The Bridge with Peter Mansbridge - The Cruise Ship Helped Spread the Virus, Could It Also Help Stop It?

Episode Date: March 18, 2020

Lots happened today and "the bridge - daily" focuses on a few to put them in some context. Also, the story of a real Canadian heroine who will never be forgotten.

And hello there, Peter Mansbridge here with the latest edition, latest episode of The Bridge Daily. they say, in this business. Lots of news, lots of announcements coming out of governments at all levels, federal, provincial, municipal, and also from other countries, obviously. I'm not going to go through them all because you've got to do that. You've got to check all these announcements because so many of them impact you. I'll focus a little bit on Ottawa because there were big announcements there today from both the Prime Minister and the Finance Minister, all of which impact you. Everyone is impacted by these announcements in terms of the benefits, if we can call it such a thing, use such a word, in terms of how the government is looking at trying to help you through this crisis. And there are some things there that will clearly impact you in terms of your tax relief, mortgage relief, when you have to file your income taxes, all those things. So and your RRSP. So

listen, you want to look at those announcements and see how they impact you. But as I said, a lot of them, a lot of stories, this story, the overall story is changing, not just every day, but as I've said, every hour, every minute even. And so you've got to, you know, find a way of staying on top of it without getting absolutely preoccupied by it. I'll make mention of one of the announcements in Washington today at the White House, Donald Trump, who now manages to get in every news conference, not just the odd one as he was doing a week ago until he got hammered for not looking like he knew what he was talking about, but he actually has been seeming to be a little more

confident with the facts, a little more. I won't say a lot more, but a little more, because he still drops the odd bomb every day. But he's been looking more confident and more calm in his news conferences in the last couple of days than the way he was a week ago. Now, there was one thing he announced today. It wasn't the biggest thing he announced today. I mean, he's letting it kind of be felt out there that there's big news coming on the medical front

and whether it helps in prevention, helps in testing, helps in the long-range look for a cure. I don't know. It sounds like it will be there later today or tomorrow, when and if it does come, although some of the experts seem to be actually suggesting this was further away than the president was hinting. Anyway, one thing he did say that I took interest in is that he's asked for the U.S. Navy to move two hospital ships offshore to help with the overload of the hospitals they're going to face inland.

One of these ships will be off New York. Now, I found this interesting for this reason, because I've been wondering, and I don't think I'm alone on this, but I've been wondering why they're not thinking of using cruise ships for something like this. Now, I know you're going, oh, geez, Peter, are you crazy? Cruise ships, they were part of the problem in the spread of this. They absolutely were.

But, you know, they can be cleaned up as well. They can be disinfected. And they're certainly not going to be doing tourist cruise business for at least the next six months. So why not use them? Why not have governments lease these and have them offshore in areas where they are convinced the hospitals are going to get overloaded? I mean, they seem in some ways perfectly designed for this. It's not the first time this would have happened. The Second World War, I think, it was Queen Elizabeth, or one of the big ocean liners was used as a hospital ship. The Falklands War, same thing happened. So it might be interesting if somebody starts thinking in that way. Perhaps

they already have on its sort of backup plan number two, three, or four. But there are are hundreds of cruise ships, many of them that are in American ports or near American ports, that could be used for something like this. Cruise ships are huge along Canada's west coast, along Canada's east coast. There are even some that go through the Northwest Passage in Canada's Arctic. I think they've already canceled all of those for this summer's Arctic cruising. Many of the other ships are now sitting either in port or off port and are not being used. So why not think about that?

I mean, think about what a cruise ship looks like. Think about how that could be perfectly suited, even more suited, really, than the hospital ships that the American Navy will be giving because those kind of ships are for a different kind of hospital. They're not for dealing with a pandemic. They're dealing with injuries from a conflict, and it's a much different kind of situation.

Anyway, that's one thought. The other thought goes, if really, and we keep hearing this day after day, that hospitals are going to get overrun or run that risk. And there's concern in a number of Canadian cities over this too. Well, if there is concern, let's say in a city like Toronto, you know, let's go outside of the box here in terms of thinking. You've got the old Sky Dome. What do they call it now? Where the Blue Jays play. It's just sitting there. Nobody's using it.

It's got a huge field. It could be set up in terms of a hospital. It's got a retractable roof, so you can be warm. You can also have, you know, when the days get a little warmer, you can offer patients, you know, some sun. Anyway, there's that. There's what they call the Scotiabank Arena, where the Blue Jays and the Raptors play.

So you have all of this going on that could be used because they're not being used now, and there is potential there. There's no question that if the hospitals are going to be overrun, the military is going to be called in to try and set up some form of military hospitals. Field hospitals, they'll be in parks or wherever, or you use a big place like the Rogers Center, I think is what this guy almost now called.

