The Globe and Mail spoke with Prof. Amy Greer, Department of Population Medicine, for an article that examined whether Canadian public health authorities have taken the right approach to handing the COVID-19 pandemic.

Several health leaders have written an open letter to the prime minister and premiers calling for a pandemic approach that allows most of society to return to something close to normal while protecting the vulnerable.

Greer said she and many of her infectious disease and epidemiology colleagues disagreed with the letter writers, saying she does not believe the proper approach is to let the virus “play out.”

Greer holds the Canada Research Chair in Population Disease Modelling and is currently creating disease transmission models to help guide Canadian health authority decision-making.