Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - December 14, 2020, Winnipeg, Manitoba <s> ■e- C MHK PAGE A1 Y ■ IBM ■ MONDAY, DECEMBER 14, 2020 M M MB FOUNDED IN 1872 ■ Winnipeg Free Press' ► CONNECT WITH CANADA'S HIGHEST READERSHIP RATE WEATHER: PARTLY SUNNY. HIGH -15 — LOW -17 100,000 calls for 900 shots: province reminds only the eligible should call Doctors frustrated over vaccine bookings MAGGIE MACINTOSH LOCAL JOURNALISM INITIATIVE REPORTER DESPITE making 120 calls over the weekend, one 65-year-old hospital physician couldn’t connect with an operator to book a COVID-19 vaccine appointment. A 62-year-old acute medicine doctor called their booking experience a frustrating one — “much worse than the provincial campground booking system.” “This is a useless system,” another physician said. “After a while I just gave up.” These are among the messages Doctors Manitoba has received since the province’s COVID-19 vaccine appoint ment system opened Saturday. The province has reported receiving 100,000 calls on the immunization appointment phone line within the first day of operations — but many eligible health-care workers haven’t had any success in securing a slot. The province sent out an internal memo to health-care professionals with details about initial immuniza tion criteria and a 1-844 number to call to set-up an appointment for next week. Older health-care professionals whose work involves direct contact with patients are eligible, although appointments are being scheduled on a first-come, first-serve basis. The booking number was not made public to avoid a system overload, but a provincial spokesperson said Sunday members of the public who aren’t eligible have started to call the 24-7 line, which launched Dec. 12. Health-care workers have since reported lengthy wait times to speak with someone, if they haven’t been immediately disconnected. • VACCINE, CONTINUED ON A2 0 JOHN WOODS / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS IT'S BEGINNING TO LOOK A LOT LIKE... Volunteers Lauren, Dan, and Lisa Shepherd and Jon Hill played Christmas carols and thanked frontline workers Sunday as they ferried a Christmas float around Winnipeg. The gesture was organized by Corey Bossyut and Dan Shepherd, president of the local Knights of Columbus chapter. Manitoba team embeds research in COVID-19 care MALAK ABAS As COVID-19 hospitalization rates in the province continue to push intensive care units beyond their limits, a small team of local researchers is chasing the virus most of the world has been told to avoid at any cost. These researchers are part of a CO-VID-19’s patient worst-case scenario: hospitalization. Once you are admitted to hospital, a process begins. Staff will let Manitoba’s COVID-19 clinical trial team know a new patient has been admitted, and after the go-ahead from a physician, the patient may be approached by a research co-ordinator. You — or your family, should you be unable to consent — will receive a run-down of the trials, what they require from the patient, how long they will last. Should you sign up, you will be taking part in an endeavour the scientist heading the trials believes will revolutionize how we administer health care. “We’re embedding clinical trials into care, and that’s totally new,” said Dr. Ryan Zarychanski, a critical-care physician and clinician-scientist. “We’re using novel trial designs that have never been used before that are likely to change the face of clinical research forever, and it’s come out of Manitoba.” Even as the vaccine seems to be getting closer to distribution every day, the work hasn’t slowed down. Should widespread distribution hit the late 2021 timeline set by the province, that still leaves months where people remain vulnerable to the virus. “All these people continue to die each day, and if they don’t, they get admitted to hospital,” he said. “If we can reduce the strain on the health-care system, get our health-care system functioning again, elective surgeries done again, health-care workers back to their regular jobs, people dying less every day, then we’ve succeeded in this.” Therapies will also be needed for those whose immune systems won’t be able to reap the full effects of the vaccine — and for those who choose not to take it. “Vaccines are only so effective, and only so many people will get them — because either they’re anti-vaxxers, and God help them, and when God can’t, these therapies will — and many