The Bridge with Peter Mansbridge - Welcome To Week 40 .... And All that Means

Episode Date: December 14, 2020

Lots to talk about as a signature week begins.

and hello there peter mansbridge here latest episode of the bridge daily it's week 40 welcome to week 40 since we started going daily on the COVID story and other stories have intersected with this as well, of course. But our main theme is always the coronavirus and the fight against COVID-19. Well, week 40 brings us that classic good news, bad news situation. The bad news, the difficult news is the pandemic is still surging, surging across North America, surging across Canada, with the exceptions of Atlantic Canada, which is still doing extremely well. But in other places, as you know, the numbers are not

very good to look at, not good at all to look at. Even worse in the States, where they're passing 300,000 deaths today. 300,000 deaths. That number, you know, as awful as it is, sadly, it sometimes just seems to be, well, you know, 300,000. We've got to keep reminding ourselves what that means. That's larger than

most Canadian cities, by far and away. 300,000. That's the difficult news. That's the awful news. The fact that we are still fighting this pandemic. 40 weeks in. However, on this day, there's good news as well. Because out there, across the land, across our land, there are trucks moving, planes flying. With the vaccine on board, the Pfizer vaccine.

Limited numbers initially, but numbers nevertheless. And they will soon, within hours, be starting to go into the arms of Canadians. That's good news. That's reason to hope. That's reason to think we really have turned a corner of sorts. Long way to go. Really to go a lot of heartache to go through yet. But we are on the right track.

And there will be more vaccines coming in. And there will be new vaccines added to the Pfizer vaccine. Moderna is expected very soon. AstraZeneca maybe, Johnson & Johnson maybe. The more vaccines there are, the more people who are going to benefit. I don't need to go through the dating with you on this in terms of how long this is going to take to vaccinate everyone who wants a vaccination.

Because as that old saying goes, getting a vaccine is one thing. The important thing is the vaccination. Long way to go on that. It's going to be months. It's probably going to be well into next summer before they'll be starting to be taking a breath on some of this. Now, you know, I am kind of proud of the way that we have dealt with this over the last 40 weeks here at The Bridge Daily. I'm trying to, you know, talk about this story. We're not a daily newscast. We don't do it that way.

But we try to give some background, some sense of what's happening and how people are feeling about things. Well, you remember when we started this, eight months ago, more than eight months ago, almost nine months ago now. When we started this, the general theory about vaccines was these can take years to develop. That has always been the history because the testing is so dramatic, the research is so difficult, the expense is extraordinary. But there was hope because this was a global pandemic. That the world would come together, researchers from around the world would work with each other, and the normal multi-year timetable could be reduced. And the hope was 12 to 18 months.

So, anywhere from a year to a year and a half. Work started at the beginning of this year. But it was really moving along by the end of March into April. And on April 16th, right here on the Bridge Daily, we talked to Dr. Volger Gerz from the University of Saskatchewan in Saskatoon. And they have a vaccine research program, a world-renowned vaccine research program. And Dr. Gerz, you know, going to surprise me and surprise a few of you by saying,

listen, things are going really well. There's great cooperation around the world. That in a perfect world, if things continue to go well, we could have a vaccine within that first of the 12 to 18-month period. So in other words, 12 months. And I said, okay, so it's April. And he said, no, no, no, no, no. The clock started in December of 2019.

That's when the research started at its most primitive stages, but that's when it started. So I said, well, what are you saying to me? And he said, well, in the best case scenario, we could have a vaccine by December of 2020. Guess what? He was right. And right here on the bridge was your first indication

that there could be a vaccine before the end of the year. This was long before Trump was trumpeting it. We're saying if everything goes well, given the kind of international cooperation that was taking place, there could be a vaccine by December of 2020, this month. And what's happening today as you look out across the land, you're seeing vaccines. Not a lot of them, but it started.

Vaccines moving city to city, town to town. And now the different decisions on who gets the vaccine first. Remember, it's a two-dose vaccine. If you're one of those getting it, remember, there is going to be a reaction more than likely on the first dose and the second dose. You know, headaches, sore arms, that kind of stuff, and apparently it's, you know, headaches, sore arms, that kind of stuff. And apparently it's, you know, somewhat painful.

