Ontario was ‘largely unprepared’ for COVID-19, and the risk of another pandemic is growing, top doctor says

Thestar.com
March 8, 2023

Ontario’s chief medical officer says the province was “largely unprepared” for COVID-19 and is calling for an end to “boom and bust” funding for public health that spikes for major crises and shrinks as time passes.

In his annual report released Tuesday, Dr. Kieran Moore said Ontario needs to maintain a “steady state of readiness” to blunt future pandemics and a repeat of the heavy illness and death toll caused by COVID, which hit three years ago and has killed more than 16,000 in the province.

“We must be able to rapidly identify and respond to infectious disease outbreaks and pandemics so we can limit their impact,” he wrote in the 58-page report titled Being Ready, citing as an example a quick public health response that kept Mpox in check last year.

“History tells us that, once an event like SARS, H1N1 or COVID-19 passes, complacency often sets in, funding is redirected, and readiness wanes,” Moore added.

“Yet the risk of serious disease outbreaks and another pandemic is real and growing. Population growth, land use practices, climate change, the growing international wildlife trade, and global travel are making it more likely.”

These factors increase the odds that “zoonotic” diseases like COVID will spread from wildlife to people.

The report echoes recommendations from previous chief medical officers -- some in the years before the novel coronavirus arrived -- the auditor general and Ontario’s Long-Term Care COVID-19 Commission, which found Premier Doug Ford’s government was slow to react. The commission insisted pandemic plans must be “completed and put to the test before a public health emergency hits.”

Recommendations from Moore include having proper surge capacity in hospitals and public health labs, adequate stockpiling of personal protective equipment such as masks and gloves, building confidence in vaccines, improving data and information systems to track population health and reduce inequities, improving health literacy and helping people detect misinformation.

During COVID-19, for example, hospitals were repeatedly overwhelmed -- Ford himself warned in early 2021 the health system was “on the brink of collapse” -- and stockpiles of protective gear had expired, leaving front-line health workers short of masks, forcing hospitals to ration them in the early months.

Public health labs had to be expanded and private labs brought on board to handle demand for testing and eliminate lag times that often prevented health officials from getting real-time data on the extent of infection, hampering the response.

Deputy NDP Leader Doly Begum said Ford’s government can show it’s listening to Moore by putting adequate public health funding in the upcoming March 23 budget from Finance Minister Peter Bethlenfalvy.

“They have to,” she told the Star, adding the “number one issue” is having a strong health-care workforce.

Moore said the best defence is a good offence that can help limit the need for lockdowns and other measures.

“It is more efficient and more effective to invest in preparedness than to pay the much higher and heavier costs of being unprepared: more illness and death; mental health problems; social disruption, and economic losses,” he wrote.

“The duration and severity of COVID-19 drove home the challenges of containing a fast-spreading virus and making ethical decisions in a world competing for scarce resources.”