By Mike Renzella
The Haldimand Press
Dr. Matt Strauss
HALDIMAND—Recently, Haldimand’s Acting Medical Officer of Health Dr. Matt Strauss has been taking to Twitter to share his thoughts on why it’s in the public’s best interest to do away with restriction-based public health guidelines and Canada’s vaccine mandate.
We spoke with Dr. Strauss regarding those opinions, which landed him in hot water when he first took on his role but have since been more broadly adopted by both the public and the medical community.
“I think now is a good time for the measures to be relaxed. I think that for numerous reasons. One is that the pandemic wave in Canada and in Ontario and in Haldimand-Norfolk is coming down. Another is … it’s clear from scientific data that the vaccine mandates are not accomplishing what we wanted them to.”
He added, “If you’re talking about a 0% reduction in transmission of Omicron from two doses of vaccine, that two dose vaccine mandate doesn’t make much sense at all. Public health policy needs to represent established scientific facts like that. I’m pleased the Province is moving in that direction.”
Recently, he has shared concerns over a lack of liberalism when it comes to differences of opinions regarding COVID: “To me, liberalism is openness to different ideas, it’s tolerance of folks who have different ideas, and it’s a commitment to open and honest dialogue…. A lot of folks have seen disagreements as something dangerous we need to stamp out. I don’t think that’s in keeping with liberalism, and I don’t think that you can really have science without liberalism. Science depends on honest conversations between folks with different ideas.”
Strauss, whose infamous tweet ‘Live Free or Die’ gained widespread attention last fall, explained why he continues to oppose lockdowns as a solution: “Overall, I’ve advocated against restriction-based responses not because I don’t think there is any benefits, but because I think the likely harms outweigh the likely benefits.”
He continued, “If I’m ordering you to do things as a Public Health officer and I don’t know all the context, it’s possible that those things I don’t understand could result in my order causing you harm….
“Respecting individuals’ capacity for consent and going for shared decision-making instead of paternalistic ‘doctor knows best’ approaches … tends to end up with a better overall health outcome. My interest as a clinician has always been to empower to make the right decisions for themselves, consistent with their values and within their context.”
Strauss pointed toward early medical reporting on the pandemic, wherein Italy was used as an example. Cases went up, restrictions were put in place, and cases came down.
“It turns out if you look at any pandemic wave anywhere in the world, whether the country or jurisdiction did lockdowns or not, it goes up and then it comes down. It doesn’t go up forever.”
He said it’s time to start analyzing the pandemic using real-world data instead of hypothetical modelling: “I think there’s a place for mathematical models…. When a new disease rises and we don’t know what it’s going to do, there’s a place for mathematical modelling to create our best guess at what’s happening. Once we have real world data, we have to give the real-world data precedence over the computer simulation.”
He said that when looking at data from around the world, it’s “just not the case that the countries that did more restrictive measures such as shelter-in-place or lockdowns had lower death rates.”
Earlier this year, when vaccination was first offered to children aged 5-11, Strauss yet again found himself in hot water for not outright advocating for those children to be vaccinated. Instead he asserted it was a decision for people to make on an individual basis. Those views put him in the crosshairs of the provincial Liberal party, who demanded his removal.
“Public health is tied up in politics. When there’s a public health emergency there’s going to be a lot of political considerations that come up. That’s inseparable,” said Strauss. “Certainly, if a political party is going to come out and criticize me, that’s going to make me feel a certain emotion. I would like to think I haven’t responded to pressure, because it’s not my job to be popular, it’s my job to protect the public health in Haldimand Norfolk…. I still have to be mindful of what the political situation is.”
Although he hasn’t heard back, Strauss recently volunteered to help mediate discussions between the protesters in Ottawa and the government. He explained why he volunteered, and the approach he would take.
“I happen to know that some members of our community are parked in trucks outside of Parliament. I know that there are little children in some of those trucks. I know that there are thousands of litres of gasoline … and there are fireworks going off. That’s a public health problem. The noise pollution to the people in the city of Ottawa is a public health problem … and frankly, there is the unfortunate opportunity for violence to erupt. It is the case that there are some minority of individuals there who could be fairly characterized as political radicals.”
He continued, “I’d really like to see that situation de-escalate. The way that it de- escalates is to say, ‘Here’s the way the health of the broader public is being jeopardized by these protests’, then we have to acknowledge the ways the restrictions have been hard on folks, we have to acknowledge the way some restrictions don’t make sense anymore…. It remains my great wish that we acknowledge the ways people have been hurt and we work through openness, compassion, and understanding to resolve the matter peacefully.”
He summed up his thoughts, “This pandemic is ending. A lot of people were hurt, a lot of people lost their livelihoods, some people didn’t get to say goodbye to the loved ones they have lost. A lot of people are hurt, and we need to return to those values of openness and compassion and understanding to get through this.”
