Williams [..] said that public health investigations often find that when health-care workers contract COVID-19, they contracted it in the community. He then offered examples of people becoming “casual” in their personal life, by not wearing a mask, socially distancing, or travelling to areas with higher rates of the virus.Grinspun said the response made her “furious” because health-care workers lost their lives — 10, so far eight of them personal support workers in the long-term care system — and thousands of others have become ill.
She said the evidence shows Williams' assertion is "absurd," particularly when the it shows health-care workers have acquired COVID-19 at a rate at least three to six times higher than the general population. She also noted the families of some of the personal support workers who died told the media that their loved one didn't have access to proper personal protective equipment at work — and Grinspun lays the blame for the lack of PPE in the long-term care system early in the pandemic at Williams' feet.
She cited a litany of mistakes the province made with the long-term care sector — including not having universal masking in long-term care and failing to do surveillance testing early in the pandemic — as reasons more than 1,800 residents died and Williams should resign.
Grinspun went on to criticize his “wishy-washy” guidance on the reopening of schools and questioned why he had the “gall” to blame health-care workers for contracting COVID-19 when he had been asked about the safety of teachers.
“Is this because now he wants to say if a teacher contracts a virus, it's their fault too?" she said. "It's very upsetting — very, very, very upsetting and inappropriate and not characteristic of a person that should be playing a leadership role. It's the opposite of a person that should be playing a leadership role, blaming those that gave their life, or contracted the disease and put their families and themselves at risk.”
“I don’t think he’s useless,” said one highly respected member of the medical community, who requested anonymity because of connections to the provincial response. “He’s dangerous. He’s dangerous because he can’t communicate, and he doesn’t advocate for sound public health measures. If you flipped a coin you’d get it right more often than David.”
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