Doug Ford defends Dr. Kieran Moore amid lack of public appearances: ‘He never rests’
Posted April 6, 2022 3:48 pm.
Last Updated April 6, 2022 4:25 pm.
Premier Doug Ford came to the defence of Ontario Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. Kieran Moore, who has remained absent from the public eye since announcing the provincewide lifting of mask mandates in mid-March.
“Dr. Moore is one of the hardest working people I’ve ever met. He never rests. He works around the clock for the people of Ontario,” he said on Wednesday while avoiding specifics.
“I’m his biggest fan.”
Ford called the recent rise in infections and hospitalizations “a little spike” and denied he is “downplaying” the situation.
“We’ve seen the ICU actually stabilize — 160 people are in ICU, and (from) what I understand, they’ve been there for a little while,” he said.
“I’m very, very confident as we see the uptick a little bit that we knew that was coming, and Dr. Moore mentioned it and I’ve mentioned it publicly — we can handle this. We have the resources, we have the skillset, and we’ll get through it.”
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CityNews contacted representatives for Moore on several occasions to request an interview, but those requests haven’t been answered. On Tuesday, Health Minister Christine Elliott was asked why Moore has not been available.
“In fact, that was Dr. Moore’s choice,” she said.
“If Dr. Moore feels at some point in the future that it’s necessary to provide regular interviews, he will.”
Elliott said last week that Moore has been “doing his job” and monitoring COVID-19 carefully in Ontario.
“He’s not doing the regular interviews like he used to do because we’re now in a stage where the peak of the pandemic has passed us,” she said, adding that Moore is not being kept from answering questions.
NEW – Where is Dr.Moore? It’s been 3 weeks since his last news conference. While it was said he would be available for interviews, the Health Minister‘s office has turned down repeated requests from CityNews. Minister Elliott says “It’s good news” he’s not doing weekly updates.
— Richard Southern (@RichardCityNews) March 31, 2022
The last time Moore spoke, he expanded on the growing presence and rapid spread of BA.2 — a sublineage of the Omicron variant. In late March, Moore said the BA.2 variant is roughly 30 per cent more contagious than the original Omicron strain. Still, he stressed that it wasn’t likely to cause a spike in hospitalizations.
The mask mandate in Ontario was lifted on March 21.
“You can’t mandate masking forever. Eventually, it has to be an individual choice,” Moore said at the time.
Masking requirements remain for public transit, long-term care, retirement homes and other health-care settings, congregate care settings, shelters, jails and homes for individuals with developmental disabilities.
Mandatory mask rules will end for all remaining settings on April 27.
Starting at 8 a.m. on Thursday, Ontario residents aged 60-and-older and First Nation, Inuit and Métis individuals and their non-Indigenous household members aged 18 and over will be able to book appointments to receive their fourth dose.
Ontario reported 168 people in intensive care Wednesday due to COVID-19, with similar levels for the past week.
There were 3,444 new cases confirmed in Ontario on Wednesday, but the accurate level is likely much higher due to limits on who can access PCR testing. Moore has said the actual daily number of cases is about 10 times the official report.
The number of people in Ontario hospitals with COVID-19 stood at 1,074 on Wednesday — up nearly 40 per cent compared to the same time a week earlier.
With files from The Canadian Press
