Two Winnipeg men who’ve tested positive for COVID-19 say they’ve lost faith in the province’s ability to do contact tracing properly.
The first, who found out he tested positive last Wednesday, says he still hasn’t been asked to provide his close contacts and hasn’t had any follow up from public health.
“They’re not handling it. There has been no contact tracing,” Aaron Lund, 46, said in an interview over Zoom Monday.
“With this being at the forefront of everything you see in the news these days, I guess maybe I had an expectation that there was more of a priority to it.”
Lund said he’s called Health Links twice, including on Monday, to inform them he hasn’t been asked to provide his contacts.
Aaron Lund said in an interview Monday that he still hadn’t been asked to share his close contacts with public health. He tested positive for COVID-19 last Wednesday. (Screenshot)
He said when a public health nurse called him last Wednesday — a day after he got tested — she told him to write down everyone he had been in contact with a week prior and be prepared to share that information in a follow-up call.
Lund said he is still struggling with a cough and has no smell. But his initial symptoms of fatigue, cold sweats and fever are gone. “It’s the weirdest thing,” he said.
Six-day lag for second man
The second man, who got a call on Oct. 13 informing him he had tested positive, said he wasn’t asked to provide contact tracing information until Monday — six days after a doctor told him he had the coronavirus.
“That’s a long time later to be doing contact tracing. I got a phone call last Tuesday and they could have given me my reference number [for the COVID Alert app] and they just didn’t,” said Jordan, a pseudonym for the man who CBC News has agreed not to identify to protect his private health information.
Jordan said he was surprised when a doctor called him on Oct. 13 but didn’t ask him to provide names of people he’d recently been around for contact tracing.
Then his phone rang again on Oct. 18. It was someone calling from a blocked number to tell him he had tested positive — something he already knew.
“It kind of put some fear in me because you kind of lose hope that they know what’s going on, because they had no idea that they had contacted me prior, and that makes me think — what else are they letting slip through the cracks?”
Jordan said the fact the health staffer on the other end of the phone once again didn’t ask for his recent contacts — or provide him with a code to enter in the federal government’s COVID Alert app — added to his fear.
He informed everyone he had been around, but wonders about others he had encounters with getting coffee, for example.
“At first I was relieved I got the phone call because I thought it was going to be a public health nurse that was going to give me more info, and then when I realized it was just kind of a repeat of the first call I felt kind of let down.”
Tracing needs to be quicker: Dr. Roussin
On Monday, while Jordan was speaking with CBC News over Zoom, his phone rang again.
The public health nurse appeared to have little to no information about Jordan’s case and asked if someone had completed a contact tracing investigation. He told her he had already received two calls from public health but no contact tracing was done.
She replied “I apologize for that. We’re trying a new system because we’re backlogged.” The nurse then completed the contact tracing.
Manitoba’s Chief Provincial Public Health Officer Dr. Brent Roussin told reporters Monday the province isn’t using a new system for contact tracing.
Manitoba chief provincial public health officer Dr. Brent Roussin said Monday there is a strain on contact tracing, and the process needs to move quicker than it has in cases like Jordan’s. (David Lipnowski/Canadian Press)
He said there is a strain on contact tracing because of rising numbers in Winnipeg. Roussin said the median time from when someone tests positive for COVID-19 and is phoned for contact tracing is 60 hours.
And while he said he wasn’t aware of Jordan’s case, he said he shouldn’t have had to wait as long as he did.
“Definitely that’s not our goal. We need to be contacting people, having them advise us of their contacts, getting contact notification much quicker than that,” Roussin said.
Red Cross to help with contact tracing
Roussin couldn’t say on Monday if the COVID Alert app, which went live in Manitoba on Oct. 1, has been successfully used or not in the province by someone who’s tested positive.
The public health nurse on the phone told Jordan because he’s been in isolation for 10 days, he no longer needs to quarantine despite the fact he still doesn’t have his sense of smell or taste back.
Even though Jordan’s been cleared to end his self-isolation, he doesn’t plan to leave his house anytime soon and isn’t sure when he’ll return to work.
“There’s a big stigma with this. Everybody knows through my work that I’ve got COVID because a lot of things got shut down, and people had to stay home while they got tested and everything like that, and they know where it came from and it’s going to be hard for them to accept me back into those places.”
Manitoba’s Opposition NDP is calling for the hiring of more contact tracers.
The party said in a statement Monday it has freedom of information documents that show during August, four health authorities outside Winnipeg employed 140 public health workers to do COVID-19 contact tracing.
Health Minister Cameron Friesen said in a statement the province has been increasing COVID testing capacity and has selected the Red Cross to provide additional contact tracing services.
“While the opposition continues to stoke fear, our government will continue to focus on protecting Manitobans.”
This story was possible in part thanks to Manitobans who filled out CBC’s survey about people who’ve tested positive for COVID-19. In it, we asked Manitobans to share how their diagnosis impacted their life.
Most job search advice is cookie-cutter. The advice you’re following is almost certainly the same advice other job seekers follow, making you just another candidate following the same script.
In today’s hyper-competitive job market, standing out is critical, a challenge most job seekers struggle with. Instead of relying on generic questions recommended by self-proclaimed career coaches, which often lead to a forgettable interview, ask unique, thought-provoking questions that’ll spark engaging conversations and leave a lasting impression.
