Public Health Ontario to oversee COVID science table
Posted March 31, 2022 5:23 pm.
Last Updated March 31, 2022 5:32 pm.
Public Health Ontario is taking over operation of Ontario’s expert group of COVID-19 pandemic advisers.
The agency announced Thursday it would host the Ontario COVID-19 Science Advisory Table on a permanent basis starting on April 4.
The Dalla Lana School of Public Health at the University of Toronto had previously overseen the group of independent scientists that provided research and modelling on the disease in Ontario.
Public Health Ontario says the group will still be made up of independent, non-partisan and volunteer experts and be transparent about its reporting and conflicts of interests.
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It says the science table and Public Health Ontario will develop new terms of reference so the group is “sustainable over time” and can scale up if necessary in the event of future public health emergencies.
Adalsteinn Brown, dean of the Dalla Lana School of Public Health, and Public Health Ontario vice-president Dr. Brian Schwartz will be co-chairs of the science table.
“Making PHO the new and permanent home of the Table provides an opportunity for the Table to continue making important contributions to Ontario’s response to COVID-19, as well as continuing to foster the collaboration between government, public health and academic partners,” Brown said in a release.
The change comes in the midst of concerns about a sixth wave of COVID-19 in Ontario.
“We are seeing people coming in sick and many of them are in denial. I don’t think the numbers being captured are truly reflective of what’s going on,” Helen Wynter, a 17-year registered nurse, told CityNews, calling patient volumes in her emergency room last week “astounding.”
Health Minister Christine Elliott maintained on Thursday the government is prepared to take further measures if necessary but that at this point “it doesn’t appear that we need to do that.”
With files from Nick Westoll
