Move to end daily updates not coverup, Arruda says
‘It’s a decision to ensure a stability in the data’: public health director
The province’s director of public health says he’s not trying to hide COVID-19 data from Quebecers with his decision to put an end to daily pandemic updates and only issue them once a week.
“It’s not a political decision — it’s not a decision to hide anything,” Dr. Horacio Arruda told reporters at Thursday’s pandemic briefing in Montreal. “It’s a decision to ensure a stability in the data.”
Arruda said with the number of new cases dropping, the daily updates were becoming less useful. With such low numbers, he said, it is not possible to identify a trend, whereas weekly data will.
In some cases, deaths reported as part of the exercise date from a month earlier, making the data even less of an indicator of where Quebec stands with the virus. Arruda insisted it is accepted practice in epidemiology to use weekly data.
He denied the move was a political optics operation related to Premier François Legault’s decision Monday to shuffle Danielle Mccann out of the position of health minister and replace her with Christian Dubé.
“It was a public health decision,” Arruda said. “It has no relation.
Don’t think that we want to hide any information. It’s really to ensure that we have a portrait which is more stable.”
Arruda, who was flanked by Montreal director of public health Dr. Mylène Drouin, insisted that even if the numbers are not being made public, health officials will be watching them. If the situation worsens, he said, he will advise.
“Things (the numbers) are going down, so I would say publishing it would also give the impression there is no more problem,” Arruda said. “But as soon as there is a problem, as soon as there is some important data to be shared, we will do that.
“It’s not because it won’t be published in a report every day that the numbers are not going to be looked at. Don’t think I will only look at the data on Tuesday and forget it. I will look at it Tuesday, Saturday, every day.”
Drouin added Montreal will have access to data and will be able to act in the event of an outbreak in a specific neighbourhood. She noted Montreal is already only publishing data once a week, on Wednesday.
“If we have an outbreak in a workplace or a kindergarten, of course we will act in the same day,” Drouin said.
Arruda’s response followed a barrage of criticism over the decision to end the daily exercise on the same day Santé Québec, in its final daily update, reported 142 new COVID -19 cases, bringing the total to 55,079.
In a series of tweets, Liberal opposition leader Dominique Anglade and Parti Québécois interim leader Pascal Bérubé said the move to limit information smacks of a lack of transparency at a time when the coronavirus still lurks.
“This decision to no longer inform the population daily on the pandemic situation is completely incomprehensible,” Anglade tweeted Thursday.
“All over the world, people are watching for the second wave.”
There was a similar reaction from Bérubé, who called upon Dubé to explain himself.
“Can the new minister of health explain to us what is the interest for the Quebec population to no longer publish daily numbers?” Bérubé asked.
The ministry quietly made the announcement Wednesday, on the Fête nationale holiday. It was tucked in a paragraph below the daily results.
The province’s public health institute, the Institut national de santé publique (INSPQ) — which had also been publishing daily pandemic statistics — confirmed it, too, is going weekly with its updates.
Some experts agreed it is not a good idea to scale back the information.
Dr. Caroline Quach, who is in charge of the infection control unit at Ste-justine Hospital and is a professor of epidemiology at the Université de Montréal, said up-to-date data is essential.
She quoted one of her own published articles on the issue of surveillance.
“Although new cases of COVID-19 have been declining over the past week, it is important to have data on new cases in real time, mainly as we are reopening and as people may be relaxing public health measures,” Quach said in an email.
“Although the ministry will do daily monitoring of the data, others need access to daily case counts, not only to plan locally but also for researchers and epidemiologists to have to analyze.”
Ontario is continuing to publish daily statistical updates.
This decision to no longer inform the population daily on the pandemic situation is completely incomprehensible.