Juno News - Public health officials are not perfect

00:00:00.000 I want to tell you a story that underscores how public health officials in Canada are certainly

00:00:10.200 not infallible, and why that means the public has the right to criticize them, to push back,

00:00:15.580 and certainly our elected officials do as well. So the past few days, I got some messages from

00:00:20.640 parents in Peel region in the GTA. They were frustrated with letters sent out by Peel Health

00:00:25.960 after their child had been dismissed from school. For 14 days, they had to stay home

00:00:31.280 because they had been a close contact of someone who had coronavirus, who later tested positive for

00:00:37.340 it. So basically, someone in the class had it. Now, the data all tells us there's been hardly

00:00:41.880 any in-class transmission at all in the province of Ontario. So already, you know, these close

00:00:48.140 contact kids, they're probably highly, highly unlikely to later have coronavirus. These are

00:00:52.940 just the close contact. So anyway, this document says they got to stay home for 14 days and ideally

00:00:58.460 self-isolate away from all other family members alone in a room. And it includes child care on

00:01:06.060 there, meaning small children. And then we got social media reports that there were some parents

00:01:10.420 who were doing this, basically making their child stay in a room alone for 14 days. In a case where

00:01:16.640 the child doesn't even have coronavirus and the odds of them having it are pretty darn small,

00:01:21.640 what on earth was going on here? When parents learned about this, they were outraged. And you

00:01:26.440 know what Peel Health did? They issued an apology. They said they were wrong, that people were right

00:01:32.400 to be upset. And they called it an error in communication, although a lot of people wondered,

00:01:36.580 well, how did this document get out there in the first place? Surely a couple other people had to

00:01:40.280 read it and, you know, and give it the thumbs up before it was distributed. Regardless, they admitted a

00:01:45.040 mistake. And to his credit, Brampton Mayor Patrick Brown said, yes, this document is wrong.

00:01:49.120 It needs to be changed. And they've slightly revised the protocol there. This is a story that shows

00:01:55.980 public health makes mistakes. And you're certainly within your right to call them out for their

00:02:01.780 mistakes. And you should encourage both those officials to revise those mistakes. And you

00:02:06.140 should feel empowered to put pressure on politicians to go through what public health officials are saying

00:02:11.360 with a fine tooth comb. And if something doesn't work for you, then you speak up and you make your voice

00:02:15.840 heard. Because we've heard so much ad nauseum this whole, listen to the doctors, respect the experts.

00:02:20.880 And of course, one must appreciate everything their experience brings to the table. But at the same

00:02:26.420 time, they're not perfect. They make mistakes. This was one mistake. Maybe there's a whole bunch more

00:02:32.640 out there. And you have the right to speak out against those mistakes.

Juno News - March 03, 2021