Coronavirus Update: How a meat-processing facility became Canada’s other front line

Good evening – here are the coronavirus updates you need to know tonight.

Top headlines:

1. How Cargill became the site of Canada’s largest single outbreak of COVID-19
2. Canada’s immunity task force takes aim at critical COVID-19 questions
3. Survival of the unicorns: As the economy skidded, so did startups. Now they need new ideas, and fast

In Canada, there have been at least 56,714 cases reported, which is more than double the number from 18 days ago. There have also been at least 23,801 recoveries and 3,566 deaths. Health officials have administered more than 903,994 tests.

Coronavirus explainers: Updates and essential resources • Coronavirus in maps and charts • Your province: When will the lockdown be lifted?

Photo of the day

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Number of the day

921 people infected

As of Friday, 921 workers had tested positive for the virus at Cargill Ltd.’s beef slaughterhouse, a plant in High River, Alberta that employs roughly 2,000 people.

• Most people wouldn’t expect Canada’s largest single site for a COVID-19 outbreak would be a slaughterhouse. You probably also wouldn’t think that the second largest is at another meat-packing plant – JBS Canada’s beef facility, also in Alberta.

What it means: There are many factors that make these facilities prone to an outbreak: close quarters in the plant, a vulnerable population and language barriers. But meat-packing plants also operate out of the spotlight. These are jobs that Canadians don’t want; they are primarily staffed by people born and raised abroad.

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Coronavirus in Canada

• In Vancouver, restaurateur and chef Andrea Carlson had been eager for the relief details for her business, but was brought back to a grim reality when she discovered what they were. Many restaurants are discovering that the program may not be enough, and in some cases may not help at all.
• Yesterday, Prince Edward Island entered its first of four phases to lift restrictions. Island business owners and residents are enthusiastic about this first step toward normal life.
• Alberta introduced the concept of cohort families, New Brunswick launched “two-family household bubbles” in late April and Saskatchewan is also allowing visits with one or two other families. Now, people are finding they must choose their bubble carefully.
• A third Ontario personal support worker has died in as many weeks says SEIU Healthcare, which represents more than 60,000 front-line healthcare workers in the province.

On Thursday, The Globe obtained information that when the pandemic first hit Canada, the federally managed stockpile of personal protective gear was at a fraction of what was required. Yesterday, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau acknowledged the government should have been better prepared and pledged the stockpiles will be ready for the next pandemic.

Coronavirus around the world

Worldwide, there have been at least 3,417,972 cases confirmed, 1,092,650 recoveries and 243,237 deaths reported.

• Coronavirus is hitting Michigan, U.S. hard: Its 3,800 deaths are the third-most in the country and the crisis is highlighting the state’s racial and class divides. The state’s pandemic’s politics are also particularly caustic, as legislators voted to roll back its governor’s authority to fight the pandemic.
• Rioting inmates at a prison in Brazil held seven guards hostage, protesting against the suspension of all visits because of the pandemic. Without visits, most families have no way of getting in touch with them.
• Britain’s Boris Johnson and his fiancee, Carrie Symonds, have named their son, in part, after the doctors who saved his life: Wilfred Lawrie Nicholas.
• In Spain, thousands woke early and laced up their sports shoes after a prohibition on outdoor exercise ended after seven weeks.

Question and answer

Question: Disease shaped architecture in the 20th century. Will it do that again?

Answer: “The fears and the issues are very similar,” architectural theorist Beatriz Colomina says. “We are in the middle of a pandemic again. And architecture has always had a close relationship with illness.”

Look at the basics of modern architecture: An obsession with the colour white. Large windows. Terraces and balconies. Flat roofs. “We have been presented with all these as simply questions of style,” says Colomina, a Princeton University professor, from her home in New York. “But we have been ignoring what architects were saying very clearly: That architecture was being presented as a cure.”

Since so many of us are working from home, coronavirus is already changing the way we live, Colomina suggests. But hopefully these changes will make our cities stronger. Read Alex Bozikovic’s full story here.

The Globe’s health columnist André Picard answered reader questions on social distancing and many additional topics.

Distractions

For those getting bored of not having enough social interaction

• Why COVID-19 might be turning many into unintentional birders. As the social world around us shrinks, it seems that the only thing that hasn’t yet been cancelled is … birds.
• Video games such as Animal Crossing, Stardew Valley, or Minecraft allow us to live through characters who do not have to stand two metres apart.
• Despite all the cancellations, running is helping ease that empty feeling for many missing their regular activities. Canada’s running clubs are getting virtually creative.

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More Globe reporting and opinion

• For the Canadian golf industry, which counts nearly 2,300 courses, the next few weeks are an opportunity to lure in players who are eager to get outdoors as they are among the first businesses allowed to reopen.
• Mohamad Fakih lived through civil war in Lebanon, and came to Canada with $1,200 in his pocket. But the worst experience of his life, he says, was the first few days after restaurants were forced to close to limit the spread of COVID-19.
• How many employees can you safely fit in a postpandemic elevator? That’s what companies around the world are trying to determine, as many figure out how to return to work.
• Adrienne Tanner: “Regardless of any cynicism about how we got here, the plan to house homeless people during this pandemic is laudable. But what happens when it subsides?”
• Susan Pinker: “Clearly, it’s painful for adults to sacrifice social contact at every age and stage, even more so for the young and single."
• Jeff Booth: “So, we stand at a crossroads similar to the one we had in 2008 – only bigger, with calls for massive bailouts of taxpayer money to save the same system that was so clearly failing in the first place.”

Information centre:

• Here’s what you should do if you are newly laid off; how to apply for CERB, EI, and other financial benefits; and other coronavirus and employment questions answered.
• How to minimize damage to your credit score; how to manage retirement anxiety during difficult times; and things to think about if you’re considering home delivery.
• Here are the expectations for self-isolation; tips for managing anxiety; and protecting your mental health.
• How to get physical distancing right; measures condo buildings are taking to encourage physical distancing; and what you can do to help slow the spread of coronavirus.
• Here are the essentials to stock up on and how to shop safely for groceries; the best pantry staples; foods to eat to maintain an immune system-friendly diet; and how to keep a healthy diet while working from home.
• How to break a bad habit (like touching your face) and what to do if you think you have the virus.

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Have questions about the coronavirus? Email audience@globeandmail.com.