‘Flies in the face of what’s happening’: Ontario’s decision to end five-day COVID isolation period faces criticism
Ontario is replacing the five-day isolation period for COVID-19 with a 24-hour stay-home rule, raising concerns the change will fuel the spread of the virus with hospitals already facing a capacity crunch.
Chief medical officer Dr. Kieran Moore detailed the changes - and first booster shots for children aged five to 11 - as the province heads into a fall and winter respiratory illness season with what he called a more permissive approach" that includes voluntary masking in schools.
It's absolutely ... different than two years ago when we didn't have vaccinations, we didn't have such a high level of protection in our communities, and hybrid immunity from both vaccination and exposure to these viruses," Moore told a news conference Wednesday.
People who go to work or school after testing positive and clearing symptoms should still wear a mask for 10 days after the onset of symptoms to protect others, whether it's COVID, a cold, a fever, diarrhea, the flu or any respiratory virus, he added.
The new guidance is to stay home until 24 hours after fever is gone and other symptoms ease.
Our collective efforts are helping us move away from a crisis state to a more sustainable approach to the long-term management of COVID-19."
But dropping the five-day isolation period alarmed doctors and epidemiologists outside of government who questioned Moore's claim there is no crisis on a day Premier Doug Ford's government passed controversial legislation making it easier to push the elderly out of hospitals and into nursing homes.
I do think it's a bad idea. It flies in the face of what's happening," said Todd Coleman, an epidemiologist at Wilfrid Laurier University and a former public health official in London, Ont. We're not seeing a reduction in cases, we're at a plateau."
With no mandatory masking in place provincewide and COVID expected to spread in families and at workplaces once children return to school next week, ending the five-day isolation adds a level of chaos," Coleman said.
A Liberal MPP who has worked as an emergency room physician said he is deeply concerned" about the end of five-day isolation periods.
We've got ERs (emergency rooms) closing, ICUs (intensive care units) closing, nearly 1,400 people admitted in hospital right now with COVID-19 and we're not even in respiratory season," Dr. Adil Shamji (Don Valley East) said in reference to several temporary closures in recent weeks.
Other doctors took to Twitter to criticize the change, saying Moore's advice to stay home if you're sick" conflicts with his guidance that it's OK to go to work or school after testing positive.
Every study of infectious shedding of #SARSCoV2 has shown that even at Day 5 of #COVID19, 2/3 of persons are still very much able to transmit infection," wrote Dr. Gerald Evans, an infectious diseases specialist in Kingston.
It's atrocious," said Dr. Amit Arya, a palliative care specialist who noted one-fifth of Ontario's nursing homes are in outbreak and uptake of booster doses is lagging."
Shamji called for a more proactive strategy to encourage booster does in both adults and children - particularly in teens.
First boosters of the Pfizer vaccine for children five to 11 will be available starting Thursday for those whose second shots were at least six months ago, Moore said. Bookings can be made through the province's online vaccination portal, by calling 1-833-943-3900, a local public health unit or participating pharmacies.
In response to critics who said he waited until less than a week before kids return to classes to announce the first boosters, Moore said it took time to get doses in place to meet demand.
Five-day isolation periods will still be required for people who test positive for COVID-19 and work in high-risk settings such as nursing homes and hospitals, with more details on that coming soon, the chief medical officer said.
Masking in schools will be voluntary with free masks available for students and staff, Moore said, maintaining that children still positive with COVID can come to class masked because that will decrease the risk of transmission" to others in conjunction with frequent cleaning and improved ventilation.
Shamji disagreed.
When it came to increasing protections in our schools, I actually didn't hear anything that I think will really help," he told reporters after Moore's news conference.
I've worked in the emergency department ... a child will look you in the face and cough at you ... you can't ask a child to maintain a six-foot distance, not when they're excited when they're with all their friends."
Moore said there will be no orders for mandatory masking in indoor public spaces such as shopping malls this fall and winter unless COVID and other illness levels put the health-care system under severe strain. Widespread stay-at-home orders and closures of non-essential businesses would return only if a dangerous new strain of the virus appears.
A plan for fall boosters for adults is coming soon" and there is no firm time line yet for the arrival of the new bivalent vaccine, which includes specific protection against the Omicron variant, Moore added. When it arrives, the first recipients will be highly vulnerable people such as residents of nursing homes, retirement homes and front-line health-care workers.
Rob Ferguson is a Toronto-based reporter covering Ontario politics for the Star. Follow him on Twitter: @robferguson1