As the war drags, information is dour

There was a time in this pandemic when more information was deemed better than less. That has changed dramatically.

Now, in Ontario at least, officials are quietly limiting the amount of information they release.

In the past, when an Ontario school suffered an outbreak of COVID-19, that information was quickly made public. Now that has changed. Parents will be notified only when 30 per cent or more of all staff and students at their child’s school are absent — for whatever reason.

This comes at a time when governments are already moving to limit the release of data that they feel is overly pessimistic.

In this vein, Ontario no longer focuses on the daily total of new COVID infections — a number that, with the advent of the Omicron variant, is hitting new heights.

In fact, the daily total is not, on its own, always useful. Hospitalization rates attributable to the pandemic probably produce a better measure.

Still, it’s hard not to be suspicious of a change in reporting that, by definition, tends to make the government look better.

Alberta is blatant. It has simply cut back the amount of information it releases publicly.

Ontario is more subtle. It continues to hold press conferences, but does so in a way that minimizes criticism.

Take Ontario’s focus on rapid antigen testing. This gives the government plenty to talk about. But little of that talk is relevant. That’s because rapid testing on its own is of limited utility. It is cheap and easy. But it doesn’t tell you much.

First, there’s a good chance it will be wrong — that is, that it will indicate no connection with COVID even when one exists.

Second, even when rapid testing indicates correctly that there is no COVID present, there is no guarantee that this condition will continue. In other words, the fact that someone tests negative on, say Tuesday, doesn’t mean he or she will test negative again on Wednesday.

In short, the rapid test alone is not very useful.

Yet it appears to be the centrepiece of Ontario’s school reopening strategy. The province wants to provide every student with at least two rapid testing kits.

At the same time, the province is cutting back access to the more accurate (and expensive) form of testing known as PCR.

PCR testing had been provided freely to students, teachers and others involved in education who were caught up in COVID outbreaks. Now these same people are being told to rely on less reliable methods such as rapid self-testing.

Does this make sense? I’m not sure it does. But it is a reminder of how far we have moved from a time, just a few months ago, when it was assumed that sharing accurate information made the entire country better off.

Now that assumption seems to have changed. Information is treated strategically, as a weapon in the war against the pandemic.

In such a war, accuracy alone is not enough. Indeed, if it contradicts the government’s message in the fight against COVID, it can be counterproductive.

From this come policies such as Ontario’s otherwise inexplicable decision to downplay COVID outbreaks in schools.

The government wants to mobilize the entire province in the fight against COVID. Anything that gets in the way of this — including accurate information — is to be avoided.