, couples and the elderly, eating meals or slowly nursing draft beer by the slot machines.

Read more:
‘Wear a friggin’ mask’: Reactions to new Manitoba COVID-19 restrictions

“I’ve got restaurant written on the windows, I’ve got a sign outside, we’ve transformed into a restaurant but it’s never been of any benefit to anybody to go through the application process and change that. So I think we’re going to be shut down by a technicality, really,” Ramberran said.

“If we were having parties and getting out of control and getting fines and tickets like some other places — I would understand being shut down — but the fact is we’re going above and beyond.”

He worries that if the shutdown lasts more than the ordered two weeks, his business will go under permanently.

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“There’s going to be a for-sale sign on the front, I hate to say that — the first shut down hit us very hard. We barely survived after that and these people worked with me for a long time — they’ll be out of luck too,” Ramberran said of his employees.






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More restrictions for Winnipeg


More restrictions for Winnipeg

© 2020 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.

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Canada to donate up to 200,000 vaccine doses to combat mpox outbreaks in Africa

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The Canadian government says it will donate up to 200,000 vaccine doses to fight the mpox outbreak in Congo and other African countries.

It says the donated doses of Imvamune will come from Canada’s existing supply and will not affect the country’s preparedness for mpox cases in this country.

Minister of Health Mark Holland says the donation “will help to protect those in the most affected regions of Africa and will help prevent further spread of the virus.”

Dr. Madhukar Pai, Canada research chair in epidemiology and global health, says although the donation is welcome, it is a very small portion of the estimated 10 million vaccine doses needed to control the outbreak.

Vaccine donations from wealthier countries have only recently started arriving in Africa, almost a month after the World Health Organization declared the mpox outbreak a public health emergency of international concern.

A few days after the declaration in August, Global Affairs Canada announced a contribution of $1 million for mpox surveillance, diagnostic tools, research and community awareness in Africa.

On Thursday, the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention said mpox is still on the rise and that testing rates are “insufficient” across the continent.

Jason Kindrachuk, Canada research chair in emerging viruses at the University of Manitoba, said donating vaccines, in addition to supporting surveillance and diagnostic tests, is “massively important.”

But Kindrachuk, who has worked on the ground in Congo during the epidemic, also said that the international response to the mpox outbreak is “better late than never (but) better never late.”

“It would have been fantastic for us globally to not be in this position by having provided doses a much, much longer time prior than when we are,” he said, noting that the outbreak of clade I mpox in Congo started in early 2023.

Clade II mpox, endemic in regions of West Africa, came to the world’s attention even earlier — in 2022 — as that strain of virus spread to other countries, including Canada.

Two doses are recommended for mpox vaccination, so the donation may only benefit 100,000 people, Pai said.

Pai questioned whether Canada is contributing enough, as the federal government hasn’t said what percentage of its mpox vaccine stockpile it is donating.

“Small donations are simply not going to help end this crisis. We need to show greater solidarity and support,” he said in an email.

“That is the biggest lesson from the COVID-19 pandemic — our collective safety is tied with that of other nations.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.

Canadian Press health coverage receives support through a partnership with the Canadian Medical Association. CP is solely responsible for this content.

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How many Nova Scotians are on the doctor wait-list? Number hit 160,000 in June

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HALIFAX – The Nova Scotia government says it could be months before it reveals how many people are on the wait-list for a family doctor.

The head of the province’s health authority told reporters Wednesday that the government won’t release updated data until the 160,000 people who were on the wait-list in June are contacted to verify whether they still need primary care.

Karen Oldfield said Nova Scotia Health is working on validating the primary care wait-list data before posting new numbers, and that work may take a matter of months. The most recent public wait-list figures are from June 1, when 160,234 people, or about 16 per cent of the population, were on it.

“It’s going to take time to make 160,000 calls,” Oldfield said. “We are not talking weeks, we are talking months.”

The interim CEO and president of Nova Scotia Health said people on the list are being asked where they live, whether they still need a family doctor, and to give an update on their health.

A spokesperson with the province’s Health Department says the government and its health authority are “working hard” to turn the wait-list registry into a useful tool, adding that the data will be shared once it is validated.

Nova Scotia’s NDP are calling on Premier Tim Houston to immediately release statistics on how many people are looking for a family doctor. On Tuesday, the NDP introduced a bill that would require the health minister to make the number public every month.

“It is unacceptable for the list to be more than three months out of date,” NDP Leader Claudia Chender said Tuesday.

Chender said releasing this data regularly is vital so Nova Scotians can track the government’s progress on its main 2021 campaign promise: fixing health care.

The number of people in need of a family doctor has more than doubled between the 2021 summer election campaign and June 2024. Since September 2021 about 300 doctors have been added to the provincial health system, the Health Department said.

“We’ll know if Tim Houston is keeping his 2021 election promise to fix health care when Nova Scotians are attached to primary care,” Chender said.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 11, 2024.

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Newfoundland and Labrador monitoring rise in whooping cough cases: medical officer

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ST. JOHN’S, N.L. – Newfoundland and Labrador‘s chief medical officer is monitoring the rise of whooping cough infections across the province as cases of the highly contagious disease continue to grow across Canada.

Dr. Janice Fitzgerald says that so far this year, the province has recorded 230 confirmed cases of the vaccine-preventable respiratory tract infection, also known as pertussis.

Late last month, Quebec reported more than 11,000 cases during the same time period, while Ontario counted 470 cases, well above the five-year average of 98. In Quebec, the majority of patients are between the ages of 10 and 14.

Meanwhile, New Brunswick has declared a whooping cough outbreak across the province. A total of 141 cases were reported by last month, exceeding the five-year average of 34.

The disease can lead to severe complications among vulnerable populations including infants, who are at the highest risk of suffering from complications like pneumonia and seizures. Symptoms may start with a runny nose, mild fever and cough, then progress to severe coughing accompanied by a distinctive “whooping” sound during inhalation.

“The public, especially pregnant people and those in close contact with infants, are encouraged to be aware of symptoms related to pertussis and to ensure vaccinations are up to date,” Newfoundland and Labrador’s Health Department said in a statement.

Whooping cough can be treated with antibiotics, but vaccination is the most effective way to control the spread of the disease. As a result, the province has expanded immunization efforts this school year. While booster doses are already offered in Grade 9, the vaccine is now being offered to Grade 8 students as well.

Public health officials say whooping cough is a cyclical disease that increases every two to five or six years.

Meanwhile, New Brunswick’s acting chief medical officer of health expects the current case count to get worse before tapering off.

A rise in whooping cough cases has also been reported in the United States and elsewhere. The Pan American Health Organization issued an alert in July encouraging countries to ramp up their surveillance and vaccination coverage.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 10, 2024.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

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