Public Health Ontario head steps aside temporarily amid COVID-19 fight
The head of Ontario's public health agency is stepping aside temporarily for personal medical reasons in the midst of the fight against COVID-19, the Star has learned.
Dr. Peter Donnelly, the president and chief executive of Public Health Ontario, won plaudits last Friday for his calm and detailed presentation on the number of cases and deaths that could be coming to the province according to computer models.
He will be replaced on an acting basis by Colleen Geiger, who is the agency's chief of strategy, stakeholder relations, information and knowledge, a senior government source told the Star.
The source stressed Donnelly's medical condition is "not COVID-19 related."
Another senior government official, speaking on condition of anonymity in order to discuss internal deliberations, praised Donnelly.
"We love the guy," said the insider, noting Premier Doug Ford was impressed by Donnelly's candour and competence during last week's nationally televised announcement on Ontario's sobering COVID-19 projections.
Two other executives - Dr. Vanessa Allen, chief of medical microbiology, and Dr. Shelley Deeks, chief health protection officer, - will have larger roles at the agency during Donnelly's absence, the government source said.
In the early days of the COVID-19 scare, when the virus was limited to China, Allen was called upon to give briefings to the media with Dr. David Williams, Ontario's chief medical officer, on how testing was conducted.
Donnelly's departure follows the recruitment of a troubleshooter, former Toronto public health chief Dr. David McKeown, to help manage tactics and strategy in the pandemic, as the Star first reported Wednesday.
Sources told the Star that McKeown will lead a table of experts on next steps.
Ford signalled Wednesday that his "patience has worn thin" after the province cleared its testing backlog for people suspected of having COVID-19 last Friday but failed to take advantage of the unused capacity to test more people, particularly nursing home residents, front-line health care workers and first responders.
Ontario can now process 13,000 samples a day but on several days has done just one-third or one-quarter that number, leaving health experts puzzled at the missed opportunity to get a better sense of how the new coronavirus is spreading.
As well, tests being completed lately have been revealing a larger percentage of positives in the past, indicating the virus is taking broader hold, making the importance of testing even more crucial. A new testing protocol will be released Friday.
Ford said he called Ontario Health chief executive Matt Anderson to talk about the issue, which insiders said is a signal that Anderson is now a go-to person for the premier as the province's case load has topped 6,000 and the death toll has surpassed 200. Ontario Health is the umbrella agency in charge of all elements in the provincial health system.
Rob Ferguson is a Toronto-based reporter covering Ontario politics. Follow him on Twitter: @robferguson1