Controversial medical officer critical of mask mandates resigns from job in Ontario county | 24CA News

Dr. Matt Strauss has resigned after a controversial run as Haldimand-Norfolk’s performing medical officer. 

He informed 24CA News that it was “a great honour to serve the community” and that his departure is “bittersweet.” 

Strauss will finish his 18 months as medical officer on April 1, he introduced in a well being and social providers advisory assembly on Monday. 

Strauss has confronted criticism for his public feedback earlier than. 

He beforehand stated on social media he’d sooner give his kids COVID-19 over a Happy Meal, and when he was initially introduced on as performing medical officer of well being in September 2021, the Ontario Liberals known as on the well being minister to veto his hiring.

Norfolk mayor Amy Martin confirmed that Strauss has resigned, and stated the “board of health will be meeting in February to address the next plans on how we’re going forward.”

Martin, who was elected mayor final October and is the chair of the joint Haldimand-Norfolk board of well being, stated she is not going to touch upon Strauss at the moment, as  “Dr. Strauss is still an employee until April 1st.”

New mayor stated, when she was a councillor, she regretted voting for him

In Sept. 2021, following Strauss’ appointment as medical officer for the area, Martin stated she regretted voting him onto the board. 

“Simply put, [his comments are] not reflective of my position on COVID-19,” Martin stated in Sept. 2021. “They are not reflective of the leadership our communities, both Haldimand and Norfolk, are in need of.”

Strauss has written a number of articles in current months explaining his critique of masking and vaccine mandates. He stated he took the medical officer function in Haldimand-Norfolk as a result of he was involved about pandemic coverage, primarily masks mandates which he stated are “under evidenced,” and had the help of some neighborhood members. 

“Some members of the Haldimand-Norfolk community reached out to me and asked if I would take on this job because they were concerned about the direction of pandemic policy in the province,” he stated. 

Dr. Thomas Piggott, CEO of Peterborough Public Health informed CBC Radio’s The Current  “masking is an intervention that comes with absolutely no known evidence of harms, and that’s the reality.” He stated “unfortunately, through the past couple of years, there’s been politicization of masking, so instead of a health prevention, it’s seen as a symbol.”

Dr. Allison McGeer, an infectious illness doctor and senior scientific scientist at Sinai Health System in Toronto stated “one thing we’ve learned very clearly during this pandemic is that masking reduces the transmission of influenza. [It’s] not quite as clear for other respiratory viruses.”

Dr. Christopher Labos, an epidemiologist and heart specialist in Montreal, stated sporting a masks — whether or not it is for COVID-19, RSV or influenza — has been proven to stem the unfold of respiratory sickness. 

“When we were wearing masks, we had no influenza, right?” he stated of the scenario on the top of the pandemic. 

“I think we’ve proven to ourselves that masks work. We just have to do them, even if they are just a little bit uncomfortable for some people.”

In November, Strauss stated he was suing Queen’s University and the pinnacle of its drugs division for over $600,000, saying he had no selection however to resign from his college place due to “malicious, aggressive, condescending and defamatory statements” made about him.

The assertion of declare, filed Oct. 20, states Dr. Stephen Archer, Strauss’s direct supervisor and the pinnacle of the medication division at Queen’s in Kingston, Ont., continuously berated Strauss over his public criticism of COVID-19 public well being measures, together with lockdowns.

None of the claims have been confirmed in court docket. Strauss labored at Queen’s as an assistant professor of drugs from July 2019 to November 2021. He additionally held privileges as a common inner drugs doctor and an intensive care unit (ICU) specialist at Kingston General Hospital, based on the assertion of declare.