The Current

The Current for Nov. 20, 2020

Today on The Current: National affairs panel on winter and rising COVID-19 cases in Canada, Chris Nikic becomes first person with Down Syndrome to complete Ironman triathlon, The pros and cons of Sweden’s approach to the pandemic, André Picard on the possibility of school closures.
Rosemary Barton - one of four new hosts of The National - has a reputation for putting people on the hot seat. We turned the tables. (CBC)

Full Episode Transcript

Today on The Current

Rosemary Barton talks to our national affairs panel about how Canada's politicians can lead us through the winter amidst worsening COVID-19 conditions. She's joined by Shachi Kurl, president of Angus Reid Institute, a non-partisan polling agency; Susan Delacourt, national columnist with the Toronto Star; and Daniel Béland, director of the McGill Institute for the Study of Canada. 

Plus, the Ironman competition is hard enough, but Chris Nikic smashed a record, and stigma, as the first person with Down Syndrome to finish the triathlon. He and his father Nik tell us more about his amazing achievement.

Then, early in the pandemic, Sweden carried on life with few official restrictions. Now, cases are increasing and the government just announced a strict round of COVID-19 measures. We get perspectives for and against that early approach, with Dr. Anna Mia Ekstrom, a professor of global infectious disease epidemiology and an infectious disease physician at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, and Andrew Ewing, professor of molecular biology and chemistry at the University of Gothenburg and a member of the Swedish Academy of Sciences.

And back home in Canada, the Globe and Mail Health Columnist André Picard is here to walk us through the latest COVID-19 updates — including the possibility of school closures and overwhelmed contact tracers.