- Your one (or two?) dose summer guide to reopenings and travel
Tuesday, June 8th 2021
Guest: Dr. Fahad Razak, epidemiologist and internist at St. Michael’s Hospital, and member of Ontario’s Science Advisory Table
With 58 per cent of Canadians (and counting) having received a first dose of a COVID vaccine, many are eagerly diving into a “one-dose” summer. Now, Ontario is moving up its Step 1 reopening plans and with more vaccine shipments on the way, it will be a “two-dose” vaccinated summer for some. Today, we answer the many questions for the months ahead. How much protection does one jab give you? What does a safe reopening look like? When can we travel again?
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- Buttergate, the dairy conspiracy theory, explained
Monday, June 7th 2021
Guest: Karon Liu, food reporter for the Toronto Star
What’s going on with Canadian butter? For more than a year, hawk-eyed bakers, chefs and food experts stuck at home have noticed something odd, a hypothesis that has morphed into a low-stakes but viral conspiracy theory: the butter we’re now using is physically firmer and melts slower. Is this true? How would we prove or disprove ‘Buttergate’? Toronto Star’s food reporter takes us down the winding path of food scientists, palm oil plantations, dairy farms and the ultimate arbiter of butter: his dad.
If you would like to support the journalism of the Toronto Star, you can subscribe at thestar.com/subscribingmatters.
- How some restaurants opened and adapted during the pandemic and what’s next
Friday, June 4th 2021
It sounds counterintuitive, but according to some research, more restaurants opened than closed in Toronto during the pandemic. Data from Yelp, found by Shauna Brail and her team for the Toronto: After the First Wave project, tells a different side of the restaurant story than we typically hear about this struggling sector. As Ontario looks to reopen, we discuss what will that look like for diners and an industry that is trying to get back to normal. Guests: Shauna Brail, urban planner and associate professor at the University of Toronto Mississauga Institute for Management and Innovation and Karon Liu, Food Reporter at The Star
If you would like to support the journalism of the Toronto Star, you can subscribe at thestar.com/subscribingmatters.
- COVID case counts decline but a variant could be rising
Thursday, June 3rd 2021
Guest: Ed Tubb, Toronto Star journalist focused on COVID-19 data
With declining case counts and other positives indicators, it looks as though Ontario might have finally turned the corner of the devastating third wave. With rumours of the province potentially opening earlier than expected, there may be better days on the horizon.
But not all the numbers are rosy. There are signs pointing to the rise of one of the more transmissible COVID variants becoming the dominant strain here. There are also those who are slow and hesitating to get vaccines, which slows progress. Today, we look at the most recent data to get an accurate of picture of where Ontario is at this moment.
If you would like to support the journalism of the Toronto Star, you can subscribe at thestar.com/subscribingmatters
- How radar technology found the unmarked graves of 215 Indigenous children, renewing calls for more searches and truth
Wednesday, June 2nd 2021
An Indigenous archaeologist reflects on the discovery in Kamloops, explains how radar technology helps find burial sites in a culturally respectful way and the reckoning that will follow in finding the full truth behind Canada’s residential school system.
Guest: Kisha Supernant, Director of the Institute of Prairie and Indigenous Archaeology and associate professor at the University of Alberta
