In a newly released statement, Dr. Matt Strauss, the former director of critical care at Guelph Hospital and current Queens University medicine professor, is advising against further lockdowns in Canada. 

"When you deprive children of their education, adults of their livelihood, and elderly people of their social connections, desperation and despair quickly set in." Dr. Strauss writes, pleading with other doctors to come to the same conclusion.

Posted to the Facebook for Your Concerned Ontario Doctors, Dr. Strauss argues that lockdowns are not an effective means of controlling the virus nor reducing mortality rates. 

"'Do no harm' are three words all doctors must follow in the course of their work." Dr. Strauss wrote in his statement, "These words make me convinced that Covid-19 lockdowns are the wrong approach, and a growing number of doctors are on my side."

Dr. Strauss goes on to note that the benefits of any proposed medical strategy must outweigh the risks, adding "If lockdowns were a prescription drug for Covid-19 treatment, the FDA would never have approved it."

The Queens University professor goes on to argue that a recent study in medical journal The Lancet has found that lockdowns were not associated with decreased mortality from COVID-19.

"Evidence for the harms of lockdowns are now piling up." Dr. Strauss writes, "In the US, homicides are up 50 per cent compared to last summer. In France, domestic violence calls are up 30 per cent. In Canada, almost three times more people are contemplating suicide compared to last year; and in British Columbia, overdose deaths have tripled from pre-pandemic levels."

Dr. Strauss concludes the statement by encouraging all physicians supporting the lockdown measures to reconsider.

"As a medic, my verdict is clear: mandatory government lockdowns amount to a medical recommendation of no proven benefit, of extraordinary potential harm, that do not take personal values and individual consent into account. Physicians who call for their use should hearken back to these core planks of their ethical training.”