No one collecting data on the hardest hit by the COVID pandemic in Hamilton
Hamilton has a growing gap in data on who is hit hardest by the pandemic as provincial projections show COVID is taking the highest toll on the poorest neighbourhoods.
Public health stopped collecting some social determinants of health information, such as race-based data, when the department was overwhelmed with record high numbers of infections in early January.
It hasn't gone back to collecting the data despite a significant drop in case numbers.
Hamilton's medical officer of health said there's no point in restarting as infections are predicted to climb again due to schools reopening, the end of the province's stay-at-home order Feb. 16 and the three fast-spreading variants in Ontario.
If we are at a point where we may see cases go back up, I don't know that we want to start," Dr. Elizabeth Richardson said at a city briefing Feb. 9. That's something that over the next little while we'll look at and make decisions about when we're able to restart."
The significance of collecting the data was highlighted by COVID-19 projections presented Feb. 11 that show vast disparity in excess deaths from COVID-19 and other causes over the course of the pandemic
The lowest estimates of excess deaths - although there is still more than we would expect to see - is in the highest income," said Adalsteinn (Steini) Brown, dean of the Dalla Lana School of Public Health at the University of Toronto.
The highest level of excess death is in our poorest communities," he said. This is almost a twofold difference that has emerged in a relatively short period of time."
These trends are estimated to continue if the fast-spreading variants bring about a third wave.
The impact of this third wave will be as inequitable as the first two waves with case and death rates highest in our racialized and lowest socioeconomic status neighbourhoods," warned Brown.
Hamilton already had a gap in data because public health didn't start collecting the social determinants of health information until May 26 - two and a half months after COVID hit Hamilton.
A city pandemic report in October found wide disparities by race and income.
It's unlikely the missing data will ever be collected as Richardson said it's too difficult to followup on old cases.
Joanna Frketich is a Hamilton-based reporter covering health for The Spectator. Reach her via email: jfrketich@thespec.com