The Bridge with Peter Mansbridge - So Guess Which Province Seems To Be The First To Give The Seasonal Flu Shot?

Episode Date: September 29, 2020

So you wanted to be the first to go on a cruise ship? Oops.

And hello there, Peter Mansbridge here with the latest edition of The Bridge Daily. It's Tuesday of week 29. And in the United States, in a couple of hours, the debate, the first debate between Donald Trump and Joe Biden. The U.S. presidential debate. So obviously, a lot of eyes, including mine, are going to be watching that. And tomorrow, on The Race Next Door, Bruce Anderson and I will kind of assess what happened, try to find some takeaways out of the debate in terms of how much impact they may have on the election race, which is now just a month away. So what are we going to talk about today?

Well, I actually got a couple of things, but let me just say this about the debate that you'll either be watching if you're an early receiver of this podcast, or you may have watched if you pick up the podcast later at night or tomorrow morning. This is interesting because it answers the question, or at least it gives you a sense of what the answer may be to the question, what impact do debates actually have on the way people will vote? Well, NBC News and the Wall Street Journal got together, and they did a poll just in the last week or so on that very question. Presidential debates and your vote is what they call it. So if you go back to, and they've been tracking this over the last couple of elections. So in 2012, 38% of those who responded to the question

said that in fact the debate affected the way they voted. That that's what they watched to make their decision and it affected the way they voted. In 2016, 2012 was Barack Obama's second election, his re-election term for his second four-year term. 2016 was Trump versus Clinton, and it dropped a little bit. Not a lot, but a little bit, 34% said they were impacted by the debate in terms of the way they voted. Now, NBC and the Wall Street Journal have already polled Americans for this debate, the 2020 debate, to ask them, can it have an impact on your vote? Well, it's the smallest number of these three. It's only 29%, which is still not an insignificant number.

That could be a lot if people change their mind, or whether it solidifies. It's not necessarily means they're going to change their mind, but they make a decision based on the vote, based on the debate in terms of how they're going to vote. 29%. Now, most people have thought, including me, the people have made up their mind how they're voting.

It's either Trump or no Trump. So to watch the debate tonight out of some sense of entertainment, I don't know, or reinforce the decisions they've already made. But one assumes it'll have some impact. But anyway, interesting numbers for you there. All right, lots to talk about in the debate tomorrow, once again, when Bruce Anderson joins from Ottawa on the race next door. Now, here's a question I'm asked fairly often,

and it's come through the mail of the Bandsbridge podcast at gmail.com a number of times over the months. And the question is pretty simple. It's, what's your favorite province? Which province do you enjoy going to the most? Now, listen, there are always dangers for anybody who's a public figure or used to be a public figure in answering that question, right? But I can actually give you an honest answer to that question. What is your favorite province or territory? Because quite frankly, whenever I'm in one, it becomes my favorite province in that moment because there is so much about our country that makes you say,

this is my favorite place in the country. You know, you could have been born there, you could have grown up there, your cottage could be there, you know, you may have great memories there. But if you talk about the kind of natural aspects of each province, they've all got it going for them.

Now bear with me here, because there's a reason I'm saying this. There's a reason I'm telling this story. But listen, you know, you go to BC and you start wondering what the heck am I doing not living in this province? It is so spectacular. It's so beautiful. It just never ends. There's always something about it that's gorgeous. Even the rain. Alberta. Alberta my favorite place in Alberta and there are lots of them is Banff I know that sounds like a tourist but hey Banff is Banff

it is spectacular it's beautiful but so are many other places in Alberta Saskatchewan I lived in Saskatchewan in the mid 1970s I almost bought a little farm in the Capel Valley, north of Regina. I wish I had.

It was great. It was a beautiful little spot. It was small, and those were in the days when land prices were pretty low. But the whole Capellle Valley I loved. Some parts of northern Saskatchewan are beautiful in the rugged Canadian sense of lake forest rocks. Manitoba, same thing.

What is it? Land of a, oh, that's Minnesota. Land of 100,000 lakes. One of them has that slogan. Anyway, I lived in Manitoba for five years, lived in Churchill. And Churchill's not the most beautiful place in the world, but it's got great character and great history. Lots of it. Goes back 400 years. But all the same thing as like Saskatchewan, like Northern Ontario, lakes, forests, rocks,

and the natural beauty that all that has. Lots of places in Ontario, including this one where I live now, Stratford. Go back, you know I got my little cabin in the Gatineau. Love it there. And you march further east to Atlantic Canada and New Brunswick where I was the Chancellor of Mount Allison University in Sackville, New Brunswick for eight years. Lots of natural beauty there.

Same with Nova Scotia, obviously, along the South Shore. Cape Breton. Cape Breton. Man, oh man. The golf course is all over Atlanta, Canada. Great. Newfoundland, Labrador. Signal Hill.

The history. You just stand there. Think of it. The history of that place. Now, anywhere in Newfoundland, all those small little outboards, my gosh, they're like postcards, every one of them. The territories. Nunavut.

