In the wake of a grassroots campaign calling for York Region's medical officer of health to be fired, the region has issued a statement today "reaffirming our strong confidence" in Dr. Karim Kurji.
York Region Chairman and CEO Wayne Emmerson made a statement this morning at a special meeting of regional council "to address some of the commentary we've been hearing in the media and social media."
"There are some in our communities who have made strong and inaccurate claims about the decisions of this council and the leadership of Dr. Karim Kurji," Emmerson said. "On behalf of York regional council and the Regional Municipality of York, we reaffirm our strong confidence in York Region medical officer of health Dr. Karim Kurji and continued support of his leadership in our collective fight against COVID-19."
About 2,200 people have signed the Fire Dr. Karim Kurji change.org petition started last week by York Region Parents.
"If you ignore what is being said by politicians who are completely biased to their individual political party agendas, and just look at the data by itself, the single most effective thing anyone can do is close schools to the stop spread. It was the driver in cases coming down in waves 1 and 2," the petition states.
"Cases go up, close schools, cases go down, it's a fact. It's been proven. Dr. Kurji has section 22 powers the same as Dr. Loh in Peel but he is refusing to use them. Dr. Kurji needs to go."
Local resident Ryan Imgrund, who has been posting daily statistics and analysis about the severity of COVID-19 in the region, province and country using Twitter since the pandemic began, has fuelled the #fireKurji campaign among his nearly 60,000 followers.
Earlier this week, CP24 aired a 16-minute segment featuring Imgrund and Kurji, during which Imgrund said data was being manipulated by the medical officer of health to support positions that included "loosening" public health restrictions and not closing schools.
"He's putting our lives in danger, he needs to be fired," Imgrund said.
Kurji said said "medical officers of health have a long history of adversity" and there will always be people who disagree with decisions made in response to a health crisis.
Just prior to the provincial announcement last week that schools would not reopen for in-person learning following this week's break, Kurji said he was in fact poised to issue a section 22 order closing the region's schools.
Last week, on April 9, he had told regional council that the data didn't support school closures, however, by the following day, the situation had changed.
In response to the statement issued by Emmerson today, Imgrund tweeted, "Wayne Emerson MAY be the only person in all of York Region with ANY confidence left in Dr. Kurji."
Another resident tweeted in response, "As a newmarket resident, frontline health care worker, mother to unvaccinated children who are being cared for by unvaccinated ECE’s, loved one to a LTC resident, I do NOT have confidence that my appointed MOH has the health interests of residents as his priority. #firekurji"
In the statement, Emmerson said, "COVID-19 is unlike anything we have experienced before. The situation continues to change rapidly and the decisions of Dr. Kurji and regional council are made in the best interest of our community as a whole – not based on the needs and wants of individual groups or interests.
"In fact, Dr. Kurji’s philosophy throughout the pandemic is to treat our whole community as the patient. This approach has allowed York Region to take targeted action to reduce harms without inflicting new ones and better balance health and safety with economic vitality.
Emmerson said the region's response to the pandemic has been evidenced-based and data-driven.
"However, data is only part of a larger picture that drives York Region’s response to COVID-19. Dr. Kurji and the York Region Public Health team also look closely at case and contact operations, advanced planning, enforcement capacity, vaccine operations and communications before making decisions or recommendations that impact our residents and businesses.
"The best actions to address the spread of COVID-19 in our communities include targeted interventions and an aggressive vaccination strategy. We will never truly bring an end to this pandemic without everyone’s earnest participation."
He added, "We recognize many are feeling a level of frustration and fatigue with this pandemic. However, inappropriate and disparaging comments, whether shared in a public forum or directly with York Region staff, do nothing to change the current situation."
