[11][12] This reclassification would allow, in specific circumstances, a medical officer of health to apply for a court order to detain a person in a hospital who had been suspected of deliberately spreading HIV.
Upon decision of a Judge of the Ontario Court of Justice, the individual would undergo assessment and counselling to determine if they posed a further risk of spreading the virus.
Schabas believed extreme situations involving people who are "unwilling or unable" to take appropriate precautions to reduce or prevent transmission should be dealt with through the public health system, instead of the criminal justice system, a general sentiment shared by many public health bodies, legal organizations and AIDS advisory committees at that time.
Schabas corrected this characterization in a letter to the editor on February 14, 1990, in which he states The designation would not in any way apply to any person with AIDS or HIV infection who engages in sex with an informed and consenting partner.
[19][20] Richard Schabas continued to serve as the Chief Medical Officer of Health in Ontario for another seven years, after which he resigned from the position.
[21] This included reductions in testing and reporting of contamination in municipal water supplies to local medical officers of health, which Schabas indicated would likely have prevented the deaths of 7 people during the Walkerton E. coli outbreak.
"[23] In January 2015, Schabas argued that Ontario needed to change its approach on how to handle Influenza, recommending the province focus on immunizing high risk patients, better surveillance of the flu to better prepare for flu seasons, and being more transparent on the efficacy of the Influenza vaccine.
"[2] In a March 2020 article in The Globe and Mail, Schabas opined that based on the number of cases and deaths, COVID-19 "does not register as a dire global crisis".
[3] In June 2022, Schabas participated as a speaker in a retrospective seminar titled A Citizens' Hearing in Toronto, Ontario, evaluating the public health and government response to the COVID-19 pandemic in Canada.