Yukon. Northwest Territories, I spent lots of time, especially in Nunavut. Love it. Love it. Doesn't matter the time of year. Buried in the middle of winter, freezing cold, or in an exciting summer in Canada's Arctic. So I know what you're doing. You're sitting there saying, Peter, you forgot somewhere.

I didn't forget. How can you forget PEI? You can't. Because it, too, is equally gorgeous. Great beaches, great golf courses, great seafood. It's got it all. Fabulous people. And you know what else it's got?

And this is where this story was leading. and you know what else it's got? And this is where this story was leading. It's also got, it seems to me anyway, the first seasonal flu vaccines. And you know why I know that? I know that because my old friend Jeff Hutchison, remember Jeff? Jeff used to be on Canada AM, on CTV.

He used to do, among other things, the weather. Jeff is living on PEI. I saw him a little while ago when I was out doing a charity event in Prince Edward Island. Was it last year or two years ago? Still looking great. If you follow him on Twitter, he's got a great picture, profile pic. Big stogie in his mouth. Anyway, Jeff today,

he tweets, just got a flu shot. Took less than five minutes. Got yours yet? We'd love to say yes to that, Jeff, that we've got our flu shots, our seasonal flu shot, but we don't have them yet in Ontario. And as far as I can tell, they don't have them in any other province other than PEI.

And why is that? Who knows? But PEI has got the seasonal flu shot and everybody's anxiously awaiting its arrival. Drugstores are saying, or pharmacies, as they're properly described, pharmacies are saying, they're on their way. You'll be able to get yours here if you're more than five years old. Your doctors, some of them anyway, will be delivering the vaccine as well. But nobody's, as far as I can tell, nobody else has got it other than PEI. And I mean, how is that? How did that happen?

So here's the spiel on the seasonal flu. Seasonal flu usually runs from like early November to, you know, into March, April. This is the year you want to have the seasonal flu shot. You absolutely want to have it this year because you don't need to be battling two potential flus at the same time, right? So that's why the big push is on the seasonal flu. So it runs November to April.

It takes two weeks after you get the vaccination to be immunized. So you want to get it by no later than the middle of October. So my assumption is if it's in PEI now, it's awfully close to being where you are too. So it will be at some point in the next week or two. It'll be available. And I imagine there'll be a bit of a stampede to get it. But you want to get in that line, right? Wherever that line may be.

And I know some people are anti-vaxxers and I get it. I understand that. I also understand a lot of people actually want to get the seasonal flu shot. And one of the reasons they might want to get it is because they've heard what happened in Australia, whose year is backwards to ours or we're backwards to theirs. They've just come out of the seasonal flu season. And their analysis is this was one of the least troubling flu seasons on record. And they've determined why that is. Not only do people get their vaccination, but most people were protecting themselves from COVID-19,

which means, you know, washing hands, masks, not touching surfaces without washing hands immediately, distancing, staying away from big crowds. So they're already doing that. So they left themselves less vulnerable to the seasonal flu than in normal times. So that's all good. Right?

Right? So Jeff, good on you, buddy. Gets his flu shot right away. Took him less than five minutes. Of course, we're all waiting for the other vaccine, right? The vaccine for COVID-19. And who knows when that'll be ready. But there's always been a double track on what researchers and scientists the world over are trying to find.

And one track is the vaccine, and it's being followed by dozens and dozens and dozens of different researchers, scientists, and drug companies looking for the silver bullet, for that vaccine that's going to work. But the other track is therapeutics, things that can help deal with this virus if you get it. And there have been some false moves on that front, stuff flogged by Donald Trump that turned out to be useless.

And there have been others that haven't turned out to be useless. And there have been others that haven't turned out to be useless. Remdesivir is one, one drug. Certain use of certain steroids has been proven to be helpful in the fight against COVID-19 in terms of if you have it already and trying to lessen the impact of it. And I found this in The Guardian as yet another possibility to help. And I found this, you know, exciting as a possibility. So Nicola Davis, the science correspondent for the guardian wrote this

late yesterday a nasal spray okay a spray for your nose is under development that could nip a coronavirus infection in the bud with promising results already seen in ferrets, researchers have revealed. Scientists have released the results of initial work on a drug-like molecule. They say interacts with cells in the nasal cavity to activate the body's innate immune system. Now, I'm not going to get too deep in the weeds on this one, but I think you get the picture, right? It's a nasal spray. You've seen lots of different kinds of nasal sprays

that exist. Very easy. It's kind of a pump action. It goes up your nasal passages. So in the Guardian piece, it quotes Roberto Salari. He's a visiting professor within the Infection and Airway Disease Research Group at Imperial College in London. And he's an advisor to the Australian biotech company Ena Respiratory, which is developing this nasal spray. It kicks in like a defense shield, which is broad and nonspecific, said Roberto. In a study that has yet to be peer-reviewed,

the team behind the research, which includes scientists at Public Health England, revealed how they administered Inna-051, which is the technical name of this, into the noses of three groups of six ferrets in various doses, while a fourth group of six ferrets was given a placebo. Ferrets are an important animal model for COVID-19, and they sure are. They're being used all over the world in different research groups to test out vaccines and certain therapeutics.

