The Current

The Current for April 22, 2020

Today on The Current: RCMP response during N.S. shootings; COVID-19 silent spreaders; How the virus has infected our language; Jason Rosenthal on grief; Earth Day and the pandemic; Overindulgence in quarantine
Matt Galloway is the host of CBC Radio's The Current. (CBC)

Full Episode Transcript

Today on The Current:

Hard questions are being asked about whether the RCMP did enough to warn the public as a gunman moved through Nova Scotia over 12 hours. Policing expert Christian Leuprecht discusses the response, and the decision to warn people via Twitter rather than an emergency alert.

Plus, our national affairs panellists discuss the Nova Scotia tragedy, and what questions it raises for the local community, and Canada's leaders.

Then, we discuss the so-called silent spreaders of COVID-19 — those without symptoms who unwittingly infect others — and the problem that poses for curbing the virus.

And do you know what a 'covidiot' is? A 'quarantini'? Linguist Tony Thorne discusses how COVID-19 has infected our language.

As Amy Krouse Rosenthal was dying in 2017, she wrote an article called You May Want to Marry My Husband. The man she wrote about, Jason Rosenthal, joins us to discuss his new book, My Wife Said You May Want to Marry Me: A Memoir, and what he's learned about grief. 

Then, today is the 50th anniversary of Earth Day, but after half a century, we talk to Mark Jaccard about whether the pandemic lockdown could give us the space to turn a day of reflection into action.

And while we wait out physical distancing, are we overdoing it with alcohol and other substances? We hear from two experts about our culture of indulgence.