Today, we begin WEEK 4 on DAY 22 of the COVID-19 pandemic. And all indications are that the toughest fight is still to come with Public Health officials telling us we should expect little relief from the isolation and physical distancing measures for months…not weeks. Here’s what you need to know on Wednesday, April 1st, 2020 *Toronto’s top doctor Dr. Eileen de Villa says she wouldn’t expect public health measures will have to remain in place up to 12 more weeks. Despite some “glimmer’s of hope” in some jurisdictions, the numbers continue to rise sharply right across the country… There's been a 500% increase in 14 days…in Toronto alone. Toronto’s Mayor John Tory ordered city events and venues to be canceled and closed in the coming weeks. That includes Pride Week at the end of June. Tory says it only underlines the seriousness of the situation.. The questions of how much and how long…were among the questions posed to Prime Minister Trudeau during his Wednesday morning briefing. *Christopher Nardi at the National Post cites a government document that “Current GoC [Government Operations Centre] modelling suggests as a best case scenario that current measures continue until at least July.” Meanwhile….Ontario’s Premier, Doug Ford says there are 'Dark days ahead': warning little separates the province from devastation we’ve seen in Italy and Spain. Researchers in Calgary also have a warning for you. Beware of the “conspiracy” theories you may see in your social media feeds. A report released by the University of Calgary School of Public Policy suggests Russia is waging a disinformation war and you are the target. Using various platforms, the campaign offers “evidence” the virus was created in America in order to halt the economic growth of China. <<<<<>>>>  It’s our intention and effort to make sure you’ve got a broad range of the best information available about COVID-19…and that’s why I make sure we provide links to the sources we’re using and to the voices we’re quoting. And it’s clear there’s an appetite for up to date, reliable and resourced information about COVID-19. To date, we’ve had more than 61 thousand downloads for our daily show and those numbers continue to increase. So thank you for listening. Thank you for the questions you’re sending along. I promise we will get to them and I will let each of you know when your questions will be addressed in the coming shows. We’re in this for the long haul…right along with you. If you like what you hear… I’d be grateful if you’d subscribe. I’d be thrilled if you shared it through your social media networks. <<<<<>>>>  One the media outlets that has been on the forefront of the COVID-19 story is STAT News out of Boston. And I had the opportunity to talk to STAT’s senior science writer Sharon Begley on my Weekend Morning Show on Newstalk 1010, back in early February. The headline on the story questioned: What happens if we don’t contain the novel Corona Virus? Nearly two months later, here we are. Sharon Begley joined us  from her home office in Boston and for all of our best intentions, as smart as we may all be…it’s clear that we didn’t pay close enough attention to this. If we’d responded sooner we may have been able to avoid some of the grief we’re going through now, never mind save some lives. Sharon Begley is a Senior Science Writer with STAT news   <<<>>>  IF YOU HAVE A STORY ABOUT YOUR EXPERIENCE YOU WANT TO SHARE…send me an email. DAVE@DAVETRAFFORD.COM or connect with me on TWITTER @DaveTrafford. <<<<>>>> DISCLAIMER: THE VIEWPOINTS EXPRESSED IN THIS PODCAST REPRESENT THE OPINIONS OF THE HOST AND PARTICIPANTS AS OF THE DATE OF PUBLICATION AND ARE NOT INTENDED TO BE A SUBSTITUTE FOR MEDICAL ADVICE AND BEST PRACTICES BY LEADING MEDICAL AUTHORITIES AS THE INFORMATION SURROUNDING THE CURRENT CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC IS CONSTANTLY EVOLVING.    

The COIVD-19 Daily Podcast   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2020_coronavirus_pandemic_in_Canada#January https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2019%E2%80%9320_coronavirus_pandemic_in_mainland_China     This is DAY 21 of the COVID-19 pandemic.   3 weeks ago, March 10th, Canada had 96 confirmed COVID-19 cases. Today, at the time of this recording, Canada has nearly 82 hundred cases. More than half of all Canadian cases to date are in the province of Quebec/ Here’s what you need to know on Tuesday, March 31, 2020 Business is putting the common good ahead of the bottom line. Industries across Canada are stepping up to help fight the COVID-19 outbreak. Non-medical industries are retooling to manufacture made in Canada medical supplies.   The help can’t come soon enough. Quebec’s premier says the province could run out of key medical supplies in 3 to 7 days   Ontario Premier Doug Ford extends state of emergency for another two weeks   Food industry 'decimated' as consumers abandon restaurants, report finds   Air Canada to temporarily lay off 16,500 staff   Lines of urns in Wuhan prompt questions about the veracity of China's COVID-19 death toll   Moscow orders partial lockdown as coronavirus cases in the capital pass 1,000 mark   US President Donald Trump says US in good shape to meet 'peak'   <<<<>>>>  Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says the federal government is spending $2 billion to procure more diagnostic testing, ventilators, and personal protective equipment for front-line workers in the COVID-19 fight, with some supplies set to be ready within days. Trudeau says a handful of companies are close to or have already signed contracts with the government to help boost the health sector’s stockpile of medical supplies. Every sector of the economy has been staggered by the COVID-19 outbreak but there are questions and concerns that restaurants may not recover. David Lefebvre is a VP at Restaurants Canada. He tells BNN Bloomberg it’s nothing short of carnage. Today marks the end of the first quarter for 2020. The TSX closed the day up 2 and a quarter per cent…but down more than 20% since the first of the year. <<<<<>>>>>  This pandemic has shaken our health and wealth to their core…and in the coming months governments and business will be forced to recalibrate our approaches to everything from government service delivery to long standing corporate cultures. Tony Chapman at Tony Chapman Reactions is a marketing strategist and host of the podcast Chatter that Matters. He says we will have to act quickly to respond to the lessons learned from this crisis. An important part of the culture change will include a broader corporate focus on social purpose, i.e., placing the interests of corporate stakeholders, employees, and consumers on par with corporate shareholders. Faith Goodman is the CEO of Goodman Sustainability Group and says we’re already seeing several large Canada companies step up and put “community first”. <<<<>>>>  IF YOU HAVE A STORY ABOUT YOUR EXPERIENCE YOU WANT TO SHARE…send me an email. DAVE@DAVETRAFFORD.COM or connect with me on TWITTER @DaveTrafford. DISCLAIMER: THE VIEWPOINTS EXPRESSED IN THIS PODCAST REPRESENT THE OPINIONS OF THE HOST AND PARTICIPANTS AS OF THE DATE OF PUBLICATION AND ARE NOT INTENDED TO BE A SUBSTITUTE FOR MEDICAL ADVICE AND BEST PRACTICES BY LEADING MEDICAL AUTHORITIES AS THE INFORMATION SURROUNDING THE CURRENT CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC IS CONSTANTLY EVOLVING.