The audio version of this article is generated by AI-based technology. Mispronunciations can occur. We are working with our partners to continually review and improve the results.
For days, Abrar Sarwari has been concerned for the safety of his grocery store’s delivery drivers stranded in cold temperatures.
Sarwari is the assistant manager of Tetlit Co-op grocery store in Fort McPherson, N.W.T. He said they are struggling these days to keep the shelves stocked.
That’s because high winds, snow and poor visibility has closed the Dempster Highway for days, between Eagle Plains to Fort McPherson.
“They [truck drivers] were stuck for six days and some of them did not have a place to stay. They were freezing inside the cabins of their trucks … we’re concerned for their safety,” Sarwari said.
The store has run out of perishable food such as milk, eggs and fresh produce, and is low on backup stock, he said. Even worse, he says, is when trucks make it to the store with loads of food already expired.
“We can only stock up on so much… we end up losing margins, we end up losing potential sales.”
Abrar Sarwari is the assistant manager at Tetlit Co-Op grocery store in Fort MacPherson, N.W.T. (Abrar Sarwari)
Sarawari has lived in Fort MacPherson for several years and he says this is the longest closure of the highway he’s experienced.
The mayor of Fort McPherson, Rebecca Blake, calls it “unprecedented.”
She says Dempster Highway has been mostly closed for over two weeks now, with short openings. The Northwest Territories’ Infrastructure department has not confirmed the length of the closure with CBC News, but according to the department’s last update on Feb. 1, the highway is seeing high winds, blowing snow and poor visibility.
Blake says while grocery supplies and mail delivery are her top concerns, the community is managing with access to supplies from Inuvik.
She worries that these sort of closures may become more common as the climate changes, and she wants to N.W.T. government to monitor impacts on infrastructure.
“It’s happening more and more often… with climate change and the different weather patterns, Dempster Highway can close for long periods of time,” she said.
“People in the fuel industry, in the grocery industry can adapt their planning around that.”
Meanwhile, Sarwari says his store right now has supplies of frozen bread and shelf stable milk — though they’re more expensive.
“Nobody wants to have shelf stable milk quite often. It’s only when there are no options left,” he said.
The territory’s Infrastructure department has not said when the Dempster Highway might reopne in the area.
The 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan and Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy, will run from Friday, Feb. 6 through Sunday, Feb. 22. Over the course of those two weeks, athletes from 92 countries — not including Russia or Belarus — will compete in 16 different sports.
At the 2022 Beijing Olympics, the United States finished tied for third in the gold medal count, just behind Norway and Germany. The U.S. brought home nine gold medals, which was tied with China in that category, but the Americans finished fifth in the overall medal count with 25.
Team USA will try to improve upon those numbers in 2026, and they have some golden opportunities to do just that. Both the men’s and women’s hockey team should be in the running for a gold medal, Jordan Stolz is a favorite in speed skating, Chloe Kim is hitting the halfpipe in snowboarding and Mikaela Shiffrin will once again be on the ski slopes. And figure skaters Alysa Liu and Ilia Malinin have high potential to reach the podium.
Norway will attempt to defend its title as the most awarded country in the Winter Olympics, both from 2022 and all-time. The Norwegians won 16 gold medals and 37 total medals at the Beijing Games four years ago, and they possess a large edge in the all-time medal count. Norway has won 148 gold medals and 406 total medals in its 24 appearances at the Winter Olympics. The Americans are a distant second with 330 total medals.
Russian and Belarusian athletes are permitted to compete, but only as individuals under a neutral flag. They’ll be classified as “Individual Neutral Athletes,” and their medals won’t factor into the overall count. Russian and Belarusian teams are still banned from competing the Olympics.
Keep track of the live medal count over the next couple weeks as the United States looks to fill up its trophy case while competing across Northern Italy.
The audio version of this article is generated by AI-based technology. Mispronunciations can occur. We are working with our partners to continually review and improve the results.
Firefighters are at the scene of a fire at the Halifax Armoury, a Department of National Defence building near the city’s downtown.
Crews responded to reports of alarms shortly after 4 a.m., according to Halifax Regional Fire and Emergency.
Assistant Chief Jim Stymiest said the fire was brought under control shortly before 7 a.m. There are no injuries, he said.
Firefighters found fires on the first and second floors, he said, and are still searching out hotspots. The cause will be investigated.
Halifax police said they have blocked off Cunard Street between North Park and Maynard streets, and a northbound section of North Park Street.
The Halifax Armoury was constructed in 1899 and is a National Historic Site. It is undergoing extensive restoration work.
The first firefighters to arrive on scene noticed smoke and haze, Stymiest said. Sprinklers in the building had deployed, he said.