people do not mount immune responses to vaccines because they have cancer, because they have immune deficiencies, because they’re immuno-suppressed or because they have rheumatoid arthritis or some other autoimmune disease,” Zarychan-ski said. “Those therapies will still be really needed in those individuals. There’s lots of good reasons to keep going.” Patients are enrolled in clinical trials every day — Zarychanski noted a very small percentage refuse to take part in trials, including some who cite religious reasons and some who are receiving palliative care — and from there receive at least one of the experimental treatments currently underway. Zarychanski and his team — which started with three scientists, and have grown to a team of 30 — lead two of these international trials from Winnipeg. Formally named the Anti-thrombotic Therapy to Ameliorate Complications of COVID-19 trial (ATTACC) and the Randomized, Embedded, Multifactorial Adaptive Platform (REMAP) study, both study the use of heparin — a blood thinner used to prevent clots — as a therapy for COVID-19, which often results in uncontrolled blood clotting, which can in turn lead to organ failure and death. The team also co-leads and takes part in two trials that test transferring plasma containing infection-fighting proteins from recovered COVID-19 patients to current patients; and the Solidarity trial, which evaluates COVID-19 treatments on an international level. • RESEARCH, CONTINUED ON A2 'We're... likely to change the face of clinical research forever, and it's come out of Manitoba' — critical-care physician and researcher Dr. Ryan Zarychanski On one reserve, everyone likely to isolate First Nations raise alarm as cases mount MAGGIE MACINTOSH LOCAL JOURNALISM INITIATIVE REPORTER AS the COVID-19 death toll in Manitoba nears 500, a growing number of remote First Nations have put out calls for help to protect their populations amid severe outbreaks. Seven more people have died of virus-related complications, the province announced Sunday in its daily briefing, bringing the total number of fatalities to 490. Of the 273 new cases recorded, 166 are in the capital, 50 are in the north, 22 are in Southern Health-Santé Sud, 18 are in Prairie Mountain Health region, and 17 are in Interlake-Eastern. Manitoba’s north — home to Sha-mattawa and Red Sucker Lake First Nations, both of which are currently experiencing outbreaks — has the highest rate of infection per capita at present. Chief Samuel Knott of Red Sucker Lake said he is watching the situation in his community become more dire daily. “Every prayer is much needed right now for our community,” Knott told the Free Press, when reached by phone Sunday afternoon in quarantine. The first case in the community of upwards of 1,000, which is located near the Ontario border, more than 530 kilometres northeast of Winnipeg, was identified on Thursday. As of Sunday afternoon, 18 cases of COVID-19 have been confirmed; Knott, his wife, and one of their five children are among those affected. The chief said the rest of his children are now presumed positive as well. Given the tightly knit nature of Red Sucker Lake — there is one general store everyone visits — overcrowding is common in homes, and there is inadequate access to clean water, Knott said every community member will likely end up having to self-isolate for two weeks. Knott is experiencing mild symptoms, including a cough and chills, but said one community member has already been evacuated to Winnipeg. It remains unclear how exactly COVID-19 arrived in the community. Except for essential service workers such as law enforcement officials, any travellers — including newborn babies from Winnipeg — are required to self-isolate when they arrive. The chief and council of Red Sucker Lake voted in favour of testing all travellers who returned to the community in the summertime, but the province’s policy on testing symptomatic individuals complicated matters. • FIRST, CONTINUED ON A2 0 INSIDE FIRST POKE TODAY Canada's first dose of the Pfizer vaccine is likely to be administered in Quebec / A3 THERE'S AN APP FOR THAT TRUMP'S LOSS OFFICIAL IT'S ALL IN STRIDE U of M prof researching an app-based COVID-19 diagnostic tool / B1 Electoral College set to vote today to make Joe Biden the 46th American president / A4 WHLer keeping skating ship shape on frozen creek near Virden / D1 -e- -e- A_01_Dec-14-20_FP_01.indd A1 0 2020-12-13 10:11 PM ;