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Phoning it in? Not this Toronto contact tracer, who puts his hopes into each call as a way to break the chain of COVID-19 transmission

Sep 9, 2022 , , , , by shlf

Mahad Nur considers himself a disease detective.

With more than a decade of experience as a contact tracer, Nur knows the importance of tracking down people to limit the spread of infectious diseases, especially one as wily as .

“The virus spreads from person to person, and we know that it is spreading within the community,” said Nur, supervisor of Toronto Public Health’s Communicable Disease Liaison Unit. “By following up with every contact of an individual, you are hoping to break that transmission chain.

“This can turn into a really big spider web of contacts and that’s what we’re trying to avoid by tracing contacts, encouraging isolation of those contacts and breaking the transmission of the virus.”

Nur, who worked many 12-hour days during the early months of the pandemic, is watching COVID-19 cases rise in the city. He remains hopeful that with each phone call from Toronto Public Health, another person will take proper measures and halt the virus’s exponential spread. On Sunday, the province reported 491 new cases, including 137 in Toronto.

Heading into fall and a possible second wave, Nur spoke with the Star about the challenges of contact tracing, his ongoing struggle for a work-life balance and why thinking of our loved ones is the key to ending the pandemic.

You’ve worked as a contact tracer for many years. What is different about this job during the pandemic?

In the beginning, people didn’t really know about the virus and the role of public health in the COVID response. It was a challenge. We had to quickly let people know why public health was calling. People didn’t understand why we needed to know where they worked and who they’ve spent time with. People are now expecting our calls, which makes things easier for us.

What’s the most important thing about your job, the thing you need to do so every phone call is a success?

We need to gain the trust of the people we are speaking with and make them feel comfortable enough to tell us these important things about their lives. We explain our roles, explain the reason for our calls, explain the follow-up steps and explain that we will need to speak with their close contacts. We’re trying to gain their trust the whole time. We try to get across that we are calling for the overall good.

In recent weeks, the pandemic has shifted with more young people testing positive for COVID-19. Are conversations different now that 63 per cent of new cases provincewide (as of Sunday) are in people under the age of 40?

Not really. The younger folks might have more contacts because they are socializing more. But for the most part, we see that people have definitely tried their hardest to isolate within their bubble. This might not happen in all circumstances. But for the most part, most close contacts we follow up with are household contacts or people within an individual’s social bubble.

What is a challenge your team faces during these phone conversations?

The biggest thing we have to take into consideration is that most of these individuals are not feeling well. They are sick. So if we need to take a pause during the interview, and give them a break, that’s OK. These phone calls do take a long time and we want to be sure we are collecting accurate information. It’s not an easy process and we try to take our time. We don’t have a clock saying we have to finish the call within 30 minutes

Your team spends a lot of time with people on the phone, talking COVID. What is a common misconception or misunderstanding about the virus?

It varies. That’s why we really take the opportunity to explain the facts and debunk the misinformation going around.

Can you give me an example?

One that we hear is: “Masks don’t work when it comes to COVID-19.” This when we take the time to really, really try to explain that the reason you wear a mask is to protect yourself and to protect others. And that when two people are wearing a mask, the risk of the transmission of the virus is reduced.

You know a lot about COVID-19. What’s the most common question you’ve received from family and friends in the pandemic?

When is this going to end? That’s the question I get a lot. People have planned weddings and other social events. With all the restrictions … people always want to know if things are going to change. I don’t have an answer. The message I keep trying to explain is that it’s so important to ensure you are doing the most you can to protect your loved ones. People understand that.

We’ve all had to adjust to life in a pandemic. How does your job influence what you do at home to keep your family safe?

I practise what I preach. And I take a lot of pride in that. The hardest thing I had to explain to my own family members, especially at the beginning, was to tell them we can’t visit. I took the distancing recommendations very seriously. I’m such a family-oriented person, with lots of friends who do lots of activities together. The hardest part for me was to keep the distance from the people I love.

You said in one of our earlier conversations that you think about COVID day and night. Are you finding ways to take your mind off work?

It has been difficult to separate my work from my home life. It’s been nine months, and I’m still trying to make that balance work. I can close my computer at the end of the day, but I still think about it — all the things that need to be followed up on, the ways I can support my staff. But I try to disconnect by spending time with my kids, maybe taking them for a bike ride. Watching basketball, even though it’s a bummer that the Raptors are out of the playoffs. Or sitting outside in the evenings and relaxing, connecting with family members (by phone) who don’t live in the city.

When you think back over the last year, is there a moment in your job that you think you won’t forget, one that you will carry with you?

