Toronto Public Health’s vice-chair responds to backlash over Sun column about COVID-19, says her only aim was to ‘promote discourse’
When her colleague tweeted this in March, Toronto Public Health (TPH) vice-chair Michelle Storton was ready with a response.
As a social worker, Storton knows the importance of communication through social media, and this tweet about the pandemic by Toronto Sun columnist David Cho — which the newspaper has since removed but which went viral on social media — hit home.
“As someone in the public health arena, and someone who has been working with the community for so many years, I wanted my statement to be as clear and as strong,” Storton said. “The fact that someone is advocating for public health is a good thing, but to do so at this critical time, when I have more pressing concerns, can be very scary.
“I’m trying to promote discourse,” she said. “I certainly hope I’m able to reach a wider audience — and hopefully that’s a good thing — because people need to know what’s going on.”
This is the reaction the Toronto Public Health (TPH) vice-chair has been getting from the public since she shared her opinion about the pandemic in a tweet — and one of the reasons she took it off so quickly.
Toronto Sun columnist David Cho, who wrote the column in question on March 18, has since removed it, but has now received more than 10,000 replies on the column, which he posted on his own account.
Many of the responses have been supportive, and have included messages congratulating him for getting a scoop of all the bad press out there and the “likes” and “shares” from other media outlets, including the Star.
Cho’s column, which was entitled “