Parses captions for PM Trudeau's daily speeches and presents them in a more human readable format
Joining us, either on CBC news network, streaming around the world on our app or our website. We’re standing by for the Prime Minister’s update on the COVID-19 crisis. He’ll be speaking at any moment at 11:00 AM eastern. We’re expecting an update on the government’s procurement of P.P.E., including things like, of course, ventilators, masks, gowns, gloves, hand sanitizer, specifically how much of what was ordered about two months ago has actually arrived and how that domestic supply chain has ramped up. For instance, of the 29, 000 ventilators ordered, just over 200 have been delivered but we know that the domestic supply chain for those ventilators is expected to be online soon and thousands more are expected in the next number of weeks. So, we’re going hear more about that from the Prime Minister. and perhaps more questions, too, about ongoing challenges with testing specifically in the province of Ontario. I should note that Quebec met its testing goal for the first time yesterday. So that’s some encouraging news for that province. While we wait, I’ll bring in My colleagues, the host of “power & politics”, Vassy ka pel locals and the cbc’s david Cochrane. May not have very long, knowing – depending on how timely the Prime Minister is today. But we are expecting him to talk a little bit about the P.P.E. Situation. Vassy?
Vassy:
Yeah. I think this is a highly anticipated update as far as procurement goes, only because we are in the process right now and what we’ve been discussing over the past week and a half or so is the re-opening of provincial economiesful as they re-open, there is not only the continued demand in the health care system for personal protective equipment but outside of the health care system as well and there have been issues with procurement so far. For example, with n-95 masks. That would be in the health care system. We know we haven’t reached capacity, that the measures that everyone took worked and that the hospital capacity wasn’t overloaded. But there are problems with procuring masks that are up to canadian standards. For example, from china, the majority that have arrived and that is still far short of the majority that were originally ordered were not up to canadian standards. Then there is the domestic front, a you mentioned, and there is the province’s roles. Provinces are procuring a lot of this equipment as well. It’s difficult to get a sense, I think, of where we stand. At least I found it confusing so far. Do we have enough, how much might we need for the second wave, the potential of the second wave and what about in the meantime, as economies re-open. Are we – what is the sort of overall need, are we meeting it, what do we need to do so? and it’s the sort of federal component and the provincial component and then it’s also the domestic supply chain which, of course, kicked off when the pandemic started as well. The government focused its efforts on the domestic supply chain, ramping it up, trying to be able to meet demand domestically, but I’m not sure where this process stands right now, because it seems like getting certified or up toed thes. That is a long process not something that happens overnight.
Rosemary:
If you look at the figures last week versus this week. We’ve seen a couple of example where is we’ve seen no change. So, gloves. There hasn’t been more n-95 respirators as you point out, problematic. and the ventilator, although we heard from flavio vole who says those are in line to come in the thousands very, very soon. David, you’ve been talking to people and also about the role the provinces play versus the federal government and then everybody who has a business who now wants some of these things, not the medical grade things but the other things that are there.
David:
a couple of things to keep in mind. The number from the Prime Minister is a minority of the procurement that is happening in this country. In normal non pandemic times, 100% of this is done by the provinces with the exception of the emergency national stockpiles that the public health agency maintains. What the federal government is doing is try to backstop and supplement that. Obviously the usage rates and burn rates of disposable equipment’s like gloves and masks is through the roof during this pandemic. We’ve seen low numbers of ventilators delivered to the federal government but it was going to be may or June before the domestic capacity ramp ed up to the point and even companies like thorn hill medical which have been tasked to provide some of these, they told us they were going to deliver their ventilators to Ontario first. Because the Ontario government was also a big customer of theirs in this preparation for the pandemic. The other thing on the n-95s, there have been problems with quality for the masks that are coming from china. Huge percentage of a federal shipment was found not to be up to first world standards.
Rosemary:
9.8 million.