That moment was right at the beginning. I was off work when the first case (of COVID-19) was reported. I looked at my phone and saw all the emails coming in and I said: ‘It’s here.’ Working in public health, you always hear stories about SARS (the 2003 outbreak). When I saw Dr. (Eileen) de Villa on TV saying Toronto had its first case of COVID, I knew in that moment things were going to be different, that 10 years down the line, I’m going to have COVID stories to share.

As cases of COVID-19 climb, what do you want people to think about in their daily lives?

Not everybody is a nurse in an emergency department. Not everybody is a doctor treating somebody who is sick. Not everybody is a contact tracer. But everybody has a role. If you can do your part, you are contributing to this effort. And if everybody continues to do their part, we will bring this virus to an end.

This interview was edited for length and clarity.

Megan Ogilvie is a Toronto-based health reporter for the Star. Follow her on Twitter:

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Pandemic models didn’t see COVID-fatigue coming, says one of Canada’s top doctors

Apr 28, 2022 , , , , by shlf

OTTAWA – Mask more. Wash more. Stay home. Keep your distance. Always.

That message hammered into everyone, every day, by every provincial and federal official is a tough sell in the second wave of the .

COVID-fatigue is real.

Now one of Canada’s top public health doctors admits it poses a genuine challenge to officials who are trying to understand how the virus still has the upper hand, and how to engage people to combat it.

Deputy chief public health officer Dr. Howard Njoo mused aloud this week that scientific modellers did not accurately foresee how human behaviour – especially COVID-fatigue — would factor into the rising second wave and be such a tough thing to predict.

Epidemic modelling in the spring predicted a best-case scenario, in which strong infection control measures were in place, would see Canada experience 11,000 deaths over the entire course of the pandemic.

But just nine months after the World Health Organization declared the pandemic, that number has already been overtaken, with one global tracker reporting Canadian COVID-19 deaths at 11,165 as of Wednesday.

Dr. Theresa Tam, Canada’s chief public health officer, attributed it to the high number of deaths in long-term care homes.

In the spring, Njoo said, modellers focused on technical variables like attack rate and projections, “and so on and so forth.”

But one thing “we didn’t take into account — and it’s something we’re learning about — is the human behavioural aspect and the fact we’re all suffering COVID fatigue.”

Njoo said people “bought into” the need to wear a face mask and physical distancing in the spring, and by now, they know “there’s a higher risk in terms of closed settings of being exposed.”

But the second wave has been tough.

“How do we get people to understand and appreciate that the situation now is just as severe if not worse compared to what we endured in the spring? That to me is a big learning in terms of the social and behavioural aspect of this.”

Raywat Deonandan, an epidemiologist and associate professor at the University of Ottawa, agrees that there were challenges that made it difficult to forecast just how tough this wave would be.

First, he said, “the degree of anti authoritarianism was not expected, and therefore not included in models” as non-compliance.

Second, “the degree of misinformation and disinformation was not expected, and that directs human behaviour.”

Third, the nature of this disease itself was not expected. Now it spreads by explosive super-spreading events, rather than seeping out uniformly like the flu.”

And finally, Deonandan wrote in response to the Star, “the compartmental nature of human interaction is not included in many models, how most of us only interact with a set number of people in our given lives.”

In an interview Wednesday, Njoo said the coronavirus has challenged both public health modelling and messaging in many ways.

First, he said Canada based its pandemic planning on an influenza pandemic and how a respiratory infectious disease typically behaves. But the novel coronavirus had unique characteristics – for example asymptomatic transmission, and airborne transmission by smaller, not just large, droplets – which were not immediately known.

He pushed back at critics who say Canadians were confused because public health authorities kept changing their advice, saying public health messages on masking and physical distancing had to — and did — evolve along with the science.

“But part of my learning was that we never anticipated that, let’s say even with the wearing of masks and so on, we never anticipated we’d all be doing it for so long.”

That’s where fatigue comes in.

And Njoo doesn’t think its depth as a cultural and social factor was foreseeable.

“This is an unprecedented pandemic,” he said. “Even with H1N1, I don’t think we got into the depth or length of having to deal with it for this period of time.”

Secondly, he notes, this is the first pandemic of the social media era. That makes the spread of “misinformation and disinformation” easier, and challenges health professionals to use behavioural science and social marketing techniques to cut through the noise and the fatigue.

That makes this pandemic different than, say, the Spanish flu pandemic of 1918-1919

Liberal MP Kirsty Duncan is an expert in pandemics, the environment and human health, and wrote a book on the Spanish flu. She says it’s hard to compare the two time periods and how pandemic fatigue factors in. In 1918, “the flu came at the end of the (First World War). People had suffered for four years. There was a shortage of medical personnel because doctors and nurses were serving in the war,” she said.

