ABOUT-FACE ON COVID-19 DATA
Quebec will resume publishing daily
Quebec is backtracking on a controversial decision to stop disclosing COVID -19 infection data daily and switch to weekly reports.
Starting Monday, infection numbers will once again be published every day, health minister Christian Dubé said Friday on Twitter. Dubé, the former treasury board head, was appointed to the post Monday as part of a cabinet shuffle by Premier François Legault. He replaced Danielle Mccann.
“We are listening,” Dubé wrote. “Since the start of the pandemic, our government has always been transparent. We will continue to be that way.”
Quebec quietly announced its decision to scrap the daily reports in a statement on Wednesday’s Fête nationale holiday, sparking criticism from high-profile epidemiologists and elected officials alike. Liberal Party leader Dominique Anglade and interim Parti Québécois chief Pascal Bérubé were among the politicians who took the government to task for what they said was a coverup.
“It’s never been about hiding information,” public health director Horacio Arruda told reporters Friday at a news conference in Sherbrooke. “It’s because we are in summertime. We wanted to publish weekly reports that would be more stable. We would have saved some publishing time, but it’s not a problem.”
The decision was made jointly with Dubé, according to Arruda.
“It’s not a political decision,” he said. “The health minister is responsible for public health, and I make recommendations. Usually we always manage to find something that’s adequate. We both agreed it was probably better to publish, especially since people are asking for it. It’s not because of a lack of transparency. We have nothing to hide. We had no intention of manipulating the data during the week.”
Marjaurie Côté-boileau, a spokeswoman for Dubé, said Friday the new health minister won’t comment beyond his Twitter message.
With this snafu behind him, the minister must demonstrate that Quebec’s health care system is capable of handling a second wave of infections, according to Anglade.
“Nothing justified this lack of transparency, so it’s good that they are rectifying the situation,” the Liberal leader told the Montreal Gazette in a telephone interview. “This was the new health minister’s first public decision. What we expect from him now is not only transparency, but a clear plan to prepare for what may hit us in the coming months.”
Arruda admitted he was taken aback by the fallout over the move, which would have seen Quebec become an outlier in North America.
“I have no problem going back,” he said. “People have reacted, probably more strongly than what I thought they would. It’s no problem, the numbers will be there.”
Added Arruda: “If it’s zero, zero, zero, zero, zero, great. I’ll be the happiest person. I love the number zero nowadays.”
Quebec reported 142 new COVID -19 cases Thursday, boosting the number of people infected to 55,079. That’s a marked drop from the daily infection numbers published in April and May. More than 5,400 Quebecers have died from the virus.
Despite the improvement, Arruda once again urged Quebecers not to let their guard down.
“We’re at a pivotal moment in our fight against COVID-19,” he said. “Indicators are really favourable. The number of cases, the number of hospitalizations, the number of deaths are trending down. It doesn’t mean the battle is over. The virus remains present, so the worst thing would be to fall asleep.”
Arruda reiterated the importance of prevention — practicing physical distancing, washing one’s hands frequently and wearing a face shield if possible.
“We need to learn these habits so that when the second wave comes, we diminish the impact of the illness,” Arruda said. “We don’t know when it will happen, we don’t know if there will be one, but I think we must prepare.”
While Arruda favours wearing a mask in public, he said Friday more analysis is required for face shields to be made compulsory in Quebec.
Making masks mandatory “is an intention that is being closely analyzed now,” he said, warning of possible unintended consequences.
Some groups of individuals — which Arruda didn’t identify — could decide not to wear a mask simply because the government is requiring Quebecers to wear one, he said. Other people simply may not have the means to buy face shields, he added.
“We have to analyze the pros and the cons,” he said. “More and more people are recommending this to us.”
Should masks ever become obligatory, “it’s clear that the first place would be in public transit,” Arruda added. “If we have to go further, we will go further.”