Judge’s interim report on SARS ‘very critical’

The Ontario Superior Court judge investigating what went wrong with the province’s handling of last year’s SARS outbreak delivered an interim report to Health Minister George Smitherman yesterday. A source said the report dealt exclusively with the public health response to the outbreak and was “very critical.”

The Ontario Superior Court judge investigating what went wrong with the province’s handling of last year’s SARS outbreak delivered an interim report to Health Minister George Smitherman yesterday. A source said the report dealt exclusively with the public health response to the outbreak and was “very critical.” Justice Archie Campbell presented Smitherman with the report, which makes recommendations for change. A spokesperson for the SARS commission headed by Campbell suggested the judge is keen to see a quick release of the document. Smitherman indicated he plans to release it in about a week, though some translation of the 200-page report into French must be done first.(Source: London Free Press, April 2004)