Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - June 4, 2020, Winnipeg, Manitoba C M Y K PAGE A3 COVID-19 PANDEMIC CITY EDITOR: SHANE MINKIN 204-697-7292 ● CITY.DESK@FREEPRESS.MB.CA ● WINNIPEGFREEPRESS.COM A3 THURSDAY JUNE 4, 2020 COVID-19 AT A GLANCE Cases: MANITOBA Confirmed: 298 Deaths: 7 Recovered: 282 Active: 9 CANADA Confirmed: 93,085 Deaths: 7,498 Recovered: 51,048 (As of 6 p.m. Wednesday) The latest from Manitoba: ● Since the start of the pandemic, Manitobans dying in hospital have often died alone, owing to severe restrictions on visitor policies aimed at keeping the coronavirus away from vulnerable individuals. That restriction starts to loosen Friday, with more liberalized visitation rules, which will vary depending on the hospital ward in question and the condition of patients. Some hospitals will roll out the relaxed rules Friday while the others are expected to have them in place by Monday. ● On March 11, rock band Wilco played the Centennial Concert Hall. The next day, concerts and pretty much everything else in Manitoba was shut down. But the city is poised to take its first step back to presenting live music, as John Scoles, owner of Main Street music venue Times Change(d), and partners are set to launch Beer Can, an outdoor, socially distanced music venue on a vacant lot on Main Street. Complete with a storage- container bar and stage, Beer Can will have room for 50 guests. The date of the first gig has not been decided. The latest from elsewhere: ● Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland suggested Wednesday that COVID-19 will keep her away from anti-racism marches planned across Canada in coming days. Freeland called peaceful protests a valuable and important form of political expression, but with large gatherings still restricted in Canada to slow the spread of the novel coronavirus, they must be approached with caution. Freeland’s comments came amid calls from opposition politicians and community groups for the Liberal government to move from words to actions in its efforts to address racism in Canada in response to protests over the issue escalating in the U.S. ● The Department of National Defence faces ac- cusations of trying to take advantage of the COVID-19 pandemic to withhold information. Conservative defence critic, Manitoba MP James Bezan, points to the department’s failure to respond to a large number of questions on the order paper in recent months, which it blamed on the pandemic. Parliamentary budget officer Yves Giroux also reported last week that the depart- ment blamed COVID-19 for its failure to respond to his request for an update on the government’s plan to spend tens of billions of dollars on new military gear. ● New York could allow outdoor dining in areas out- side New York City and its suburbs as early as today as the state relaxes its COVID-19 restrictions. Serving staff must wear masks and tables must be two metres apart, while customers must wear masks when moving about the space. The order applies to regions that have en- tered the second phase of Cuomo’s four-step reopening plan, including the Capital region, western New York, central New York and the Finger Lakes. Meanwhile, New York City enters the first phase of reopening Monday. ● Atlanta’s police chief quickly condemned the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis, and acted swiftly when she determined some of her own officers used excessive force, but now she’s questioning a further crackdown on her officers. Chief Erika Shields fired two officers and benched three others involved in an incident with two college students during protests Saturday night. But then a prosecutor announced criminal charges against six officers. In a department-wide email Tuesday, Shields questioned the timing and appropriateness of the charges and suggested that handling ongoing protests could be more difficult as a result. Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, meanwhile, announced Wednesday on Twitter she would establish a commis- sion to look at the city’s use of force policies. ● Letting the chips fall where they may... After 58 days of darkness, the lights will be on, the slots will be rolling and cards flying at Las Vegas casinos today, even as the smell of tear gas lingers on the Strip a day after protests over the George Floyd killing by police. The shutdown of Nevada’s most lucrative enterprises devastated the tourism industry and sent thousands of workers home on furlough. The city is betting new protocols — distancing players, face masks, hand sanitizer and disinfecting play equipment — will be enough to keep the coronavirus at bay. Quote: “We found that there was no statistical difference between patients who got the placebo — which was a vitamin pill — versus those who received the active drug hydroxychloroquine.” — Dr. Todd Lee, lead researcher on a joint Canada- U.S. study on hydroxychloroquine, which found the drug has no effectiveness in preventing the onset of COVID-19 T HE first double-blind, random-ized clinical trial to test hy-droxychloroquine as a preventive measure against COVID-19 after an in- dividual has been exposed to the virus, suggests there is no benefit from the medication. “While we had hoped this drug would work in this context, our study demon- strates that hydroxychloroquine is no better than (a) placebo when used as post-exposure prophylaxis within four days of exposure to someone infected with the new coronavirus,” said Todd Lee, a scientist at the Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre, and one of the lead authors of the study. The study, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, was led by the University of Minnesota in the U.S. and McGill University in Canada, which partnered with the University of Manitoba. Researchers used 821 subjects who were in good health but who’d been ex- posed either through their work or their household to someone who was con- firmed to have COVID-19. Within four days of that exposure, the participant was randomly selected to either receive a five-day course of hydroxychloroquine, or a placebo treatment. Neither the par- ticipants nor the researchers knew who had been assigned which course of treat- ment until the trial had concluded. “We launched the first COVID-19 clinical trial in Manitoba, and played a key role in promoting this import- ant randomized clinical trial across Canada,” said Ryan Zarychanski, the Manitoba lead in the trial, and associ- ate professor of internal medicine at the University of Manitoba. Of the 821 participants, 107 de- veloped confirmed or probable cases of COVID-19. Of those, 49 had received the hydroxychloroquine treatment while 58 