Anyway, it's a thought. Maybe it's a stretch, but it's my stretch. Now, there's something else to talk about. And eventually you'll see why I'm bringing this up. The closest pandemic situation that what we're witnessing now is compared to is, of course, the Spanish flu from 1918 to 1920, roughly. It was worldwide. It was devastating. 20 million people died worldwide.

55,000 of them in Canada, almost as many as we had just lost in the First World War. Here's a name, and i give you this name to think about ethel gertrude dickinson anybody know who that name is the good people of newfoundland labrador must know that name because there's a statue to ethel gertrude dickinson in saint john's downtown saint john's and whenever i'm. John's, and I try to be there at least once or twice a year, love that province, I try to make a point of going by that statue of Ethel Gertrude Dickinson. She was 38 years old. She was a nurse. She was at the front lines of dealing with the Spanish flu. She worked at the King George V Institute in St. John's.

Now, this flu was a terrible flu. You could die within 24 hours of being infected. 24 hours within being infected. Ethel Gertrude Dickinson lived 48 hours before she died. So her statue is there in memory of the work she did in trying to help young Canadian guys coming back, and some women coming back from the First World War, who had come down with the Spanish flu.

And she represents so many of the public health workers who risked everything in trying to help. And you know, we're seeing a lot of public health workers already doing the very same thing now, risking everything to be at the front lines of public service and trying to look after our sick. Now here's the great fallacy of the Spanish flu. It had nothing to do with Spain. We call it the Spanish flu as if it originated there,

as if it came from Spain. It didn't. It kind of got that term because the king of Spain came down with the Spanish flu in, I think, the summer of 1918, well after this had started, well after it had been elsewhere. But because he was sort of the first, you know, for lack of a better word, celebrity, worldwide figure, world-known figure, they picked up on that, called it the Spanish flu, and it's never changed. Even though, you know, there have been different theories as to where it actually started. Was it a British base in France, an armed forces base, where the flu started?

Or was it a U.S. base in Kansas as they were getting ready to head overseas and then infected a lot of other people? Those two are kind of the leading candidates. Of late in the last few years, because the Spanish flu was kind of an H1N1 flu. There's been a feeling that, you know, it probably started in China and then came over. China. Well, you know who else is blaming China for this one, the current one, and that's the president of the United States.

No one else is doing that. I mean, there's no doubt that the first examples of this current flu were seen in China. But everybody else is going to great lengths to call it the coronavirus or COVID-19, and they're not putting a label on it that suggests a country started all this. But that doesn't stop Donald Trump, nor his officials. Apparently one of the people in the White House, according to media reports today, has been calling it the Kung Flu. This has led to charges, and they came up today in his news conference, that he and his White House were racist in doing this, which he took great offense to and then showed his great leadership qualities by saying he was doing this because he'd heard that some official in China had blamed American soldiers for bringing COVID-19 to China.

And so this was the least he could do to strike back at whoever that official was by calling it to the world through his press conference in the White House that it was the Chinese flu. Okay. Now, a couple of things. I talked this week, I tried to end each podcast. Remember what I'd said on these podcasts, that I was going to keep them to, initially I said, we'll keep them to five minutes on the daily.

Well, it hasn't worked out quite that way, and apparently it's not going to work out that way either, as we're already ticking by the 13-minute mark. But I did want to close, as I said, every day with keeping some things in mind. And the most common one, aside from, you know, social distancing and self-isolation when needed, the most common one is wash your hands.

And, you know, it's still right there on the list of things that the World Health Organization says you should do. Washing your hands is there right up front, along with a video on how to wash your hands. And as I said yesterday, it's surprising how little we knew about the art of washing your hands. It's all there. Watch it. It takes 20 seconds to watch the video. It may save your life. It may save somebody else's life. So watch it. Okay, generally, you know, people are trying to find, this is going to take a while. And in taking a while, we're going to have to come up with things to do, because you just can't sit at home on the couch watching movies all day. That's not going to work.

You know, I was kicked off my couch today and told to do something. Get out there. Exercise a bit. I've kind of relied on the fact I hurt my foot about a month ago, and as a result, I haven't been able to do my regular routine of exercise. Well, that was an excuse. I'm back at it now.

And it's not quite as extensive a routine that I had been doing a month ago, but it'll get there. But, you know, you've got to do something physical. Going for a walk. You can still do this in self-isolation. You can still do this with social distancing. I saw the new rules for golf at my club in Scotland, the Royal Dornick. And right up there, I think the number one or number two rule is don't walk side by side along the fairway when you're walking down the fairway. Social distance, walk apart, don't walk together. Oh, God, don't you wish you were in, if you're a golfer, that you were in Scotland golfing?