“Things were done differently in different places. Some places had masking, some places closed businesses, other places closed schools. There was no flu vaccine, no antiviral drugs, no antibiotics. Today scientists are working around the clock for preventives.”

Njoo said while we await a vaccine, Canadians need to stick to what works.

He called the #COVIDZero campaign – an idea advocated by some doctors to drive cases down to zero — “a nice, aspirational sort of a goal or objective.”

But he said we need to consider the “practical aspect” or “feasibility” of it, and “balancing all of the sort of unintended consequences of it.”

“I think what needs to happen is maybe a bit of a surgical, targeted approach, maybe a combination of still pushing for people to do the right things in terms of personal behaviour” and, as seen in jurisdictions like Nunavut, short-term lockdowns.

That, and provinces need an aggressive “test-trace-isolate” strategy in place, he said.

Testing “hesitancy” is a hurdle for officials to overcome because people are worried about being stigmatized, facing discrimination or job security challenges. Njoo said some provinces have asked for extra human resources for contact tracing from the federal government but it’s hard to integrate them into local efforts.

At the end of the day, said Njoo, combating COVID-19 relies on individual behaviour.

“It’s not only government or public health authorities alone, leaning on the hammer, that’s going to address this. It’s going to be every single person.”

Tam told reporters Wednesday that another set of federal modelling scenarios will be presented Friday, and she suggested Canadians can still “be successful again if we rapidly get the resurgence under control.”

Tonda MacCharles is an Ottawa-based reporter covering federal politics for the Star. Follow her on Twitter:

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Bradford replaces Christmas parade with ‘Spot Santa’ event amid COVID-19 pandemic

Oct 5, 2021 , , , , by shlf

The town of Bradford West Gwillimbury is celebrating the holidays while keeping COVID-19 restrictions in mind.

The town is bringing Santa Claus to residents through a “Spot Santa” event on Nov. 21 and Nov. 28 where people are able to see Santa as he travels across the town.

Santa and his mini float will be visiting the urban areas of Bradford on Nov. 21 and will visit Bond Head on Nov. 28. 

A route map and an approximate schedule will be published closer to the event date on social media and at . 

Residents are also encouraged to share on social media when they see Santa by using the hashtag #SpotSantaBWG so their friends and neighbours know to be on the lookout.

The town is reminding residents to remember that if they go on the sidewalk to see Santa to ensure their family is following physical distancing guidelines and avoiding public gatherings.

The “Spot Santa” event is in place of the annual Santa Claus parade and the event at Henderson Park, which would have accommodated only a limited number of participants.

For at-home seasonal fun, go to online starting Nov. 18 to purchase an activity bag, which includes snowman crafts, cookie decorating kit, hot chocolate and more. The cost is $10 per bag and kits will be available for pickup at the BWG Leisure Centre. More information can be found at .

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‘It hurts’: Barrie councillors take first step to demolish ‘special’ W.A. Fisher auditorium

Oct 4, 2021 , , , , by shlf

W.A. Fisher auditorium has decades of sentimental value. But that may not be enough to save it from the wrecking ball. 

At a general committee meeting Dec. 7, Barrie councillors put the brakes on plans to convert the W.A. Fisher auditorium into a large theatre and event centre. Instead, they passed a motion to suspend the project for at least a year, and have agreed to demolish the existing building. They’ve also asked staff to “reimagine” the proposal — possibly by separating the project into detached theatre and conference-centre sites.

The decisions need to be ratified at an upcoming meeting. But, under the plan, the project will be held up until market conditions improve as part of a potential COVID-19 pandemic recovery. 

“It’s become clear from this report we’re putting a square peg in a round hole,” deputy mayor Barry Ward said. “Even if we were to renovate it, it would be unrecognizable. We’ve got to face facts: It’s not the Orillia Opera House, it’s not the most attractive building. I know it has special meaning for many generations of residents. But we can find a way to honour those memories in a new building. We owe it to future generations to build a facility that meets their needs.”

In June, city economic and creative development director Stephannie Schlichter said the given the implications of the pandemic.

The city has wanted for years to build a 650-seat theatre and event centre on the property, which was once connected to the now-demolished Barrie Central Collegiate building. However, the anticipated cost for reconstruction swelled from $25.6 million to more than $50 million, Schlichter said. 

“The current vision for a state-of-the-art theatre and conference centre cannot be delivered within the current scope and capital budget,” she said.

A “theatre-only” option would cost $30 million to construct and about $750,000 per year to operate, the city says.

“At some point, the industry will recover and people will return to enjoying live performances and in-person conferences, but it is impossible to predict when the sector can expect to make a full recovery and if there will be any long standing implications,” Schlichter said. 

