Manitoba is increasing Manitoba Bridge Grant with 4th round of up to $5,000 payments for eligible businesses, charities, not-for-profits. Money will flow this week. Also, $2,000 top-up for restaurants to help cover costs of food waste, employee wages, maintenance or insurance.
And, $2 million going to Dine-In Restaurant Relief program to help restaurants shift their operations to delivery. Premier @BrianPallister says Manitobans need to shorten this third wave by following public health orders and getting vaccinated. #COVID19MB
Eligibility to be immunized at a super site or pop-up clinic is now people aged 30+and Indigenous people aged 18+. As well, all adults 18+ who live/work in specified jobs in priority communities. AZ vaccine includes individuals 40+ and people 30-39 w/priority health conditions.
Pallister says Manitoba is preparing a "roadmap" similar to the one Saskatchewan released, showing its re-opening schedule. It will be an incentive to get vaccinated and should be ready in a few weeks. cbc.ca/news/canada/sa…
There are four new #COVID19MB deaths and 502 new cases. Current five-day test positivity rate is 11.6 per cent provincially and 13.8 per cent in Winnipeg.
This morning in court, Dr. Jared Bullard, the associate medical director of Cadham Lab, is being cross-examined by @JCCFCanada lawyer Jared Brown, who represents the applicants in the case. Follow @AustinGrabish for updates. cbc.ca/news/canada/ma…
.@DoctorsManitoba is recognizing Bullard and his team at Cadham Provincial Lab with a Medal of Excellence for their work during #COVID19MB. @jbullard77
Now on the stand, Dr. Joel Kettner, former chief public health officer for Manitoba. He's an expert witness for the applicants/church groups. He's being cross-examined by Heather Leonoff, lawyer for the province.
Provincial health and education officials are holding news conferences at 1:30 and 3:30 pm today to announce more #Covid19MB restrictions for schools.
The province is reporting three new #COVID19MB deaths and 532 new cases. The five-day COVID-19 test positivity rate is 10.9 per cent provincially and 13 per cent in Winnipeg.
Breaking: MB Education Min Cliff Cullen says effective May 12, all K-12 schools in Winnipeg and Brandon are going to full remote learning until May 30. There are some exceptions eg for younger students of essential workers who can't make other arrangements.
Chief Justice Glenn Joyal has opened court, saying exceptional steps have been taken to ensure access by media and members of the public. He says this is an important case re: public profile and issues adjudicated.
Joyal says there's every reason to ensure this hearing and the issues are dealt with and addressed in transparent way. Participating: 10 counsel, 10 applicants, two of whom will testify this morning, 4 government reps online, 7 media online, 3 media in court.
Dr. Frank Plummer has died, just after celebrating 40th anniversary of ground-breaking HIV research in Africa. Headed @PHAC_GC NML lab for years. He recently got experimental brain surgery to fight alcoholism. No confirmed cause of death. cbc.ca/news/canada/ma…@umanitoba
@PHAC_GC@umanitoba Excerpts of staff note from NML head Matthew Gilmour: Frank passed away in Kenya, where he had just enjoyed time on safari with his wife Jo Kennelly and his stepdaughter, Imogen. He was in Nairobi to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the UNairobi and @umanitoba Partnership. 2/6
Frank led world-changing breakthroughs in HIV prevention. The most noteworthy breakthrough that he and his team made was the finding of female sex-workers who were resistant to HIV. Frank had just had a joyful reunion with many of them a couple days before his passing. 3/6
THREAD: Some of my stories about Canada’s National Microbiology Lab (NML) have been distorted to create a #coronavirus conspiracy theory. One of the 1st mentions was Saturday on Twitter. Businessman Kyle Bass claimed this involved “a husband and wife Chinese spy team”: (1/11)
In the tweet, which was shared over 12,000 times, he linked to a story I broke in July 2019, revealing that a researcher, her husband, and some of their graduate students, were escorted out of the NML in Winnipeg amid an RCMP investigation. cbc.ca/1.5211567 (2/11)
CBC reporting never claimed the two scientists were spies, or that they brought any version of the #coronavirus to the lab in Wuhan. But the story has spread. One blog post was shared more than 6,000 times on Facebook. The story even made its way onto TikTok. (3/11)