COVID-19 crisis in Manitoba
Members of the Winnipeg Police Identification Unit dressed in protective equipment enter Maples Personal Care Home on Saturday night. (Daniel Crump / Winnipeg Free Press)
Provincial probe: Health Minister Cameron Friesen has announced a provincial investigation into the situation at Maples Personal Care Home, where eight residents died in a 48-hour period late last week. The Winnipeg Police Service is also investigating. Twenty-two residents have died from COVID-19, and than 120 residents and 50 staff members have been infected. Ryan Thorpe reports. READ MORE
Health minister makes ‘excuses’: In his latest column, Tom Brodbeck says Friesen avoided responsibility by blaming senior officials for not raising concerns about the care home with his office sooner. “The fact he and Lanette Siragusa, the province’s chief nursing officer, claimed Sunday that government did everything it could to avoid these outbreaks was the height of buck-passing,” Brodbeck writes. READ MORE
‘All these people are dying’: The Free Press spoke with seven family members of Maples residents about their experiences at the nursing home. Many said short-staffing was a serious problem long before the pandemic. Melissa Martin reports. READ MORE
‘Act now,’ nurses urge: More than 1,500 nurses signed a letter sent to Premier Brian Pallister and his health minister saying the government should take pandemic recommendations from health care professionals seriously. “Lives are at stake. Our health care system is at stake. You must act now,” the letter states. READ MORE
Cases still soaring: Dr. Brent Roussin, the province’s chief provincial public health officer, will reveal the latest coronavirus case numbers at a news conference this afternoon. The province announced 441 new cases Sunday, Manitoba’s second-highest number since the pandemic began. Meanwhile, code red pandemic restrictions took effect in the Southern Health region — which includes Portage la Prairie, Steinbach and Winkler — today. Grant Burr reports. READ MORE
Weather
Your forecast: Sunny later this morning and mainly cloudy this afternoon, with a high of -2 C, a low of -6 C, wind chill as low as -13 beginning late this afternoon, and peak winds from the west at 30 km/h gusting to 50.
What’s happening today
CPPresident-elect Joe Biden, right, on stage with vice-president-elect Kamala Harris, left, Saturday, in Wilmington, Del. (ANDREW HARNIK / THE ASSOCIATED PRESS, POOL)
Task force to tackle virus: U.S. president-elect Joe Biden will announce full details of a coronavirus task force today. Former surgeon general Dr. Vivek Murthy and former Food and Drug Administration commissioner Dr. David Kessler will both lead the working group, Biden’s campaign manager said Sunday. The Associated Press reports. READ MORE
Giller Prize to be given out: The Giller Prize will be presented at a virtual ceremony hosted by actor Eric McCormack tonight. Winnipeg writer David Bergen, who won the award in 2005, received his fifth nomination for Here the Dark, a collection of short stories. READ MORE
On this date
On Nov. 9, 1914: The Manitoba Free Press reported that in the Great War, Russian forces dislodged German troops on the east Prussian front. Near Ypres, Belgium, a concentrated German attack was unsuccessful. In St. Boniface, police sprang a sensation at the inquest into the death of John J. McColm: Bella Woods, an eyewitness to the killing, said while out on a drive, Chicago pugilist Harry Mason struck McColm with a club, then dragged him out onto the road and stuck him again; Woods said she was given $50 to keep quiet about the incident.
Today’s front page
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