- 23 million people, 6 deaths: How Taiwan tackled the COVID-19 crisis
Wednesday, April 22nd 2020
While most of the world continues to be shut down during the pandemic, in Taiwan, society continues to function. The tiny island state off the coast of China currently has less than 500 confirmed cases and deaths are in the single digits due to COVID-19, making it one of the best case scenarios in the world. Adrian Cheung talks briefly to Nick Zarowny, a Canadian in Taiwan, for a view of what life is like there, followed by an interview with Dr. Jason Wang of Stanford University School of Medicine, who has published a paper on the aggressive approach Taiwan has taken—and whether we could take those same measures in Canada and around the world.
- Migrant workers keep you fed. Do they need help?
Tuesday, April 21st 2020
Low-wage migrant workers are a significant part of Canada’s agricultural workforce—almost half of the agricultural labour that grows the year-long produce that lands in kitchens. Life has become even more uncertain for them as COVID-19 has led to travel bans and border closures. And the decrease in that essential workforce could also mean Canada’s food security is at risk. Saba Eitizaz talks to the Star’s Work and Wealth reporter Sara Mojtehedzadeh about the crisis Canada’s essential migrant workers are facing, and why it took a pandemic to highlight the circumstances of a group that was already vulnerable and unprotected.
- Untouchable: How COVID-19 hit organized crime
Monday, April 20th 2020
From drugs to gambling to theft and more, COVID-19 has also had an adverse effect on the criminal organizations and gangs that run these illegal enterprises. To discuss how organized crime has been affected by COVID-19, Raju Mudhar talks with Peter Edwards, a reporter on the Star’s Courts Crime and Justice team, who has also written 15 non-fiction books on organized crime, many of them becoming national bestsellers.
- Fraught properties: COVID-19 and the real estate market
Friday, April 17th 2020
"If you don’t need to buy or sell you should be staying home right now," John Pasalis, president or Realosophy, a brokerage that takes a data driven approach to the market. For most, buying a home is the single largest purchase most people will make in their lifetimes, and like with everything in our society, the COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted the real estate market in a number of ways.
- Indigenous communities, systemic racism and COVID-19
Thursday, April 16th 2020
Many Indigenous communities face big challenges: fewer doctors, inadequate housing and water that isn’t safe to drink. All of those issues, alongside systemic racism, can lead to especially bad health outcomes during a pandemic, Canadian public health officials say. Adrian Cheung talks to Dr. Janet Smylie, one of Canada’s first Métis doctors and a lead researcher on the inequities of health care for Indigenous people in the era of COVID-19. Dr. Smylie explains why First Nations, Inuit and Métis people are at a disproportionate risk and what must be done to fix the problem now.
