Strong measures welcome, but could have come sooner
We only need to look at situation in Italy to see what happens if we wait too long
Extraordinary times call for extraordinary measures and on Thursday, the Quebec government announced unprecedented action aimed at slowing the spread of the coronavirus
These include a 14-day quarantine for anyone who has recently returned to Quebec from outside the country, even if it was just a day skiing in Vermont. This is mandatory for public employees, who will be paid, and voluntary for others. There is also a ban on gatherings of more than 250 people, like Habs games, Montreal’s St Patrick’s parade and Sunday mass.
These drastic moves will put inordinate pressure on the economy, the state and especially ordinary people. But they are necessary to get a firm grip on COVID -19, to reduce the possibility of transmission among the general public and to keep an already strained health system from being overwhelmed.
We need only look at the horrors emerging from Italy to see what can happen when authorities wait too long to intervene: a mounting death toll; families being left with the corpses of their dead relatives; doctors having to choose which patients to save. In Quebec we must act now to avert this level of catastrophe. Through stepped-up isolation, social distancing and hygiene, we can only hope this might spare us the worst of the coronavirus.
The question is: Why didn’t Quebec announce these exceptional steps sooner? Why were they not put in place before Quebecers, many of whom went abroad for March break, one of the busiest travel periods of the year, returned to school, daycare and work? Why were they rolled out on Thursday afternoon — four days later — instead of last weekend or Monday?
New Brunswick pre-emptively told international travellers to avoid schools for two weeks. On the eve of its spring break, Ontario has ordered its schools closed for an extra two weeks afterwards. (Although Premier Doug Ford also paradoxically encouraged families to “Go away, have a good time, enjoy yourself.” )
Quebec’s director of public health, Horacio Arruda, speaking alongside Premier François Legault and Health Minister Danielle Mccann on Thursday, answered by saying that public acceptability for such draconian moves has evolved significantly in recent days.
Indeed, it has been a roller-coaster week and a momentous 24 hours. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is in isolation after his wife started exhibiting flu-like symptoms upon her return from the United Kingdom. She is being tested for COVID -19. This, in turn led Trudeau to call off a planned meeting on the coronavirus crisis with the provincial premiers.
The NHL, MLS and NBA professional sports seasons have been put on ice. Hollywood actor Tom Hanks has the disease. U.S. President Donald Trump banned travel between the U.S. and Europe. Any of one these developments would be shocking on their own, but together they underscore the enormity of the emergency at hand.
Debate has been raging among parents all week about whether any staff and students who travelled internationally over the March break should have been allowed to return to class. Schools have been besieged with calls and social media has been afire with opposing views. School boards, acting on the advice of public health authorities, initially asked anyone who had visited one of seven hot spots to enter a voluntary quarantine.
But it has become increasingly clear in recent days that this was not enough. After a student at Collège international Marie de France was put in quarantine pending results of a suspected coronavirus case, the school asked anyone who had holidayed in Asia, Italy, the United Kingdom, California, Madrid and the French regions of Haute-savoie, Morbihan and Oise to stay home.
All of Quebec’s 17 confirmed cases of COVID-19 have been transmitted abroad, after patients visited such places as Miami, Dublin and the Dominican Republic, none of which were on any no-go list.
Fortunately, Quebec has not reported a case of community infection. Yet. Sending anyone who has been abroad home for two weeks may help prevent this from occurring. But scores of children and adults returning from parts unknown have been back at daycare, school and work in Montreal for four days now. If (or more likely when) COVID-19 is transmitted in Quebec, we may wonder what a difference this precious time could have made.
This is not to cast doubt on the valiant efforts of Quebec and its decision-makers to try to mitigate the scourge of COVID-19. It took leadership to demand such steep sacrifices from the public. It took political courage to put the collective good above individual interests. It just might have been more effective to do it a bit earlier.
More drastic measures may yet be needed, including the closure of daycares and schools.
Legault called on all Quebecers to do their part and said the government will be there to support them through these tumultuous times. But the war ahead will last far longer than 14 days of quarantine. That much is certain.
Why were (these steps) not put in place before Quebecers, many of whom went abroad for March break, ... returned to school, daycare and work?