Firefighters opened up walls and ceilings, “chasing hidden fire,” he said, and the roof of the building was also opened up for ventilation.
Scotland head coach Gregor Townsend has played down a report that he has agreed to take over at Newcastle Red Bulls after the World Cup.
Townsend already has a part-time consultancy role with Newcastle but the Daily Telegraph has reported, external that he will take over full time – most likely as a director of rugby – when his Scottish Rugby Union contract expires in 2027.
Townsend advises Newcastle on strategy and philosophy and several of his key allies have already been recruited by the ambitious club, which was taken over by the energy drinks manufacturer last year.
He is under pressure as Scotland coach as he prepares for the Six Nations following a disappointing autumn series that included his side being booed off at Murrayfield after surrendering a 21-0 lead against Argentina.
However the former Scotland stand-off, who took over as head coach of the national team in 2017, has denied he has put pen to paper on a deal with Newcastle.
“It’s pure speculation, I’ve not signed a contract beyond the World Cup with anybody,” Townsend said as he announced his team for their Six Nations opener against Italy.
“It’s a story that is being put out there to try to disrupt before the Italy game or next week’s game against England.
“It’s just something that comes out, things like these, before the England game in particular.
“There’s no truth I’ve signed the contract beyond the World Cup and my focus is on the Scotland team right now and hopefully up to the World Cup.”
Newcastle have signed 16 players for next season, including England scrum-half Raffi Quirke from Sale Sharks, New Zealand forward Hoskins Sotutu and Fiji winger Joji Nasova.
There’s no community fridge in Charlottetown’s downtown, and advocates say that leaves a gap in the core of the capital city. While some say a fridge is still needed, there hasn’t been an application for one. CBC’s Tony Davis explains.
The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) has confirmed it is investigating 36 cases of children falling ill after being fed now-recalled batches of baby formula.
Last month, food and drink giant Nestle recalled more than 60 batches of its SMA formula due to concerns about the presence of a heat-resistant toxin, cereulide, which can cause symptoms such as vomiting and diarrhoea.
Producer Danone also recalled one batch of its Aptamil formula.
Following the recall, which included powdered and premixed formulas for babies and toddlers, the UKHSA says it has “received 36 clinical notifications of children developing symptoms consistent with cereulide toxin poisoning across the UK, after consuming implicated batches”.
It added: “Given the widespread availability of the affected products prior to the recall and subsequent testing from the FSA identifying the toxin in batches of recalled formula, this is not unexpected.”
Investigations are ongoing.
Read more: Father ‘wants answers’ after son was fed recalled baby formula Mum of baby who fell ill after being given formula calls for probe
A Nestle spokesperson said: “We are very sorry to hear about these cases and our teams will work closely with any families who report these types of concerns to us.
“We continue to ask parents to check the batch codes of recalled products against our recall notice and thank all those who have contacted us so far.
“Quality and safety is non-negotiable and that is why we have acted quickly with this precautionary recall.
“We would remind anyone with any health concerns to contact a healthcare professional and apologise again that we have had to take this action.”
There seems to be a question whether the Canada-Finland Olympic women’s hockey game will go ahead on Thursday.
Thirteen Finnish players are either sick or quarantined because of a flu bug, a Finnish team representative told Hailey Salvian of The Athletic on Thursday ahead of the opener for both teams.
Finland had just 10 players on the ice for the pre-game skate, Salvian reported, and the team does not know if it will be playing the game against Canada.
Canada is the reigning Olympic champ, while Finland won bronze at the past two Winter Games.
It’s been one year since the first measles cases in the latest outbreak were reported in Manitoba — and there’s no sign the spread of the highly contagious disease is slowing.
“It’s been very busy,” said Dr. Davinder Singh, a medical officer of health with Southern Health, the regional health area that has seen the majority of the province’s cases.
Since February of last year, there have been 371 confirmed and 32 probable measles cases reported in Manitoba, as of Jan. 24, the latest numbers available.
But measles cases are growing again, with 51 confirmed infections so far in the new year, according to the latest data from the province.
“It’s obviously signalling that there’s still a challenge in Manitoba in addressing those growing number of cases,” said Michelle Driedger, a University of Manitoba professor who specializes in community health.
About eight in every 10 measles cases in Manitoba have been reported in Southern Health, according to Singh.
“The outbreak could be over in a month or six weeks if everyone who was not immunized and susceptible chose to get immunized,” he said. “That’s really what we need.”
Southern Health has a low measles vaccination rate compared to other parts of the province, said Singh. Most patients who contract the virus are from areas with the lowest rates of immunizations, he said.
The health region has been trying to curb the spread of measles by encouraging vaccination during the last year — but that hasn’t been easy, he said.
