The Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr.  Kieran Moore has provided weekly updates on COVID-19 since taking office, often using them as an opportunity to advertise the benefits of vaccination or to remind the public of the importance of keeping distance and limiting contacts.
The updates, however, were suspended last month amid an improved image of the virus, and it has been four weeks since Ontario’s top health official addressed reporters.
In March, Moore had said he would still speak in public when COVID’s condition deserved, but was largely absent due to the recent resurgence of virus activity and was nowhere to be found Wednesday when the province announced plans to expand eligibility for fourth dose to residents 60 years and older.
During a press conference to discuss an irrelevant issue Wednesday morning, Ford was asked if Ontarians could hear from Moore soon, but he largely sidestepped the question, rather than defending his work ethic. his health official.
“Let me tell you about Dr. Moore.  Dr. Moore is one of the hardest working people I have ever met.  He never rests, he works around the clock for the people of Ontario.  “Just yesterday he had a meeting with all the public health officials throughout the province,” he said.  “He is at work 24 hours a day, looking at the data, looking at the statistics and giving advice to myself and the cabinet and he has done an incredible job from day one.  I’m his biggest fan. “
Ford’s comments on Wednesday came in the wake of Michael Garron Hospital’s medical director of intensive care, who publicly called on Moore to continue the regular video updates posted on Twitter on Tuesday night.
In the video, Dr. Michael Warner accused the “government of pretending” that the COVID resurgence was not happening and said that they were failing to take the necessary measures to protect Ontarians, including returning to compulsory coverage.
Speaking to CP24 later Wednesday, infectious disease specialist Dr.  Abdu Sharkawy said he believed Moore could help alleviate some of the stress by speaking publicly, especially given the limited public health indicators available to Ontarians to assess their personal risk due to a previous decision to restrict access to testing. PCR.
“I think the intention may be to help people calm down, but unfortunately I think the opposite is happening.  “There is a lot of anxiety, there is a lot of insecurity and anxiety because people do not really know what is going on and the sewage signal is basically all we have to keep going at this point,” he said.  “So I hope the situation changes.  I think he would provide some level of trust and some degree of foundation if he could really talk and let us know what he thinks. “
On Wednesday, Ontario reported 3,444 new laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 cases, although the county’s science chart had previously suggested that the actual number of new infections each day was probably 10 times higher.
Ford, for his part, described the resurgence as a “small spike” recently last week and on Wednesday rejected suggestions that the county’s hospitals could soon be flooded, highlighting the county’s recent investment to add extra beds. .
Medical experts, it should be noted, have said that there is not enough staff to manage many of these beds, making the ability largely theoretical.
“I’m not downplaying it,” Ford said.  “We have the supports, we have the beds, we are a population of 15 million people and out of 15 million we have 160 the ICU (with COVID) that has been there for quite some time.”