Ontario’s former Chief Medical Officer of Health, Dr. Richard Schabas, and Dr. Karim Kurji, the Medical Officer of Health for York Region, are joining the list of physicians, former and presently licensed, challenging the efficacy of lockdowns in containing the spread of COVID-19..Dr. Richard Schabas was Ontario’s CMOH from 1987 to 1997 and publicly supported MPP Roman Baber in denouncing the province’s ongoing implementation of lockdown measures. .Dr. Karim Kurji, York Region’s top public health doctor, told CTV News mid-March that broad lockdown measures “wouldn’t necessarily cause any benefit.”.“We’ve got to remember that the mental health consequences are bad,” he said..Kurji rejected the call for a lockdown, saying the red zone already instated in the York Region is “very restrictive.” .He noted his goal is to “arrive at a balancing point.”.In January 2021, Schabas penned a letter to Premier Doug Ford, stipulating Baber was correct in his assertions that Bill 195 and its subsequent public health measures had adverse impacts on the province..Besides long-term care, less than 0.2 per cent of overall COVID-19 deaths are concentrated outside the frail and elderly. .Schabas attributes the “incorrect, exaggerated” pandemic models to the government’s ongoing attempts to “fearmonger” and encourage compliance with the lockdown..“Younger people and healthy people have a much lower risk,” he said, stating a lockdown was never part of our planned pandemic response, nor is it supported by solid science. .Almost every developed country has used lockdowns, and in the great majority of cases, the lack of response speaks for itself, said Schabas, who was concerned by the high costs of the lockdown..“From lost education, unemployment, social isolation, deteriorating mental health and compromised access to healthcare, the lockdown is an affront to social justice because its burdens fall disproportionately on the young, the working poor and visible minorities,” he said..“We will be paying for the lockdown – in lives and dollars for decades to come.”.Schabas cites an excellent example is in the government’s response to Baber’s letter. Instead of addressing COVID-19’s IFR’s (infection fatality rate) point, the government cited COVID-19’s reported case fatality rate (CFR). .“Every knowledgeable observer of COVID-19 understands that CFR is in itself an irrelevant number. IFR is the meaningful measurement of virulence,” he said..“CFR’s only virtue is the ability to frighten by overstating the real risk of dying from a COVID-19 infection. I can think of no other reason for the government to incite CFR except to promote fear.”.In an op-ed published last March with the Globe and Mail, Schabas clarifies he is not preaching complacency. .COVID-19 can still become a significant global health problem, with an overall burden comparable to that of influenza. .“This disease is not going away any time soon; we should expect more cases and more local outbreaks,” he said..“We need to be vigilant in our surveillance.”.Dhaliwal is a Western Standard reporter based in Edmonton
