(January 7, 2021) When the news of Dr. Tom Stewart CEO of St. Joseph’s Health System in Hamilton and Niagara Health vacationing “in the Caribbean over the holidays despite government advisories to stay home as the number of COVID-19 cases soared across the province” the condemnation on twitter was swift.
Piya Chattopadhyay, host of CBC Radio One’s The Sunday Magazine responded to the Tom Stewart vacation – “Not only the head of a hospital who takes weeks off in the midst of a pandemic. But also on the province’s “command table”. Wow. Just wow.”
A hospital executive in Nova Scotia put it a but more plainly when she tweeted, “I cannot fucking believe this.”
The Board of Directors of St. Joseph’s Healthcare, which includes six hospitals and facilities in Hamilton, Guelph, Brantford, Dundas and Kitchener, have confirmed Tom Stewart was on holidays out of the country from December 13 to January 5th. Today, it issued a statement from board chair Sister Anne Anderson saying, “In response to a number of issues related to the international travel of St. Joseph’s Health System CEO, Dr. Tom Stewart, and the recent decision by the Niagara Health System Board to end the provision of CEO services, we are re-convening a meeting of the Board today (January 7).
According to NewsTalk 610 CKRB, “Niagara Health’s Board of Directors has dumped its CEO following his Dominican vacation. The board issued a statement the evening of January 6th saying it is ending its relationship with Dr. Tom Stewart.
“We understand that we are facing a very serious issue and, as a Board, must take the necessary time to deliberate and listen to our staff and community. Please know, that at all times, we remain committed to St. Joseph’s Health System’s legacy of compassionate care for those we are privileged to serve,” said Sister Anne Anderson in a statement.
The story about Dr. Tom Stewart comes on the heels of the resignation of Ontario’s finance minister Rod Philips because he spent the Christmas holidays in St. Bart’s, a move considered so egregious it was covered by the international media. A January 1st New York Times story, Ontario’s finance minister resigns after a jaunt in the Caribbean, notes “he left behind a series of photos and videos that were posted on social media during his absence, and several political opponents said that the posts were intended to create the illusion that Mr. Phillips was celebrating the holidays in Canada. The images appear to have been made at Mr. Phillips’s home in suburban Toronto. He is now under a mandatory 14-day quarantine there.”
In a statement from Ontario’s deputy minister of health, Helen Angus, Stewart’s resignation from the Health Coordination Table, the Ontario COVID-19 Science Advisory Table, and the LTC Incident Management System Table was accepted.
“The people of Ontario have made countless sacrifices during the pandemic and it remains critically important that everyone continues to follow public health advice. We all have a part to play to stop the spread of COVID-19,” she said.
An Ontario-wide shutdown went into effect as of Saturday, December 26, 2020 at 12:01 a.m. and remains in place until at least Jan. 23, 2021 for the 27 public health unit regions in southern Ontario, which includes the catchment area of the nine facilities Dr. Stewart is in charge of.
- No indoor gatherings are allowed with anyone outside a person’s household (the people they live with).
- Public and private schools must switch to remote learning when classes first resume in the new year.
- Non-essential businesses must close.
- Malls must close to in-person shopping.
- No indoor or outside dining is permitted at restaurants.
In a statement from Ontario’s deputy minister of health, Helen Angus, Stewart’s resignation from the Health Coordination Table, the Ontario COVID-19 Science Advisory Table, and the LTC Incident Management System Table was accepted
“The people of Ontario have made countless sacrifices during the pandemic and it remains critically important that everyone continues to follow public health advice. We all have a part to play to stop the spread of COVID-19,” she said.
It remains to be seen how the apparent hypocrisy of the very people the public is entrusting to manage the pandemic, where trust in public officials is critical to securing the public’s commitment to important public health measures, will affect its capacity to manage.
“In times of crisis such as the current COVID-19 pandemic and its economic and social repercussions, public governance matters more than ever. Governance arrangements have played a critical role in countries’ immediate responses, and will continue to be crucial both to the recovery and to building a “new normal” once the crisis has passed,” says the OECD.
As reported by Global TV, in his first COVID-19 briefing on January 5, 2021, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said he’s “disappointed” by numerous federal and provincial political figures who travelled abroad despite advisories to avoid all non-essential travel during the still-raging global pandemic.
“The actions of any one person can have a positive or a negative benefit on the health situation of your neighbour,” Trudeau said, “… And that’s why all Canadians were so disappointed to see so many examples of folks who should have known better doing things that put us all at risk.”
He added that those who have to quarantine for 14 days after international travel will not eligible be for the federal COVID Sickness Benefit.
There have been at least 626,700 confirmed cases of coronavirus in Canada, according to the Public Health Agency. As of Thursday morning, at least 16,369 people had died.
In a 14-day average, the percentage of cases in Canada has increased by 15% and the number deaths have increased by 12%. On January 6th, 8,153 new cases were identified across Canada. Ontario reported 3,266 new cases, bringing its total number of cases to more than 200,000. The death toll in the province has risen to 4,767 as 37 more deaths were reported yesterday.
As reported by Global News, “Ontario reported the highest number of hospitalizations since the pandemic began with 1,463 people hospitalized with COVID-19 (up by 116 from the previous day), with 361 patients in an intensive care unit (up by nine) and 246 patients in ICUs on a ventilator (up by one).”
Increase in hospitalizations generally precedes increase in deaths.
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