But it only lasts 24 to 36 hours. And you actually want that to happen because it shows the vaccine's working. That's creating the reactions within your body that it needs to do. Anyway, the bottom line was, I just listened back to that this morning, that April 16th discussion with Dr. Gerritsen from the University of Saskatchewan. And there it was right there.

Could have it before the end of the year. Could have it in December. Boy, last April seems like such a long, long, long time ago. And it was. And a lot of pain in those eight months since April 16th. But here we are. We're at that point where it's starting. Can't let our guards down.

That would be a disaster if we do. And you're coming up to the most difficult time of year as we hit the end of the year holidays when you really want to be out there and you want to be with friends and family. It's just not going to be that way this year for most people. So the next big step is deciding who gets it and when. Interesting arguments yesterday, or discussions yesterday, last night,

when the word came out in the States, that the White House staff was going to be first in line to get the vaccines. The White House staff, those same guys and gals who partied up a storm over the last few months, no masks, no social distancing, all indoors, and traded the virus back and forth. But hey, front of the line, baby. Well, that lasted a few hours until the blowback started, and it was serious blowback.

And now the president is saying, maybe not so fast on the White House staff, and that he wasn't going to take it. Of course, he's been so filled with drugs to deal with the fact that he had COVID-19, whenever that was, a month, six weeks ago. But it seemed like a kind of indirect shot at Biden and former presidents Obama and Bush and Clinton, all of whom saying they will publicly have the vaccine to try and calm fears that there's something wrong with taking a vaccine. Anyway, I think you're going to see now for these next weeks and months,

there is going to be a constant debate about who's getting it, why they're getting it, how they got it, and whether they deserve to get it. And we saw a hint of this last week when there was a story out that the NHL was considering buying vaccines for their players and coaches and staff. And they took serious blowback on that. Now, here's one thing to keep in mind. As regular listeners of the bridge will know, as we told you last week, early last week,

the largest vaccine maker in the world, they're in India, announced last week that while they're supplying countries on orders for various vaccines that they're making, they are going to have kind of a private, not a private, but a separate section that's available for sale. I'm assuming in large quantities that they're going to have millions of doses available for sale to private companies.

And I don't think there's any doubt there's going to be attempts by various private companies, big companies, to buy the vaccine for their employees. And I would not be surprised at all if those include sports leagues, sports teams. So I think we've got to be careful here about making judgments. If the vaccine is in fact for sale and the companies that are selling them, the vaccine makers that are selling them have already handled all orders from countries,

how's that going to break down? And what's right and what's wrong about that? So those are all things to watch for. Here on week 40, it sounds, you know, I don't know where, everybody has their lucky numbers. I've always been partial to a four and there's something that sounds much more positive about 40 than 39 to me. Now, when you look at the numbers in terms of those who are suffering

and have suffered because of COVID-19, no number is going to make you feel comfortable. But I can tell you, I like the sound of 40 better than I like the sound of 39. I will really like the sound of whatever number is that comes last. All right, some other things to catch you up on. And this, I guess, is in terms of the reality of what we're facing here. This is in the Washington Post over the weekend, this story. Early in the pandemic, Jew Park noticed a worrisome shift at the market he manages near downtown Washington.

At least once a day, he'd spot someone slipping a package of meat, a bag of rice, or other food into a shirt or under a jacket. Diapers, shampoo, and laundry detergent began disappearing in bigger numbers, too. Since then, he said, thefts have more than doubled at Capitol Supermarket. Even though he now stations more employees at the entrance, asks shoppers to leave backpacks up front, and displays high-theft items like hand sanitizer and baking yeast in more conspicuous areas. Park doesn't usually call the police, choosing instead to bar offenders from coming back. It's become much harder during the pandemic, he said. People will say, I was just hungry.

And then, what do you do? The result is a growing subset of Americans who are stealing food to survive. The Washington Post article. It's written by Abha Batari and Hannah Denham. It goes on to say, retailers have historically been concerned about staff when it comes to what they call shrink.