Coun. Keenan Aylwin said the legacy of the building can be honoured through other methods than physical preservation.

“I went to Barrie Central; I was in the concert band and was a drama kid,” he said. “I lived in that auditorium for a large part of high school. (But) it wasn’t really about the building. It was about the people and the ability to gather and create art. To keep the building is a waste of money.”

Mayor Jeff Lehman agreed. “I would have laid down in front of the bulldozers four years ago,” he said. “You can’t make these decisions based on nostalgia or emotion. Is there enough value in the retention of the building to outweigh the cost of starting afresh? It’s fairly clear what the message is from our staff. It’s painful. We don’t have to like it (but) that’s the right decision.”

Downtown permanent market ‘precinct’ being planned

In a separate recommendation, the committee also granted approval for staff to develop a business case for a permanent market to be constructed at the site of the downtown bus terminal and start work on a precinct plan for the area. Staff intend to report back in the spring.

“Barrie’s downtown is evolving,” development services director Michelle Banfield said. “New mixed-use and residential projects are bringing new residents to the downtown, while planned and recently completed city-led investments are creating a network of vibrant and attractive public spaces.”

The precinct would run from the north side of Dunlop Street to south of Simcoe Street, between Bayfield and Bradford streets.

“This corner of the downtown has the potential to be the strongest part of our tourism economy and a major attraction,” Mayor Jeff Lehman said.

Banfield compared the initiative to St. Lawrence Market in Toronto and ByWard Market in Ottawa, “successful examples” of precincts that are built around a centrally-located, permanent market building.

“The study area is positioned as a hub for creative, cultural and community enterprises that can offer a vibrant sense of place and an area for collaboration as the city’s downtown continues to evolve through intensification,” she said.

This project would create a more complete community, encourage tourism and repurpose an underutilized city building, Banfield said.

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$1-million fundraising effort is for the birds — and humans: Orillia area’s Couchiching Conservancy

Sep 15, 2021 , , , , by shlf

A $1-million investment in a globally-important habitat will pay 10 times that in annual benefits to Mother Earth, according to an area conservation group partnering in the effort to purchase the property.

“We are working very hard with our partners to create wildlife corridors throughout the Lake Couchiching region to build natural resiliency in the face of a changing climate,” said Mark Bisset, executive director of the Couchiching Conservancy. “This property is an essential piece of that puzzle.”

The non-profit land trust is working with the Nature Conservancy of Canada to purchase the Cedarhurst Alvar property, a 551-hectare site located 35 kilometres northeast of Orillia.

It is home to some of Ontario’s most significant natural habitat, including forests, wetlands and grasslands that serve as sponges during spring run-off and major storms.

Protecting the property as a conservation reserve will provide $10 million a year in what the conservancies refer to as “ecosystem goods and services.”

These include carbon storage, the removal of air pollution and flood-water storage — vital functions in the age of climate change, the groups say.

“Doing conservation at this size and scale is incredibly important in today’s changing world,” said Kristyn Ferguson, program director, large landscapes Ontario Region, Nature Conservancy of Canada.

Alvars are naturally open habitats characterized by either a thin covering of soil or no soil, over a base of limestone or dolostone bedrock. They exist in just a handful of locations across the globe.

The two conservation organizations need to raise $1 million by spring 2021 to protect the area property for the long term, noting it has faced development pressures in the past.

The site is home to a diversity of grassland birds, including grasshopper sparrow, bobolink, eastern meadowlark and upland sandpiper.

“There are hundreds of species using its wetlands, forests, grasslands and globally rare alvars,” Ferguson added.

Once protected, the property will help form a conservation corridor between Carden Alvar Provincial Park to the south and existing conservation lands that extend north to Queen Elizabeth II Wildlands Provincial Park.

For information on how to contribute, go to .

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DID YOU KNOW Barrie’s first mayor was brewer Robert Simpson?

Aug 27, 2021 , , , , by shlf

The Queens Hotel has been a gathering place since it opened in 1850 at

Barrie town crier Steve Travers said the upper floor was used as a council chamber when Barrie was a town.

Simcoe Steam Brewery founder and brewer Robert Simpson was the Town of Barrie’s first mayor, serving from 1871 to 1876.

Travers said the fact that Simpson was a brewer was instrumental to his getting elected. Elections in those days were unlike today, he said.

“Was it a secret ballot? Hell no. Were women allowed to vote? Hell no. So how did you vote for the mayor? You stood on the main street and you stood next to the person you wanted to vote for and they did a head count.

“If you are a logger, a railroad man, a farmer, who are you going to vote for? I vote for the brewer. Because after the vote, he’d looked round to see who voted for him and you got to drink free beer all night in the Queens Hotel,” Travers said with a hearty laugh.