Dr. Neil Rau is among 21 Ontario doctors who have signed a

There is a debate in our field about risk tolerance. Some people think no COVID is the way to go. Others say we have to live with it and tolerate, because we have to look at the other harms of trying to suppress COVID transmission. There are real, personal, sociological harms that come as a trade-off. The restaurant industry is hanging by a thin thread. Overdoses have gone up. If you dont have public buy-in, it wont be sustainable and people will go renegade. Weve already pulled all these levers, how many are left, short of going back to lockdown? Now, were in lockdown light. Some thing is unstoppable with human reaction. Theres going to be transmission and we have to tolerate it.
What did you think of Fords announcement of stricter rules?
The good thing here is we are starting to regulate the testing, to focus on people who need to be tested. Weve had a deluge of people seeking testing to the point where weve created a demand that we cant demand. We have screwed up our turnaround times to the point where the results are not practically useful, especially for contact tracing. When we implement restrictive policies, its very difficult to get out of them. When you put down the speed limit, it never goes back up. Because people think lives were saved, why would you want to put it back up? Im happy to see this is more like a Stage 3 minus, than a Stage 2 plus.
Dr. Neil Rau, is among 21 doctors who signed a joint letter to Doug Ford, asking him not to issue another lockdown.Photo by SUPPLIED /DR. NEIL RAU
What factors have changed since mid-March when the pandemic first began?