Province should listen closely to health officials

Premier Doug Ford’s performance during the novel coronavirus pandemic has been very good, largely because he listened to health experts rather than making snap judgments based on what he thinks might be best.

Ford hasn’t been perfect, but no one is.

That includes experts like Peterborough’s medical officer of health, Dr. Rosana Salvaterra, and her 33 counterparts across the province.

They would also rate out, in general, at “very good.” Dr. Salvaterra goes to the high end of that rating.

But over the past week, the premier showed he was not immune to falling back into his blustery political persona, and the medical officers of health staked out some known gaps between science and politics.

Those gaps need to be closed and the movement has to come from the political side.

Testing is one area of concern.

On Sunday, a large crowd was hanging out together in a Toronto park. Controversy ensued. Ford reacted with a snap announcement that anyone in Ontario who wanted a test for the virus would and should get one.

Ontario’s comparative lack of testing has been a serious problem, although the situation has been improving. Ford has been frustrated by the slow ramp-up and the criticism that followed.

That Sunday-in-the-park scene apparently pushed his frustration over the edge.

There is an upside to his testing order in that more tests are suddenly being done.

On Monday, Peterborough Regional Health Centre saw nearly four times the usual number of people at its by-appointment-only test centre.

The next day, Dr. Salvaterra announced a drivethrough testing centre at the Kinsmen Civic Centre. Anyone could be tested, and roughly 100 were in the first few hours on Wednesday.

But mass random testing isn’t the best uses of resources. Dr. Salvaterra didn’t outright criticize Ford’s decision, but has made it clear there is a better way.

She proposes “surveillance testing.” Test randomly among people who are routinely in contact with the public and most likely to spread the virus. Grocery and pharmacy workers, cab drivers and staff at any business or institution that is open.

The drive-through test site in an opportunity for modified surveillance testing.

Those workers already provide a service but just being on the job. Now they can do more by stopping by for a test and going into isolation if the result is positive.

Anyone not so likely to spread the virus who doesn’t have symptoms should hold off on Ford’s call to be tested.

For now, track reports of what is happening. If the drive-in centres stay busy and test results can’t be processed within the promised 48 hours, wait until things slow down.

Better yet, spread the surveillance message. Encourage anyone you know who is in a high public contact job to go the drive-through route. They will likely be relieved to find out where they stand.

Testing is just one area where Ontario has to be more strategic. A detailed response plan put together by the province’s medical officers of health highlights others, including regionally targeted relaxing where high-incidence cities like Toronto come back to normal more slowly.

One doctor called the plan evidence of a “mutiny” against faulty provincial leadership.

Quiet and firm is more the style of Dr. Salvaterra and her colleagues. The premier and his advisers need to listen.