I remember a brother who was in the, or still is in the retail business. And he, I can remember him telling me 30 years ago that the biggest problem was staff, which surprised me. But obviously that's still consistent. Workers are typically behind about a quarter of the $25 billion in global losses reported each year, a category that includes lost merchandise, stolen cash, and employee errors, security experts say. That changed with the pandemic as customer shoplifting became more pronounced,

especially in areas with high joblessness. In Philadelphia, reports of retail theft jumped about 60% year over year, just after President Trump declared a national emergency in March because of the pandemic. They remained at elevated levels through at least July. Though shoplifting tends to spike during national crises, it jumped 16% after September 11th and 34% after the 2008 recession. These are the most startling numbers. Now, I haven't seen numbers like this on Canada yet. But listen to this.

Nearly 26 million adults in the U.S., or one in eight, reported not having enough food to eat as of mid-November. According to the latest data from the Census Bureau, that figure has climbed steadily during the pandemic and has hit record highs since the government agency began collecting such data in 1998. And this concluding thought from Danielle Nirenberg, president and founder of Food Tank, a non-profit. We're supposed to be the greatest, richest country in the world, and we don't have safety president and founder of Food Tank, a non-profit.

We're supposed to be the greatest, richest country in the world, and we don't have safety nets for when something like this happens. People are forced to steal when they shouldn't have to, and that's a great American tragedy. It's a great tragedy, no matter the country, when things are left like that. Here's the other side of the equation for those, in fact, who can afford to eat and to stockpile in a responsible fashion. Costco. You know Costco. Costco, wholesale corporation, topped Wall Street's profit expectations during the first quarter and made continued high demand for food and supplies,

even as the warehouse chain said pandemic-related costs remain elevated. Profit climbed to $2.62 a share in the period that ended November 22nd, which was better than the analysts had expected. Costco has seen steady demand as consumers stock up on bulk food, along with electronics and goods for the home. Despite signs the pantry-loading trend may wane with a COVID vaccine, the pandemic has been a boon for large retailers and warehouse clubs, including Costco, that carry quarantine-friendly items

such as shelf, stable, canned foods, and rice. Here's my Costco story. Costco is one of those stores in Manitoba that is affected by the restrictions that have been placed on it by the provincial government fighting the increasing numbers in Manitoba. And so Costco, they can only sell, Costco in Manitoba can only sell essential goods, not non-essential goods. So essential goods, food, and obviously certain other things, you know,

whether they be hand sanitizer or toilet paper, you name it. But what's non-essential are things like books. So how do I know that? I know that because one of the faithful podcast listeners sent me a picture because they went to Costco to buy Extraordinary Canadians, my book out there with Mark Bulgich. And the picture was of a big kind of palette of extraordinary Canadians, but it was covered and wrapped in plastic.

You couldn't get at it because it was non-essential. Of course, I beg to differ. No, I don't. It's not essential. But it does make a great Christmas gift if you can find it somewhere, even in Manitoba. So anyway, Costco doing well, which tells us something about people's buying habits right now in terms of stocking up. Now, two last things.

There's a great story in the Washington Post over the weekend. It's a long story. I'm not going to read any of it here. I'm just going to tell you about it. Because if you subscribe to the Washington Post or if you can get access to it as part of one of its free columns. They've got in-depth coverage of an American small community and its journey through COVID. And that goes through everything in terms of the politicization of mask wearing and how even when community leaders and neighbors are dying from COVID,

some still refuse to take precautions. The town is, well, it's not that far from the Canadian border, actually. When you're, say, in Manitoba or Saskatchewan, you look south, you've got North Dakota and then South Dakota. And this town is in South Dakota, Mitchell then South Dakota. And this town is in South Dakota. Mitchell, South Dakota. So if you go on the Post website and search out Mitchell, South Dakota, you'll come up with this in-depth coverage. It's quite the story.

There's one line in this kind of promotion for it that I saw, which I know many of you love it when I tell stories, anecdotes about my past in the business. So here I'll tell you one. It's got nothing to do with COVID, okay? It's simply a kind of behind-the-scenes story about the business. There's a line in here that reads, this Washington Post's in-depth coverage

of an American small town's journey through COVID represents the epitome of the politicization of mask wearing. Okay. So as soon as I read that line, I thought of, I was reminded of this story. When you read the news and you're sitting in a studio and you're using the teleprompter for, you know, stories that have been written

by people like my friend Mark Boguch, or in some cases by me, but it's not the first time you've seen that story that you're looking at the teleprompter on, right? Obviously, you've seen it before. If you wrote it, you've obviously seen it. But even if you haven't written it, you've gone through the copy of that day's news.