WATCH | Measles 101: Understanding the contagious disease (from March 2024):
Measles: Understanding the most contagious preventable disease | About That
There are early signals that measles — one of the world’s most contagious but preventable diseases — may be spreading in parts of Canada. Andrew Chang breaks down the way the virus attacks the body and what makes it so contagious.
Most people who aren’t immunized have expressed either concerns about vaccine safety or think the virus is not severe enough to require immunization.
The vast majority of measles cases in Manitoba — 334 cases, or 85.6 per cent — have been in people who are not immunized against the illness, while 25 cases, or just over six per cent, have been in people whose vaccination status is unknown, according to provincial data.
A total of 12 cases, or three per cent, were in people who had one vaccination dose against measles. Twenty-one cases, or 5.2 per cent, involved people with two or more doses.
Singh said the measles vaccine is extremely safe and its risks are very rare, but misinformation still spreads.
“It’s not something that can easily be changed with an advertising campaign,” he said. “You really have to get to kind of the roots of why someone might not be trusting vaccination to have any chance of overcoming it.”
Health officials are working with the education system, as well as family doctors, to get accurate information out, he said.
Southern Health has also been talking about immunization during sessions with families, including during prenatal and postpartum care programming, Singh said, which is intended to open the door to talk about concerns around the measles vaccine.
“I think a lot of it comes down to trust,” he said.
Burden to the health-care system
The number of measles infections in Manitoba is adding work for already busy emergency departments, but also straining administrative units, said Singh.
With every positive case, health-care officials must contact trace to learn where the virus circulated, and then alert the public.
“Any burden on those systems can be very significant,” he said. “It just adds up to a lot of additional work for a lot of additional people in the system.”
The vast majority of measles cases in Manitoba have been in people who are not immunized against the illness. (Rafferty Baker/CBC)
But Singh said his biggest concern is the unnecessary illness and suffering the outbreak is causing.
“That is completely preventable, because we have a very effective vaccine,” he said.
Since February of last year, 22 people have been hospitalized in Manitoba for measles, two of whom required treatment in an intensive care unit, the province’s data says.
Of those hospitalized, 16 were children under the age of 10. Children are among the most at risk from severe measles complications.
Listening to concerns
The University of Manitoba’s Driedger, who specializes in public health and health communication, said she feels like health authorities are doing what they can to increase immunization rates.
That includes extending measles vaccination eligibility to children as young as six months in Southern Health last year. A spokesperson for the province told CBC News 2,078 infants between six and 12 months have received a dose of the measles vaccine since the eligibility was expanded.
Driedger says her research on COVID-19 vaccine acceptance in that region showed increasing the availability of immunizations didn’t necessarily translate into an increase in vaccination.
Public health messaging about vaccines is better when it comes from local health providers rather than from provincial authorities, she said, so primary care providers, including doctors, started having conversations directly with their patients about the COVID-19 vaccine.
“There was a greater willingness to listen because it was coming from people who also lived in the community,” she said.
“Having the conversation is making sure they leave the door open. Even if the patient didn’t want to accept the vaccine at that point, they might return to it.”
Michelle Driedger, a professor in the department of community health at the University of Manitoba, says public health messaging about vaccines is better when it comes from local health providers. (Submitted by Michelle Driedger)
Driedger says conversations are key with the measles outbreak as well.
“It’s not a magic solution. It’s not going to solve that problem, but it is certainly one of those things that certainly helps.”
Kyle Penner, co-pastor of Grace Mennonite Church in Steinbach, which is part of the Southern Health region, said he has dealt with vaccine hesitancy by referring concerns about measles or immunization to health professionals among his congregation.
Some congregants think that not getting vaccinated is a sign of trust in God, Penner said.
“To that I say, when my kids were little and I made a bath for them, I tested the water. I still wear seatbelts,” he said in an interview with CBC’s Information Radio. “I wouldn’t use vaccination as a test about how faithful we are to God.”
LISTEN | Navigating Vaccine Hesitancy and Community Division in Southern Manitoba:
Information Radio – MB8:16Navigating Vaccine Hesitancy and Community Division in Southern Manitoba
Kyle Penner, co-pastor of Grace Mennonite Church in Steinbach, speaks with host Marcy Markusa about the roots of authority mistrust and the social challenges of discussing measles vaccinations following the COVID-19 pandemic.
A conversation about measles vaccine has to be handled without shame or blame, Penner said.
“If we can establish we’re on the same team, then we’re not enemies.… We’re working to the same goal,” he said.
“I think we all just need a little bit of time to heal and remember that those of us who choose differently are still good people.”
; "Charlottetown needs a new community fridge downtown, advocates say")
;Resize=620 "Manitoba still faces challenge in curbing measles a year into outbreak: community health prof | CBC News")
