In measles country
In Depth
Hundreds of Ontarians are getting sick with an illness Canada eliminated decades ago. The Globe went to hard-hit rural counties to see why some communities aren't vaccinating children, and how health authorities are responding to the outbreak
Kelly Grant Health reporter
Photography by Brett Gundlock
Simcoe, ont.
The Globe and Mail
The Woodstock Hospital warns people to call ahead if they have symptoms of measles. Patients thought to be infected are ushered in through a side door and placed in negative pressure rooms to keep the extremely contagious virus from spreading.
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Cision Canada
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Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. SUBSCRIBE TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. REGISTER / SIGN IN TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account. Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments. Enjoy additional articles per month. Get email updates from your favourite authors. THIS ARTICLE IS FREE TO READ REGISTER TO UNLOCK. Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments Enjoy additional articles per month Get email updates from your favourite authors Don't have an account? Create Account 'What goes through my head is a small degree of optimism in the fact that we have seen less people die last year, which is very good, but that's within a context of 2,231 people dying last year,' Dr. Dirk Huyer, the chief coroner, told The Canadian Press in an interview. His office had recorded 2,639 opioid deaths in 2023. 'I also have a degree of worry that this is a short interval, for whatever reason that we haven't identified, and that the numbers could potentially get worse again,' Huyer said. The mortality rate from opioid overdoses was 14.3 deaths per 100,000 people in 2024. That is down from the peak of 19.4 deaths per 100,000 people at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2021, when opioids took the lives of 2,880 Ontarians. Your noon-hour look at what's happening in Toronto and beyond. By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. Please try again This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Fentanyl and its related substances were found in more than 83 per cent of opioid toxicity deaths, while stimulants were found in 69 per cent of deaths. Prescription benzodiazepines were seen in 45 per cent of deaths last year, a sharp increase from 33 per cent the year before. Non-prescription benzodiazepines were found in 62 per cent of deaths, slightly down from 66 per cent in 2023. The opioid crisis began to hit Ontario in 2015 and 2016 when illicit fentanyl made its way east from British Columbia. There were 728 opioid deaths in 2015 and by 2018, that doubled to 1,565 deaths. 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Men account for 75 per cent of deaths, opioids disproportionally kill marginalized people and one in five opioid overdose deaths across the province occurs in the homeless population. The province has undergone a fundamental shift in its approach to the opioid crisis, which included banning supervised consumption sites it deemed too close to schools and daycares. That legislation came about after a Toronto woman was killed by a stray bullet from a shooting outside one of the sites. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. One Toronto consumption site challenged that law in court days before it came into effect on April 1. A judge granted an injunction to allow 10 such sites to remain open while he considers his decision. But nine of the 10 sites had already agreed to transition to the province's new abstinence-based model _ homelessness and addiction recovery treatment, or HART, hubs — and closed. 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