The leader of Ontario’s opposition is encouraged by the latest medical news on COVID-19 but believes the government is still too slow in responding to it.
Ontario NDP Leader Andrea Horwath responded to Wednesday’s announcement by Health Minister Christine Elliott and Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. Kieran Moore, which indicated that Omicron trends in the province could peak by the end of this month.
Horwath told MyNewsToday.ca that the government needs to back those claims up with hard numbers.
“It indicates that the sacrifices we are making are working,” said Horwath. “Having said that, I didn’t see any actual data presented. I know there was a lot of talk, but I didn’t see any numbers, and so it’s always helpful when we have the real Science Table numbers to back them up.”
Horwath said the most distressing part of the current situation is the increase of COVID-19 patients in Ontario’s hospitals.
As of Wednesday morning, over 4,100 people were in hospital for COVID-19, 580 of them in intensive care. Premier Doug Ford, though, has hinted a potential relaxation of some restrictions may be announced this week.
She was also pleased to see Ontario’s schoolchildren return to in-person learning after an extended winter holiday break, but she has heard from parents and educators that some schools still don’t have the masks and filters promised by the government. She said the premier is not interested in spending the money to make schools as safe as they can possibly be.
“We’re going to have to make sure that schools stay open, and we want those schools to stay open till the end of June, and keep our kids in class because we know that in Ontario, we had kids out of class longer than any other jurisdiction,” said Horwath. “And so it’s important that we do that, but to keep them there they have to be safe.”
Education Minister Stephen Lecce, upon confirming last week that schools were to reopen, said the province was rolling out ten million E-95 masks to schools. An additional 3,000 HEPA filters were also being sent to school buildings. Rapid antigen tests for students to take home were also being made available.
Meanwhile, Ontario Liberal Leader Steven Del Duca concurred with Horwath on safety measures in schools.
“He has failed to do the heavy lifting needed to prevent the revolving closures,” said Del Duca in a media release Tuesday. “We need a plan to keep schools open safely to end the chaos.”
