Wpg Free Press: Doctors call for provincewide lockdown

As the Winnipeg Free Press reports:

A group of 11 doctors is demanding the Tory government impose an immediate provincewide shutdown to avoid a catastrophe that will result in an “appalling and pointless loss of life.”

In an open letter to Premier Brian Pallister and Health Minister Cameron Friesen signed by 10 other medical and health experts, Dr. Anand Kumar — an intensive-care physician with the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority and professor of medicine at the University of Manitoba — said the time to act is now.

In an interview, Kumar said that unless stringent, weeks-long shutdown measures — similar to those imposed in Manitoba this past spring — are implemented soon, Winnipeg’s hospitals will treat hundreds more patients infected with COVID-19, and people will die.

“We know right now, no matter what we do, we have 60 deaths now and we will double it to 120…. We’re in deep trouble based on the numbers we’re seeing,” Kumar said in the interview.

“We went from 50 or so people (testing positive for COVID-19) two weeks ago to almost 200 today. Based on pretty standard populations — and no change in our approach — two weeks from now there will be 400 to 500 cases per day and 1,000 two weeks after that.”

The letter was signed by:

Anand Kumar, MD
Dan Roberts, MD
R. Bruce Light, MD
Eric Jacobsohn, MD
Steven Kowalski, MD
Allan Ronald, MD
Greg Hammond, MD
Fred Aoki, MD
Philippe Lagace-Wiens, MD
Terry Wuerz, MD
Kelly McDonald, MD
Faisal Siddiqui, MD
Sukarno Chaudhry, MD
Joel Enock Nkosi, MD
David Hochmann, MD
Dave Easton, MD
Paddy Griffin, MD
Eric Bow, MD