The day after administering a second dose of INNA-051 or the placebo, the team exposed the ferrets to the virus that causes COVID-19, and the animals were monitored for 12 days via nasal and throat samples. And so they've been checking this out. Five days after the ferrets were exposed to the coronavirus, the quantity of viral RNA, the genetic material of the virus, recovered from throat swabs was reduced by 96% among those given in a 051 compared with those given the placebo.

So they'll keep doing those studies on ferrets and they'll move it into human trials. So it's a ways off yet, but something as simple as that. It's not ways off yet, but something as simple as that. It's not a cure. It's not 100% preventive like a vaccine, but it seems to have, so far, the possibility that it's really reduced the chances that you're going to get this. Or if you do, it's going to be a much smaller problem than if you don't use it.

So let's hope things continue to work out for Roberto Solari and the team working on INA 051. Remember where you heard it first. Okay, here's one for you. You're going to like it. You know, I'm like a guy, right? I've been all over the world. Only one continent I haven't been to, Antarctica.

I'm still hoping that someday I will get there. But other than that, I've kind of traveled everywhere. But here's one place I've never been. I've been to Greece, been to Athens. I have not been to the Greek Isles. I've seen lots of pictures, lots of film, lots of video, lots of movies

about the spectacular nature of the Greek Isles. Looks beautiful. I'd love to go there. And, as you know, probably, if you're a believer in

cruise ships one of the most common destinations for cruise ships is twirling around the Greek Isles. Remember cruise ships? Those big ships with thousands of people on it? I haven't seen many of those lately, have we? They were one of the early victims of COVID-19.

And cruise ships are tied up at docks all over the world. Or they're anchored off ports all over the world, or they're anchored off ports all over the world. If you were an investor in the cruise ship business, well, you probably feel like Donald Trump. You owe lots of money, and you got none coming in. So why am I telling you this story? This is why.

From Helena Smith in Athens. She writes this. What was meant to be the first in a new post-lockdown era of cruises around the Greek Isles has fallen victim to the reality of travel in the coronavirus age after crew members tested positive for the virus.

Within hours of the Mein Schiff 6 departing from the Cretan port of Heraklion on Sunday night, the perils of holidaying on a cruise ship during a pandemic became apparent. Early on Monday, that's early yesterday, we received positive test results for 12 crew members from an external lab, said the Anglo-German travel company looking after this trip. They're partnered with Royal Caribbean. As a precautionary measure and in accordance with the strict procedures for resuming cruise operations agreed with authorities in Greece, the persons

concerned were immediately isolated on board. The results emerged after 150 random tests were concluded on the ship's 666 strong personnel. All of the infected staff were described as asymptomatic. Subjected to further COVID-19 tests on the ship later in the day, six were given the all clear. All 922 of the ship's passengers would be confined to their cabins for the duration of the journey, said various different reports in the Greek media. However, the operating company denied the passengers were constricted in their movements. They said they can use the ship in the normal way.

The cruise will go on as planned. I don't think so. There's a team of public health experts on their way to visit the liner. It should be happening, that visit, tonight. No one is going to be allowed to disembark. So I don't know. Listen, it was always going to be a tough sell to get people on cruise ships.

They've been discounting cruises for the last couple of months, saying we're back in business, we'll be going this fall, cutting our rates, let's go cruising. Well, these 922 people hit the cruise ship in Greece, and they're probably now wondering, was that a good idea? We got a great deal. But look at this.

We're barely out of port, and already we've got people locked in their cabins. Well, not locked, but in their cabins because they've tested positive on COVID-19. This is going to be a long struggle back. Whether it's cruise ships or air travel or hotels, the travel and tourism business is really in a difficult position. And I think cruise ships, of all the things, when you tick off all those boxes, as we all

did over these last months. The one that always appeared at the top of the list of I'm not going there were cruise ships. They didn't need this to happen. Right out of the gate with their first trip in the Greek Isles. But it happened. All right. Tomorrow, the race next door, Bruce Anderson joins us from Ottawa.

We'll break down what happened in tonight's debate, which is only a couple hours away now from when we're recording this podcast. I'll be watching. I imagine many of you will be watching, and it's going to be really interesting to get a sense of what happens, how they do and how you react. If you want to get

some early thoughts in to us, they have to be early. You have to do them tonight after you watch or while you're watching. Send them to the Mansbridge Podcast at gmail.com. The Mansbridge Podcast at gmail.com and we may well try to deal with them on the race next door

tomorrow night. In the meantime, that is it for the Bridge Daily. I'm Peter Mansbridge. Thank you so much for listening. We'll be back again tomorrow with the race next door, and that will be in 24 hours. Thank you.