I would absolutely volunteer to social distance myself from my golfing partner if you'd transport me to Scotland right now to golf. Anyway, so that's one. Read a book. You know, read a book. Do something. Read a book. You know, read a book. Do something. Exercise your mind. Learn to cook.

Take some cooking lessons. They're all over the Internet. You know, listen, I can make eggs and bacon. Beyond that, it's a bit of a challenge. Maybe I'll start looking. There are things online that can teach me how to make, you know, can make eggs and bacon. Beyond that, it's a bit of a challenge. Maybe I'll start looking. There are things online that can teach me how to make, you know, linguine vongole. I'll need to find the vongole somewhere, but nevertheless, learn to cook. Do that. Use this opportunity. You always complain you never had enough time to do things.

Now you've got lots of time. Here's a couple more. I saw these online. A famous choreographer hosting virtual dance parties. Well, you know who else is? My wife is. She started a dance party every morning at 11 o'clock. You can find it on her Instagram, Cynthia Dale. Now, it's very much she's dancing in her kitchen or her basement,

and other people are doing that in their homes. Nothing's online. You just know you're doing it at the same time as somebody else. I think she's going to try and find a way to put this on some kind of group, FaceTime, something or other. You got some musicians and freelance artists who are looking to do living room concerts in the Hamilton area to try and maintain an income. That one's a little, that one's tricky because of social distancing and self-isolation,

but it'd be interesting to see how they're doing that. And then there is volunteering to do things. You know, there are a lot of elderly people out there who can't get their groceries. So you volunteer through whichever group is in your community to help in the deliveries. You can do that without ever having to see or be close to anybody. You know, you pick up at a door, you drop at a door.

That's all possible. Okay? Because you know what? Loneliness is going to be a factor for a lot of people out there through this. It might be you. It might be somebody you know. So you want to help out on that front. And as we think about those who are at the front lines of this,

doctors and nurses and grocery store clerks. The guy at the dump in my hometown today, I went out there to take some garbage. It's one of the essential services, the dump, they keep it open. And I like going to the dump rather than dumping stuff on the side of the road. It was pretty empty at the dump but there's one guy working there picking up the loonies that you drop off when you drop off your garbage and thank him for being there to keep it open and use that word. Thank you. and thank him for being there to keep it open. And use that word, thank you,

perhaps more often than we've ever used it, because my gosh, these are people we need to thank. And finally, my buddy Mark Bulgich dropped me a line yesterday. You know, about keeping in mind, you know, grocery clerks and cashiers. As he said, I don't think they ever thought they'd be on the front lines of a state of emergency, but they are. They are. And we couldn't get by without them. And they are responding. Mark says he's taking a good look, or a good long walk every morning. He hasn't had to isolate yet, but he goes for a walk. And he thinks I should recommend it.

Not just for the exercise, but he says he's walking around his neighborhood and he's seeing things he's never noticed before because he's always been in such a rush, whether he's going to work or going to an appointment whatever it might be he was always kind of zooming by now he's in no hurry he's just out for a walk so he you know listens to the birds he looks more closely at the the different doors people have. Looking at the different doors people have. Now, who would have ever thought you'd do that? But when you start doing it, it's amazing how different the doors are

and how interesting that can be. And one last thing he says, I stop at the bakery to buy a bagel every day it isn't very busy and i don't want to stay too long but for the first time i decided to ask the people who work there their names now i don't know whether the bakery is still open now because a lot of those are closing. But the point is there. Mark's been going to that place as we go to places that are familiar to us, in some cases for years. And we've kind of nodded in acquaintance at the cashier or the manager or whomever. But we never knew their name. Well, maybe we should know their name

because they're partners with us in the challenge that lies ahead. And it's a big one. All right. I have gone on far too long. This five-minute Bridge Daily is now at 22 minutes. So we'll call it a day. And I hope you're in, you're getting through all this. And I hope this podcast is giving you a few things to think about

and a few ideas to contemplate as we do. And we'll have more of all of this tomorrow on The Bridge daily. You can always reach me at themansbridgepodcast at gmail.com themansbridgepodcast at gmail.com And I have had lots of letters, more than I've ever had before. And, you know, at some point I might just stop and read some letters from you

and let you know what all of you are thinking in general about the situation we're in because there have been some great comments. And I do enjoy them. I read every one. Occasionally I will respond to some personally. But for the most part, I'll save them up and we'll do something with them along the way. All right. I'm Peter Mansbridge.

This is The Bridge Daily. We'll see you again in 24 hours. Thank you.