were in the control group that received a placebo treatment. Two pa- tients were hospitalized, one in each group. No deaths occurred. The results concluded there was no statistical difference between patients who received the placebo — a vitamin pill — with those who received hy- droxychloroquine. Side effects from the medication, such as nausea and abdominal discom- fort, were more common in patients taking hydroxychloroquine. Hydroxychloroquine is still being studied worldwide, including whether it could reduce the risk of infection during exposure or lower the risk of hospitalization in infected patients. U.S. President Donald Trump has said he is taking hydroxychloroquine even though he has not tested positive for the coronavirus. “Our study’s results set politics aside and provide unbiased evidence to guide practice in the prevention of COVID-19 and reinforce the importance of ran- domized clinical trials as we work together nationally and internationally to combat the novel coronavirus,’’ said Zarychanski. The results of an observational study were released in May by the Lancet. It indicated there was also no benefit to using hydroxychloroquine or chloro- quine to treat patients hospitalized with COVID-19. The findings linked the drugs’ use to a greater risk of death and heart arrhythmia. — with files from The Canadian Press sarah.lawrynuik@freepress.mb.ca PUBLIC health officials say four tem- porary foreign workers at the same establishment in the Southern Health region have tested positive for the coronavirus. Dr. Brent Roussin, the province’s chief public health officer, said the clus- ter of cases does not pose a significant risk to the public. Roussin refused to identify the type of business, citing privacy concerns. He said those who have tested positive are among 18 recent arrivals at the same enterprise who have been self-isolating. They had been divided into groups of six to lessen any potential spread of the virus. Four workers from one of the groups have tested positive. There have been no positive cases from the other two groups. All 18 have been tested, with results pending on three samples, Roussin said. Six local workers connected to the enterprise were also tested, and the re- sults were negative, he said. “That’s why we don’t feel there’s any real risk to the public here,” he said. “People are being self-isolated and it appears that this will be a limited clus- ter.” Because of the small number in- volved, tests were conducted on people who did not show symptoms of COVID-19, Roussin said. Temporary foreign workers are re- quired to self-isolate for 14 days upon arriving in the country. The first positive test from the South- ern Health cluster was reported Sunday by health officials. Two more positive tests were reported on Tuesday, with the fourth on Wednesday. The new case brought the total of lab- confirmed positive and probable posi- tive cases in Manitoba to 298. There are nine active cases of the virus in the province, and no one is being treated in hospital. On Tuesday, an additional 824 lab- oratory tests were performed, bring- ing the total since early February to 45,923. Meanwhile, in answer to a reporter’s question, Roussin said the province is looking at eliminating the blanket re- quirement of 14 days of self-isolation for people who enter Manitoba from other provinces. He said Manitoba might be able to consider the relaxation of self-isolation requirements “in the upcoming weeks.” He said the easing of self-isolation measures would pertain only to juris- dictions with a favourable epidemiol- ogy. larry.kusch@freepress.mb.ca OTTAWA — The prospect of tens of millions of COVID-19 vaccine doses rolling out as early as this fall is being tempered by warnings to ensure they are shared fairly across the globe, espe- cially in the poorest countries. The caution comes as Britain is set to host an international pledging con- ference today that aims to raise almost $10 billion for GAVI, the Vaccine Alli- ance, the leading agency for distribut- ing other vaccines to less-developed countries. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will join leaders from 50 countries and ma- jor organizations, including the philan- thropists Bill and Melinda Gates. Can- ada has already announced its five-year, $600-million pledge to GAVI, which has immunized 760 million children and prevented 13 million deaths in the world’s poorest countries since 2000. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson will be leading the event, but Trudeau’s appearance comes as Canada vies for a seat on the UN Security Council. It also comes after his address Wednesday to a summit of the Organisation of African, Caribbean, and Pacific States, where he said Canada is committed to helping developing countries, hardest hit by the pandemic. That will include ensuring any new vaccine is distributed to poor countries, and avoiding past practice, notably the 2009 H1N1 pandemic, that saw the wealthiest buyers get it first. “It’s also to send a clear message to the market that there will be a market for this in the developing world, and there will be an organization that can distribute this vaccine,” International Development Minister Karina Gould said in an interview Wednesday. “What’s different about this pandem- ic is we’re talking about the whole world getting vaccinated. It’s on a scale that we haven’t imagined before because when we think of previous vaccine campaigns, it’s usually targeted.” Dr. Theresa Tam, Canada’s chief pub- lic health officer, said there are more than 100 vaccine candidates in develop- ment across the world. “Clinical trials are very important because you need to establish safety, the dosing and the effectiveness of the vaccine. So it is a bit of a rigorous pro- cess, at the same time as we want to ac- celerate the development,” she said. “Definitely, we’re part of the global effort. But we’re also, of course, looking at beyond the research and the clinical trials to look at the actual capacity for vaccine development and manufacturing, all the way to getting equipment ready for the time should we have a vaccine.” — The Canadian Press LARRY KUSCH Fourth temporary foreign worker tests positive for virus JOHN LOCHER / THE CANADIAN PRESS FILES Results of newly published study, which included input from the U of M, has found hydroxychloroquine, promoted by U.S. President Donald Trump, provides no benefit to treating COVID-19. Study dismisses viral remedy Clinical trial finds no benefit to use of hydroxychloroquine on COVID-19 patients SARAH LAWRYNUIK PM joins global vaccine fundraiser LOCAL JOURNALISM INITIATIVE REPORTER A_03_Jun-04-20_FP_01.indd A3 2020-06-03 10:34 PM ;