Ontario health officials silent on split over school safety measures
Niagara medical officer has gone against advice of province’s top doctor
The majority of Ontario’s medical officers of health have remained silent about the recent confrontation between one of their own, Niagara’s acting medical officer of health Dr. Mustafa Hirji, and Ontario’s chief medical officer of health, Dr. Kieran Moore, over COVID-19 safety in schools.
Torstar asked all of Ontario’s public health units and their medical officers of health if they supported Hirji’s decision to enact tougher local COVID-19 safety protocols in schools against the wishes of Moore, who wants Hirji to walk in lockstep with softer provincial recommendations.
After Moore sent a letter outlining his criticisms to the Niagara boards, Hirji backed away from one of his enhanced recommendations. Niagara’s Catholic school system says it is following all of Hirji’s advice; the region’s public board has rejected part of those recommendations.
Seventeen of the province’s 34 health units responded to Torstar’s inquiry. Of those, only seven advocated for a medical officer of health’s authority to take steps to prevent the spread of COVID-19 based on local conditions and data.
Ten declined to comment at all. And of the 17 that responded to Torstar, only one — Toronto Public Health — offered direct support for Hirji or Moore’s choices.
“I support both Dr. Moore and Dr. Hirji and their work,” said Toronto’s medical officer of health, Dr. Eileen de Villa, in a statement. “They are both highly skilled physicians and professionals who have a shared objective to protect and promote the public’s health.”
Moore’s criticisms of Hirji became public knowledge on Jan. 19, when his Jan. 15 letter was shared on the social media accounts of anti-vaccine activists in Niagara.
Hirji told Torstar he and Moore spoke by phone Jan. 15, during which Moore made clear his displeasure with Hirji’s recommendations to school boards that went beyond provincial guidelines.
Moore asked Hirji to back down. Hirji, the only Ontario medical officer of health to make recommendations beyond provincial guidelines, refused.
Hirji said he asked local schools to require a medical note for any student claiming to be exempt from wearing a mask because schools with a large number of exemptions also see higher rates of COVID-19 infections. His department will also monitor CO2 levels in schools, to determine if ventilation needs to be improved to reduce transmission of the virus.
He also wanted students and teachers who tested positive for COVID-19 to stay out of school for at least seven days, rather than the provincial recommendation of five.
Hirji said that during that Jan. 15 phone call, Moore said he would send his concerns in writing, which were received the next day.
Moore declined to comment for this story.
Hirji said when Moore sent his letter, his department was still working with school boards to hammer out the implementation of his recommendations.
“His letter definitely became a point of discussion,” said Hirji. “But our understanding was that our school board partners want to work with us to implement these recommendations to ensure the return to in-person learning is as safe as possible for students and teachers.”
Nevertheless, Hirji did pull back on the seven-day isolation recommendation, even though he said it risks the further spread of the virus in schools.
Canada’s chief medical officer of health, Dr. Theresa Tam, said last week that someone infected by the Omicron variant of COVID-19 can remain infectious for up to 10 days.
Hirji said the level of infectiousness starts to drop off after five to seven days, but around 30 per cent of people can remain infectious for as many as 10 days.
The five-day isolation period for vaccinated students and teachers is a compromise, Hirji said, to tamp down COVID-19 absences, but “it is not a good compromise.”
Faced with pushback from the school boards, Hirji struck a new compromise: teachers and students could return after five days provided they also have a negative rapid test.