Cabinet meeting led to policy change
Opposition leaders, epidemiologists blast move to weekly COVID updates
It was following a meeting last week of Premier François Legault’s cabinet — in the presence of Dr. Horacio Arruda, Quebec’s chief public health officer — that the provincial government decided to stop issuing daily updates on the number of COVID -19 deaths, according to documents obtained by the Montreal Gazette.
Those documents challenge the version of events advanced by both the government and Arruda leading up to the controversial decision to switch from daily publication to weekly bulletins on the number of pandemic deaths, infections, hospitalizations as well as COVID -19 deaths.
The Quebec Health Ministry announced the switchover on the Fête nationale statutory holiday. The decision was denounced Thursday by both opposition leaders as well as epidemiologists, the experts who track infectious diseases, for keeping Quebecers in the dark about the daily changes in COVID -19 transmission.
At a news conference Thursday, Arruda was pressed repeatedly by journalists on the decision. Arruda denied the switch to weekly bulletins was in any way political. He did not mention he attended a cabinet-level meeting in which the subject was discussed.
“It was a decision of Public Health with the government on the communication approach,” Arruda responded.
“But that was the decision of Public Health.”
Arruda added that it was ultimately his decision.
“Yes, and even with, I would say, my experts from the Institut nationale de santé publique (INSPQ). Don’t think that we want to hide any information. That’s not really the thing.
“It’s just to make sure that we will have a (weekly) portrait that, with these low (COVID-19) numbers, will be more stable and more easy to interpret.”
Marie-claude Lacasse, a Health Ministry spokesperson, explained on Thursday that the decision was made “because of the evolution of the epidemiology situation, which is stabilizing.”
The documents obtained by The Gazette show that the government first wanted to stop posting online daily numbers of COVID -19 fatalities only. That was the decision reached late last week.
However, on Tuesday night, a senior government official advised colleagues in the health ministry that as of Thursday, the weekly updates would cover all COVID-19 statistics, not only fatalities.
The official added the new weekly bulletins would be for the public, but the government would continue to compile daily reports for internal use.
In switching to weekly bulletins, Quebec is staking out a position that’s different from other provinces — as well as many jurisdictions around the world — that have been posting daily updates. To date, Quebec has led all provinces in the number of COVID -19 cases (55,079) and deaths (5,448).
In Ottawa, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau remarked on Quebec’s decision at his daily COVID-19 news conference.
“I certainly hope that Premier Legault would continue to be transparent and open with Quebecers and indeed with all Canadians, as he has been from the beginning,” Trudeau said, noting that Quebec still has a “significant number of cases” every day.
On Thursday, the government declared 142 COVID -19 cases from the previous 24 hours. By comparison, Ontario posted 189 new cases, bringing its total to 34,205.
The government’s announcement on Wednesday appeared to catch the INSPQ off guard. It had been tabulating on a daily basis Quebec COVID-19 data as well as statistics from around the world. On Tuesday, the INSPQ announced on its website that as of Friday, it would only make data public on weekdays.
The INSPQ then repeated its position on Wednesday, hours after the Health Ministry announced the once-a-week updates starting on July 2. The INSPQ’S outdated announcement was still on its website Thursday morning before it was changed to conform to the government’s new policy of weekly updates.
Ewan Sauves, Legault’s press attaché, did not respond to a question about whether the Premier attended the cabinet meeting in which Arruda was present. However, Sauves suggested it’s not unusual for Arruda to attend high-level meetings during the pandemic.
“Dr. Arruda is part of the crisis cell that was formed by the government at the very beginning of the pandemic,” Sauves said in an email. “It is quite normal for the national director of Public Health to participate in the meetings that are held.”
Sauves did not confirm or deny the Gazette’s information about how the government wanted at first to provide weekly updates on COVID-19 deaths only, but then decided to do this for all statistics.
“It was a decision that was made with Public Health, due to the evolution of the situation in Quebec, which is stabilizing. Overall, the indicators have been declining for several days. Daily variations therefore become less relevant.”
Arruda, a veteran public-health official, holds the title of associate deputy health minister. As a career civil servant, Arruda’s position is apolitical, something he himself has emphasized.
The release of COVID -19 information has often been delayed and corrected since mid-march. In early May, when the pandemic was far from under control, Arruda warned Quebecers to expect a large number of COVID -19 deaths at the end of each month. He explained the government would be adding deaths from weeks earlier than had not been reported previously.
In April, Legault complained at his news conferences about the quality of the data in the daily updates on the network of longterm care centres (CHSLDS). Legault said he ordered those updates withdrawn until authorities could “clean up” the data so new COVID-19 infections would be separated from cumulative cases.