Ontario has changed the way it reports on the province’s COVID-19 cases. While one Toronto epidemiologist said that the information doesn’t go far enough, another has said the move is a step in the right direction.

As of Monday morning, a new format that reports demographic information has been rolled out on the government’s coronavirus information page, replacing twice-daily updates with a list of new cases as well as the patient’s age, gender and location.

However, the new data is “very superficial” said Dr. David Fisman, an epidemiologist with the Dalla Lana School of Public Health.

Fisman said that Ontario’s data lacks relevant details, pointing to the lack of information on the ages of those who have died as an example of what’s missing.

Additionally, while a map showing the regions in Ontario facing the largest outbreaks is included in the data released Monday morning, Fisman explained the map doesn’t account for population size.

“In public health, a lot of what we do is we like to standardize for population,” Fisman said. “Of course you have the most cases in Toronto, because you have most people in Toronto. It … looks a little bit pretty, but there’s really no information in here.”

Issac Bogoch, an infectious disease expert at the Toronto General Hospital Research Institute, said the information is “great. This is transparent and open and really discusses key features.”

Bogoch said the information is accessible for the general public. “We should be doing this from the start, but on the other hand it’s never too late … (the data) really addresses most of the major clinical and public health questions.”

It’s important for the general public to be able to access the information, Bogoch said.

The new daily summary is meant to be more in-depth and “replaces the general information on the status of COVID-19 cases that was previously provided twice daily on the web page,” said Hayley Chazan, a representative for Minister of Health Christine Elliott. The information is pulled from the integrated Public Health Information System (iPHIS), a system used by all 34 of Ontario’s public health units and which tracks infectious diseases.

In a press conference Monday, associate chief medical officer of health Dr. Barbara Yaffe said the updated information is good from a planning perspective. The new information and data “help us direct how to prevent further cases and how to target treatment” while assisting in planning, Yaffe said.

The change in how the data is presented on Ontario’s website is “in line” with the way the federal government and other provinces share the same information, Chazan said. “We don’t release individual cases anymore, but neither do other provinces or the federal government.”

The reports are intended to be “more cumulative” while showing how cases have evolved over time, Chazan said.

The federal government’s epidemiological reports are more in depth and share additional details not shown by the province. Both reports share a “highlights” section breaking down key details from the report. While both reports include a section on demographics, the province does not detail most age groups, instead listing all patients between the ages of 20 and 64 together. The federal government separates into five age groups.

Additionally, the federal government breaks down age and sex distribution. The province shares the percentage of patients that are male or female, but not the age groups.

Notably, the province has not yet shared information about the extent of community transmission. The federal report breaks down exposure settings and has noted that as of Sunday, about 65 per cent of all cases are from community transmission.

In charts provided in the province’s daily update, there are no references to the possibility of infection through community spread. Instead, the charts suggest infection by travel, contact with a confirmed case, neither of those options, or “information pending.”

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“The federal government in their report … acknowledges lags in testing and in fact encourages people to interpret” the epidemiological curve with caution, Fisman said, adding that the province included no similar details in their reports. “This is presented in such a way that it looks like (COVID-19) is going away without an appropriate caveat.”

Information is shared by the province in a daily PDF document linked on the webpage and includes charts detailing how patients were exposed to the virus, the number of people in hospital and a heat-map showing regions affected by the virus.

Missing from the new data is the number of tests confirmed negative.

The province has confirmed that 5,651 tests are currently awaiting results. As of Monday, the number of cases considered “resolved” shot to 431 from only eight on Sunday.

Chazan confirmed to the Star that this is due to a change in how tests are processed, which no longer requires two negative tests 24 hours apart. Instead, a patient must now be symptom free for 14 days to be considered resolved.