David:
Exactly. Those are used in areas that do not require an n-95 standard as a surgical mask replacement or supplement. But the provinces, it is important to point out, have their own supply lines largely with 3m in the United States. So they have a consistent supply coming in. Whether it’s enough or a surplus, that’s unclear. But there is a steady supply of masks up to the standard they’re looking for, coming from the United States. This is why that exemption that president trump granted Canada a month or so back. Was so critical. Because if the n-95s from the United States were getting stopped at the Canada-United States border there would be a full-blown P.P.E. Crisis in the canadian health system because of what is happening with the chinese supply. So right now n-95s seem to be Ok. I guess, is the phrase that I would use. The concern is if you get into a second wave in the fall, and you get a massive surge coming into your hospitals then, this is where the surplus ventilators may be required but also where the n-95 quality issues from china become an acute problem. Because if you can’t rely on the big bulk orders from china, then once you get into a warehouse in hamilton or toronto and realise they’re not up to snuff, that is where you have a real ish yaoufm medicom is what they tasked to be part of the domestic supply chain. It is an n-95 manufacturer but it is weeks away if not a month or more away. and they set up a whole new n. – n-95 production line in Canada. They have to get it up and running. That part of the domestic supply chain is still a ways away, but the good manufacturers to the south and the United States have been a vital part of this.
Rosemary:
We’ll talk to logistical unico-ersinger, one of the companies making gowns and I know that they are highly coveted right now, too. But as we point out, the provinces who have procured P.P.E. On their own directly for their own health care systems, some are doing very well. Alberta, for instance, has not only sent P.P.E. S to other provinces and ventilators to other province, but it is now allowing companies, private companies to buy P.P.E. From the province because they have enough and obviously businesses as they start to re-open need more of it. It does make me worry a little bit after hearing someone, one of the top doctors at the W.H.O., Vassy, say today or yesterday, at tend of the day yesterday, that the second peak could actually come in the first wave. So, some of this was about preparing for the second wave. But there are so many unknowns around the virus and a potential that things would get much worse much faster than we anticipated. and obviously the need for a large amount of P.P.E. Becomes more urgent.
Vassy:
and we have learned that you have to plan for the worst-case scenario because that wasn’t the case in most province and federally, at least when it comes to, for example, the emergency stockpiles for P.P.E. When it comes to the first wave or the potential sort of first part of this pandemic. In the example that you proud for Alberta, it’s a test case and it is a little bit wonky. But the way in which health care is delivered or the administration of Alberta, it went through a decade ago a controversial process where it was all centralized and this is, of course, a discussion in Ontario as well as some other provinces. and while at the time that was a very controversial move because it affected the delivery of health care through outs the province. When it comes to procurement, it ended up being a huge benefit to Alberta because it was centralized, because they only had basically one office working on the idea of what they might need. They started a lot earlier than other provinces and as a result even now you mentioned the ventilators. They loaned, I think, over 20 to Quebec. They seemed to have enough suppl is that they had a surplus at a certain point. You’re right. When it comes to the second wave, that might be an even bigger concern for provinces. You have seen over the past month far less outcry from premiers, for example. Compared to the first month of this pandemic where they were worried about health care workers. So it looks like on the procurement side for provinces, things have stabilized the at least. I don’t know what that means for the second wave. When it comes to the federal picture and David is absolutely right, this is almost like a backstop for the provincial supply, I think there are some worrying trends and you pointed out the n-95 respirators. Of the 104 million that the federal government have ordered, despite what’s happening with the United States from china, just less than 12 million have arrived and 9.8 million as you pointed out, of those 12 don’t actually meet our standards. There are big issues with china. The Minister of procurement has talked about them, how it is a wild west out there. I think the bigger issue is even the small portion we’re getting are not up to our standards. So if that sort of unpredictable relationship with the United States were to be affected again, that is a concern going forward, especially when you talk about the potential for a second wave or subsequent smaller waves thereafter. This isn’t something that will stop overnight so the need, and I think the concerns around china, will remain for a while as well.
Rosemary:
Ok. and we are expecting the Prime Minister in about a minute’s time. So, we’ll just stay on his front door as we wait for him to come out and talk more about P.P.E. I will also bring you up to date on the state here in Ontario because we talked – we talked a lot about in the past week or so about how cases in this province seem to be on an upward trend. Reports today say they are at 287 coronavirus cases, which is the lowest number in more than a month. It might be a one-off give than we know the friend is heading in worrying directions. Good to see that the numbers are a little bit lower today and of course it happened as the premier has made the decision to encourage more and more people to get test. Even if you don’t have symptoms, you can show up at those COVID-19 assessment centres and get tested to see if perhaps you’re one of those asymptomatic carriers. There is 129 of those assessment centres across Ontario. So, as Ontario tries to get a handle really on what is a worrying trend and ramp up testing as I mentioned off the top, Quebec has finally met its target of 14, 000 daily tests in that province. and encouraging news as everyone tries to ramp up now. Here now the Prime Minister of Canada.