
Scientists, doctors try to fill gaps in COVID-19 risk information amid decrease in reliable data
CBC
Each week, Kalie Hubick joins dozens of others in a Zoom meeting to talk about COVID-19.
Hubick is a disability activist who has a compromised immune system. Other attendees include a retired woman in British Columbia who says she feels abandoned by public health officials, a Toronto cook who wants to keep her co-workers safe and a New Brunswick man whose parents are in long-term care.
All feel they aren't getting enough accurate information about how much COVID-19 is spreading in their communities to assess their risk. Most provinces — except Quebec and Prince Edward Island — no longer require people to wear masks in stores, restaurants and other indoor public places.
At the same time as the Omicron variant fuels soaring COVID-19 cases, PCR testing has dropped significantly, causing many experts to believe official case counts are dramatic underestimations. As well, some provincial public health officials, including Ontario's, have cut back on the frequency of their briefings.
Dr. Kieran Moore, Ontario's chief medical officer of health, hasn't held a news conference or done any media interviews in four weeks.
"It was Dr. Moore's choice to end his regular updates as the province entered a new phase of the pandemic," a spokesperson for Premier Doug Ford said in an emailed response to a Radio-Canada reporter.
"If Dr. Moore changes his mind and wants to make himself available to media again, it is up to him to do so."
"It's very important that there are scientists and health-care professionals who are still there for people," said Tara Moriarty, an associate professor and infectious disease researcher at the University of Toronto. She co-founded COVID-19 Resources Canada, which hosts the public Zoom sessions every Tuesday and Wednesday evening.
At first, one of the main goals of the group was to provide accurate information about COVID-19 vaccines and give people who were hesitant a safe, non-judgmental place to ask questions of doctors and other health experts who volunteer their time.
But over the last few months, the focus has shifted.
"We've really been working to try to sort of plug gaps in data, to try to figure out what's actually happening [with COVID-19] and provide information that people can use," Moriarty told CBC News.
Hubick, who lives in Belleville, Ont., said many people with disabilities who are immunocompromised are in despair, because they don't have the information they need to assess how much risk they're taking by venturing out.
"We basically can't leave our homes right now ... if people aren't wearing masks and we have no idea how much community spread is in our individual locations," Hubick said.
"[Before] I determined whether I could leave my house as by how many people in the community had COVID. If there was a lot of community spread, I stayed home. If it went down low, then I felt like I could go to the grocery store."