An official who revealed that the government ignored Ontario Public Health's recommendations on COVID-19 will be working in Nova Scotia next year.
Dr. Shelley Deeks, Ontario's chief health protection officer, will take the newly created post of public health surveillance medical officer in February, a Nova Scotia Health Department spokeswoman said in an email.
"Dr. Deeks is a national expert in Public Health surveillance and epidemiology," Marla McInnis said. "We are looking forward to bringing her expertise to Nova Scotia in a new position that will lead Public Health surveillance, support epidemiologists and support Nova Scotia's publicly funded immunization program. The new position is an investment by government in our public health system in ways that will both enhance our response to COVID-19 and other diseases."
Deeks has been in the Ontario headlines after she told the Toronto Star that the province’s thresholds for implementing COVID restrictions were two to four times higher than what its own public health agency had recommended.
The Star reported that Deeks also revealed the province unveiled a colour-coded COVID framework without consulting her or other public health experts - despite the fact Ontario officials had said the policy was created in "full consultation" with experts.
Ontario Public Health declined to make Deeks available for an interview, referring the Chronicle Herald to the Nova Scotia Health Department.
According to her OPH biography, Deeks' specialities include communicable disease control and outbreak investigations, vaccine safety, epidemiology and program evaluation.
She's also a fellow with the Royal College of Physicians of Canada and the Australian Faculty of Public Health Medicine.
