COVID-19 has dominated our lives for 2 years, so why isn't it a top provincial election issue?

The Ontario election campaign is now officially underway. And it will look a little different because of the ongoing pandemic, but that doesn't mean many voters will be thinking about COVID when casting their ballot.

Knocking on doors along Main Street in Lively, hoping to nail down some prime lawn sign spots, Nickel Belt New Democrat France Gelinas is wearing a mask which she doesn't plan to take off much during the campaign.

And the four-term incumbent says many voters are also masked when they come to the door, but that doesn't mean they want to talk about COVID. 

"COVID is always present. Is it the top issue? Absolutely not," said Gelinas, the long-time NDP health critic. 

"They talk about health care, long-term care, they talk about mental health ... the lights that COVID has shone on some of our public sector. Certainly long-term care: at the top. Home care: at the top."

Tim Vine, the Liberal candidate in Algoma-Manitoulin, says his team decided not to rent a campaign office for the next month, partly to avoid volunteers congregating in the same place.

And the hospital administrator says he is wearing a mask to knock on doors, but has been asked by some voters to take it off, so they can see his face.

"I'm traveling to a lot of different communities and I would just never forgive myself if I was the reason there was another outbreak somewhere," said Vine, adding that he's hearing from voters who are worried about the "cracks in the health system" exposed by the pandemic.

In Parry Sound-Muskoka, Progressive Conservative candidate Graydon Smith says he brings a mask with him when door-knocking, but most voters are thrilled to be putting COVID behind them. 

"I think what people want to talk about most is they're thankful that it seems as though we've moving through this and they're excited to get back to a point where Ontario is back to what they remember it being," said the mayor of Bracebridge, hoping to hold on to the seat for the ruling PCs.

"There's a palpable sense of excitement that I pick up on."

Paul Seccaspina, the president of Sudbury-based Oraclepoll Research, says while COVID dominated opinion polls for months, including concerns about vaccines and lockdowns,  it has "really gone by the wayside."

He says the pandemic has now been "supplanted by issues of affordability," some of which is an economic side effect of COVID-19.

"But is that a one-on-one? Are they relating it to COVID? I don't think they really care, they're just seeing what's happening around them," said Seccaspina.

"That's what they're looking at right now, it's real bread and butter stuff."

Over the last two years, infectious disease experts have been some of the most outspoken critics of the province's approach to COVID, including in recent weeks with the lifting of Ontario-wide masking mandates.

"A lot of the decisions the government has made in the past months are political instead of science-based, so I am surprised that it won't be a big issue," said Alain Simard, a immunologist at the northern Ontario medical school in Sudbury.

"The track record of a government in a pandemic definitely could be a huge target, either positive or negative."

He says he found it "very difficult" at times over the last two years to wade into political commentary and publicly critique the government, but felt it was his duty if lives were in danger.

"Not everyone is an expert in everything, so the people that are expects need to speak up and inform our decision makers," said Simard.

Dr. Ian Symington, a family physician in Greater Sudbury who ran for the Conservatives in the 2021 federal election, says that while epidemiologists have been "indispensable" during the pandemic, they have a "very, very narrow focus" on infection statistics and are "certainly not a well-rounded or holistic voice on medicine or health."

He says he's seen an increase in obesity, eating disorders and other mental health problems in his patients because of the lockdowns over the last two years.

"This Conservative government has really pushed far toward restrictions and government control and intervention, so it's going to be hard for the NDP and Liberals to find any ground to stand on," Symington said.