There has been an alarming increase in the amount of verbal and even racist abuse directed against York Region's public health workers, particularly those conducting contract tracing investigations.
This week, the problem has become concerning enough that both associate medical officer of health Dr. Fareen Karachiwalla and York Region chairman and CEO Wayne Emmerson implored residents to be kinder to the employees just doing their jobs.
"It has been really upsetting to see a rise in disrespectful and inappropriate behaviour toward our staff who are working day and night literally to do everything they can to support people on the phones, in clinics or on the streets," said Karachiwalla said on Tuesday.
Emmerson echoed those sentiments at regional council meeting yesterday.
"It's unfortunate the abuse staff have been taking. I don't think people realize when they are standing there screaming on the phone that we (as a region) are leading everyone by getting vaccines out sooner," said the CEO.
Scott Cholewa, acting director of infectious disease control and operations chief for COVID-19 emergency response, told NewmarketToday that the amount of abusive behaviour toward staff has spiked on all the different phone lines operated by the public health unit in the past month.
"There has been swearing and whole range of other things we haven't experienced previously," he said. "(Public health workers) have had challenging calls where people have hurled racial or insulting terms at them.
"We have seen a real intensive increase in the past few weeks. It's not something unique to York Region, though, we have seen health units make statements about this across the board."
As for what is causing this increased anger and abuse, Cholewa said there doesn't seem to be any one thing that has inflamed reactions. He suspects it's a combination of pandemic fatigue, anxiety about access to COVID-19 vaccines, and distress at being identified as a close contact.
"The pandemic has been going on for a very long time. It's been a year since the World Health Organization declared the pandemic, and perhaps that anniversary is an unwelcome reminder that we have been in this for so long," he said.
The majority of the anger toward public health staff has been directed at those conducting contact tracing investigations, where they ask people about where they have been so they can track down others who may have been exposed to the virus.
Because of the increased resistance and abuse toward investigators, medical officer of health Dr. Karim Kurji issued an order under section 22 of the Health Promotion and Protection Act earlier this month compelling residents to provide information to investigators or face fines.
So far, said Cholewa, no one has had to be fined under the order.
"It's the last resort for us; we really want to lead with the carrot. Since the beginning of the pandemic, most people have been very cooperative. It's been in the past month that people have turned on us a bit."
Cholewa doesn't have any hard numbers on the number of abusive calls, however, he said they typically happen when staff have to be stern or persistent with residents, such as repeatedly calling or showing up at the door of someone unwilling to give information to a contract tracing investigation or reprimanding someone who has booked multiple vaccine appointments for themselves. People tired of waiting on hold also call other numbers at public health to vent their frustrations.
No staff member has taken time off or resigned because of the abusive behaviour so far, but Cholewa noted that facing it every day has had a demoralizing effect on people who are trying to do their jobs under difficult circumstances.
"It does cause some hesitation, wondering if the next call will be the same, will I get the same treatment as my last call," he said.
"We are all working toward the same goal. We all want to see this pandemic over so we can go back to our normal way of life. By treating our staff with respect, we can do our job quickly so we can move on to the next individual. It takes up a lot of time of resources to manage difficult clients."
