To the editor:
Two years ago I started speaking out on COVID pandemic policies in this region.
At the time, I attempted to spark debate on the unique rules implemented in the North Bay region. We were the only region in North America that banned ice skating, tobogganing, and snowmobiling. All because we were reporting less than 30 new COVID cases per week… (less than most big cities in Ontario that were allowed to open). I also openly requested from my municipality and from the health unit that they conduct a cost-benefit analysis (to weigh the cost of lockdowns on our region vs. the benefits of reducing COVID spread).
My local politicians and the health unit abruptly declined this crazy idea.
Overall I opposed most COVID pandemic restrictions including the harmful school closures and the unfair rules affecting small businesses (Costco and Walmart could remain open but not local merchants).
I was undoubtedly anti-lockdown but surprisingly I was also vilified as an anti-science. Disagreeing with the unprecedented public health response in this country was not tolerated.
A year later I objected to my municipality’s adoption of a COVID vaccine policy for its staff. This particular organization had the luxury of seeing the effects of other policies and had access to the evolving data when they delayed their decision until January 2022. At that point, the data was clearly showing that the shots didn’t stop the spread (source: Public Health Ontario Data for cases by vaccination status, Dec-Jan 22). But despite this, they proceeded anyway and fired those who did not get the COVID vaccines.
Along with a small group locally we continued to lobby our municipal politicians until they finally decided to revoke their staff vaccination policy less than a year after adopting it. By doing so right in the middle of the respiratory virus season they acknowledged that such a policy was not only unnecessary but likely unjustified all along.
Last month our growing group successfully tackled one of the last remaining unique rules in our region. Up until February 1st, Au Chateau in Sturgeon Falls was one of the last remaining LTC homes to still forbid essential caregivers from entering the premises to take care of their loved ones, despite testing negative at the door. After peacefully protesting for two weeks, the board agreed to hold an emergency meeting and allow these essential family members back in after a 14-month absence.
See: Demonstrators want Au Chateau to open doors to all
Now we are asking the board to consider bringing back healthcare workers. This time, we are fighting a rule that is not unique to our region. There is a real staffing crisis in health care across this province. This is a problem that won’t be solved overnight but one idea that can easily help solve the problem would be to bring back the thousands of healthcare workers who have been dismissed for refusing the COVID shots.
There may have been some arguments for these types of policies 18 months ago. But it appears that the logic behind these employment policies is no longer there.
The staffing crisis is disproportionately felt in smaller communities and has been reported on frequently. Au Chateau is having a very difficult time meeting their resident care goals. They are having a very difficult time finding qualified staff.
None of the demonstrators I stand with regularly are asking that organizations like Au Chateau stop offering or even encouraging the COVID shots. We are not even asking them to stop testing their staff on a regular basis. We are simply asking that they follow the science of 2023. Not 2021. We are asking that they allow the dozens of healthcare workers in this district to be allowed to go back to work. Now that we know that they don’t pose any higher risk in these settings than any other worker.
According to Public Health Ontario’s data, there was a total of 7 COVID-related outbreaks at LTC homes in the North Bay Parry Sounds District in the first 18 months of the pandemic (March 2020-October 2021) prior to health care vaccine mandates being implemented. In the 16 months since (November 2021-February 2023), there have been 23. Obviously, the highly transmissible Omicron variant contributed to this enormous spike. But it’s clear that staff mandates have not lowered the prevalence of healthcare setting outbreaks. And these rules have only exacerbated the staffing shortage and likely severely hurt employee morale.
Time and time again, we are told that those who question pandemic response policies have been not only wrong but smeared as extremists and denying the existence of science. Although I have a Masters level education, it is not in a science-related field. I am no expert in medical science. But I believe I am an expert in analyzing data and understanding logic.
So all I have been asking for is logic, rationale, and justification. Logic in closing children’s activities and schools, causing tremendous emotional and developmental harm when children were at virtually no risk from COVID. The rationale for segregating society based on individual decisions to take a novel mRNA product. Justification for refusing to allow trained healthcare workers from helping solve a healthcare emergency. We have a crisis on our hands. Seniors are constantly missing out on the level of care they need and deserve. We have ready, willing, and able human beings that are willing to deliver that care. Human beings that are just as compassionate as you or I. Regardless of their personal health decisions. So that’s why protest.
I don’t protest because I want to risk the health of seniors. Or because I wanted to risk people’s lives by opening up small businesses and toboggan hills. Or because I want to expose a plot to depopulate the world. I protest because I want solutions and answers. I want us to move forward beyond COVID. Beyond the division that this pandemic has caused. But in order to do so, we need to follow the science and start treating seniors and all humans with dignity and fairness.
Rejean Venne
West Nipissing
