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Quebec Isn't Going To Share Daily COVID-19 Numbers Anymore
As of Thursday, June 25, the Quebec government plans to stop publishing its daily COVID-19 updates. Instead, the province's public health ministry will release a weekly update every Thursday starting on July 2. Quebec is still leading the country in case counts and this news has everyone worried about the government's lack of transparency.
The announcement was made on Wednesday, during the Fête Nationale without much fanfare.
In the midst of deconfinement across almost all levels of the economy, including restaurants, public gatherings, and parks, experts worry that the threat of a second wave of COVID-19 is real.
On Thursday, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, responding to Quebec's decision to cancel daily updates said that "every province makes its own decisions about how transparent it needs to be."
With a "significant number of cases every single day" in Quebec, the Prime Minister said he hopes that "Premier Legault will continue to be transparent and open with all Quebecers and [...] all Canadians as he has been from the very beginning."
Quebec Liberal Party leader Dominique Anglade said that the government's decision is "incomprehensible."
"We are choosing less transparency when we should do the opposite," she wrote in a tweet.
Here in Québec, a choice for less transparency has been made when it should be entirely the opposite. The governm… https://t.co/Ry4pWokfJ6— Dominique Anglade (@Dominique Anglade) 1593101520.0
"The government must reverse this decision!"
The public has reacted swiftly to the news.
Montreal Gazette health care journalist Aaron Derfel said the decision "hurts our democracy" and "undermines efforts to control this unstable pandemic."
lI est à noter qu’il s’agit du dernier bilan quotidien, puisque dorénavant, ils seront diffusés sur une base hebdom… https://t.co/SYviubezLv— Santé Québec (@Santé Québec) 1593097476.0
With 55,079 cases as of June 24, Quebec still has the highest number of total infections in Canada.
It's followed by Ontario with 34,016 as of the same date.
#COVID19 - Au Québec, la situation est la suivante: 8 227 prélèvements effectués le 23 juin 7 917 analyses réalisée… https://t.co/5Qw805Imph— Santé Québec (@Santé Québec) 1593097438.0
Neither Legault nor the Health Ministry has responded to the outpouring of criticism about the decision.