And you're familiar with it. I used to not only watch the, or read the stories, I'd watch the items. I'd be a part of the editing process on scripts on occasion, especially ones that dealt with Ottawa. And so it kept you busy through the day. But occasionally, occasionally, you would be confronted with a situation

where something broke during the newscast, and the editors would write that story and it would appear in the lineup on the teleprompter and odds were that when you read it on air it was going to be the first time you'd ever read it. And so the editors would make sure they made it straightforward and simple with no catchy names in there that might present a problem. So one day early in my national anchoring days, a story like that popped up. And I think it was Mark came in on the intercom talking to me in my ear saying, there's a story coming up.

You know, it's been vetted, but it's just happened, so you'll have to, you know, just sort of wing it when you're reading it. So I said, fine. And so I can't remember what the story was about. But I was reading it, and what your eye does is that sometimes, you know, you're registering what it is you're reading, but your eye is scanning ahead a little bit just so you're not going to be surprised by anything. So I was doing exactly that when I saw coming up at me rapidly on the prompter a word that I did not recognize. And that word was spelled E-P-I-T-O-M-E.

And as I came up to that word, I thought, okay, never seen it before, but it's got to be epitome. And that's what I said. And I finished the story and moved on to the next story, and that was that. Nobody in the studio said anything. I went upstairs. We were on the main floor of the studio.

This was in the old building on Jarvis Street in Toronto. I was on the main floor of the studio, and the newsroom was on the fifth floor. I got up to the fifth floor, and there was a lot of snickering and laughter going on. And I said, what's going on here? And they said, epitome? And I said, yeah, what does that mean?

I've never heard that word. And they said, yeah, well, you probably never have heard that word, but have you ever heard of the word epitome? And I went, oh, my God. Of course I'd heard the word epitome, but I'd never, for some reason, at that point in my life, I'd never seen it written anywhere. And it just didn't register. So, of course, when I ever see epitome, I think of that night

and how I kind of made a fool of myself. All right, last story. This comes from The New Yorker. There's barely a museum in North America that hasn't tried to make sense of the pandemic, and nearly all of them have done so while finding new, remote ways to curate and communicate. Curators at the National Museum of American History were planning an exhibit about pandemics when the virus struck. Now they're collecting artifacts of the present in the moment.

The Autry Museum of the American West must be named after Gene Autry, great American California movie star. The Autry Museum of the American West has collected diaries that were kept by children and masks crafted by members of the Navajo Nation. The Panhandle Plains Historical Museum acquired an essay written by an 81-year-old man about what it felt like to catch the coronavirus on a Carnival cruise ship and nearly die. In sharing her story of the process, Shannon Perrick, a curator of the history of photography, said,

We ourselves, as curators, are part of a story we're collecting. It's not just that the event is unfolding. It's that many of us are experiencing it too. So true. It's like Historica Canada, of which I'm on the board, so I declare that. We're running on Instagram a series called Canada During COVID. And it's all pictures taken by you, of your experiences during this pandemic. We started this very early on, as have obviously a lot of other institutions and museums in the States, and it's great.

And you can be a part of that as well in your own home, as I've said many times. Keep a diary. Keep that diary to hand down through the generations. We are traveling through a moment in history, a significant one. And we should track it for our families and for the future. All right. That is the Bridge Daily for this Monday. A reminder that on Wednesday for Smoke Mirrors and the Truth, Bruce and I have got a special guest, David Axelrod, former senior advisor to President Obama, will be joining us on Wednesday. And really looking forward to David's comments on the situation that the U.S. and the world, in fact, faces right now with the transition

from one U.S. government to another. All right, as I said, that's it for The Bridge Daily for this Monday, first episode of week 40. I'm Peter Mansbridge. Thanks so much for listening, and as you know, we will be back in 24 hours. Thank you.