TORONTO -- An infectious disease specialist says scenes of people overcrowding a Toronto park on Saturday was an 鈥渆xpression of disrespect鈥 to health-care workers and could spark a surge in new COVID-19 cases.
Speaking to 麻豆影视 Channel on Sunday, Dr. Abdu Sharkawy said it was 鈥渟hocking鈥 to see thousands of people at
鈥淭hat was just greatly upsetting to me and in the context of the sacrifices that people like myself and other front-line health-care workers put in, it felt like it was a disservice to us,鈥 he said. 鈥淚t felt like it was a real expression of disrespect and lack of consideration for the war that we鈥檙e waging to try and protect not only ourselves but everyone.鈥
As part of the city鈥檚 reopening plan, more than 850 parks and outdoor amenities were open to the public this week even though the province鈥檚 case numbers continued to spike.
Sharkawy said he believes these lifted restrictions are likely making people believe it鈥檚 OK to gather in public areas. He said people need to be responsible for doing their part in a battle that has not yet been won.
鈥淚 think a lot of people are under the false impression that the flattening of the curve is the end of our job here and it鈥檚 nowhere near, it鈥檚 only halfway through this marathon,鈥 he said.
Sharkawy said he thinks a surge in cases is likely to happen because of the weekend events, just like what happened after the Mother鈥檚 Day weekend.
鈥淚nitially there was a small surge in the number of cases, but that has sort of persisted over the past week, which has suggested that there was probably something that happened a couple of weeks back and it dates back to, not surprisingly, the Mother鈥檚 Day long weekend,鈥 he said.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford also commented on the large crowds, saying Sunday he was 鈥渁bsolutely shocked.鈥
"The images I saw, we just can鈥檛 have that right now because there is still a deadly virus among us."
Ontario has reported more than 25,000 confirmed cases of COVID-19 as of Sunday.
With files from CTV Toronto.