Your level of interest in the company and the role.
Contributing to your employer’s success is essential.
You desire a cultural fit.
Here are the top four questions experts recommend candidates ask; hence, they’ve become cliché questions you should avoid asking:
“What are the key responsibilities of this position?”
Most likely, the job description answers this question. Therefore, asking this question indicates you didn’t read the job description. If you require clarification, ask, “How many outbound calls will I be required to make daily?” “What will be my monthly revenue target?”
“What does a typical day look like?”
Although it’s important to understand day-to-day expectations, this question tends to elicit vague responses and rarely leads to a deeper conversation. Don’t focus on what your day will look like; instead, focus on being clear on the results you need to deliver. Nobody I know has ever been fired for not following a “typical day.” However, I know several people who were fired for failing to meet expectations. Before accepting a job offer, ensure you’re capable of meeting the employer’s expectations.
“How would you describe the company culture?”
Asking this question screams, “I read somewhere to ask this question.” There are much better ways to research a company’s culture, such as speaking to current and former employees, reading online reviews and news articles. Furthermore, since your interviewer works for the company, they’re presumably comfortable with the culture. Do you expect your interviewer to give you the brutal truth? “Be careful of Craig; get on his bad side, and he’ll make your life miserable.” “Bob is close to retirement. I give him lots of slack, which the rest of the team needs to pick up.”
Truism: No matter how much due diligence you do, only when you start working for the employer will you experience and, therefore, know their culture firsthand.
“What opportunities are there for professional development?”
When asked this question, I immediately think the candidate cares more about gaining than contributing, a showstopper. Managing your career is your responsibility, not your employer’s.
Cliché questions don’t impress hiring managers, nor will they differentiate you from your competition. To transform your interaction with your interviewer from a Q&A session into a dynamic discussion, ask unique, insightful questions.
Here are my four go-to questions—I have many more—to accomplish this:
“Describe your management style. How will you manage me?”
This question gives your interviewer the opportunity to talk about themselves, which we all love doing. As well, being in sync with my boss is extremely important to me. The management style of who’ll be my boss is a determining factor in whether or not I’ll accept the job.
“What is the one thing I should never do that’ll piss you off and possibly damage our working relationship beyond repair?”
This question also allows me to determine whether I and my to-be boss would be in sync. Sometimes I ask, “What are your pet peeves?”
“When I join the team, what would be the most important contribution you’d want to see from me in the first six months?”
Setting myself up for failure is the last thing I want. As I mentioned, focus on the results you need to produce and timelines. How realistic are the expectations? It’s never about the question; it’s about what you want to know. It’s important to know whether you’ll be able to meet or even exceed your new boss’s expectations.
“If I wanted to sell you on an idea or suggestion, what do you need to know?”
Years ago, a candidate asked me this question. I was impressed he wasn’t looking just to put in time; he was looking for how he could be a contributing employee. Every time I ask this question, it leads to an in-depth discussion.
Other questions I’ve asked:
“What keeps you up at night?”
“If you were to leave this company, who would follow?”
“How do you handle an employee making a mistake?”
“If you were to give a Ted Talk, what topic would you talk about?”
“What are three highly valued skills at [company] that I should master to advance?”
“What are the informal expectations of the role?”
“What is one misconception people have about you [or the company]?”
Your questions reveal a great deal about your motivations, drive to make a meaningful impact on the business, and a chance to morph the questioning into a conversation. Cliché questions don’t lead to meaningful discussions, whereas unique, thought-provoking questions do and, in turn, make you memorable.
Nick Kossovan, a well-seasoned veteran of the corporate landscape, offers “unsweetened” job search advice. You can send Nick your questions to artoffindingwork@gmail.com.
CALGARY – Canadian Natural Resources Ltd. reported a third-quarter profit of $2.27 billion, down from $2.34 billion in the same quarter last year.
The company says the profit amounted to $1.06 per diluted share for the quarter that ended Sept. 30 compared with $1.06 per diluted share a year earlier.
Product sales totalled $10.40 billion, down from $11.76 billion in the same quarter last year.
Daily production for the quarter averaged 1,363,086 barrels of oil equivalent per day, down from 1,393,614 a year ago.
On an adjusted basis, Canadian Natural says it earned 97 cents per diluted share for the quarter, down from an adjusted profit of $1.30 per diluted share in the same quarter last year.
The average analyst estimate had been for a profit of 90 cents per share, according to LSEG Data & Analytics.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 31, 2024.
CALGARY – Cenovus Energy Inc. reported its third-quarter profit fell compared with a year as its revenue edged lower.
The company says it earned $820 million or 42 cents per diluted share for the quarter ended Sept. 30, down from $1.86 billion or 97 cents per diluted share a year earlier.
Revenue for the quarter totalled $14.25 billion, down from $14.58 billion in the same quarter last year.
Total upstream production in the quarter amounted to 771,300 barrels of oil equivalent per day, down from 797,000 a year earlier.
Total downstream throughput was 642,900 barrels per day compared with 664,300 in the same quarter last year.
On an adjusted basis, Cenovus says its funds flow amounted to $1.05 per diluted share in its latest quarter, down from adjusted funds flow of $1.81 per diluted share a year earlier.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 31, 2024.
