Montreal Public Health advised Quebec government against curfew, and Legault imposed it regardless
The Montreal Public Health warned the Legault government against imposing a second curfew in December 2021. The government ignored the scientific opinion and imposed a mandatory curfew regardless.
As cases increased during the Omicron wave in December 2021, the government scrambled to impose new restrictions.
Hysteria from subsidized media outlets validated the government in imposing new damaging measures, such as the closure of restaurants, gyms, bars, a ban on private gatherings on New Years’ day and a mandatory curfew, punishable by hefty fines.
Only hours before the Quebec government announced the mandatory curfew, emails show that Quebec’s public health director Horacio Arruda was scrambling to obtain scientific justification for the measure, which had likely been ordered by the Legault government with no proof that it would curb cases.
“Horacio would like you and your staff (!) to provide him with a briefing in relation to the curfew in anticipation of reporters’ questions at the 5:00 p.m. press conference tonight
Evening:
1. What are the studies?
2. What is being done elsewhere?
All of this to be presented in a tight argument”, the email addressed to Quebec’s National Institute of Statistics (INSPQ) reads.
The institute could not provide credible scientific backing to the imposition of a curfew: “On the INSPQ side, we do not have an existing analysis that specifically addresses the curfew and we are unfortunately unable to produce one today with such a short notice.”
The Montreal Public Health issued a critical statement to Arruda regarding the curfew, outlining the inefficacy, flaws and consequences of such a measure.
Montreal’s public health cited a “lack of robust data on the specific effectiveness of curfews”.
“The collateral impacts, many of them tragic, of curfews that disproportionately affect highly vulnerable populations, particularly in the current pandemic context. Several of the following situations have been documented directly by the Montreal PHRD teams during the imposition of the curfew in curfew in 2021”, the Montreal Public Health wrote.
They proceeded to cite the case of a Montreal homeless man who died of hypothermia as he was hiding from authorities in an outdoor toilet because he was in violation of the curfew.
“With the information at its disposal concerning the lack of robust effectiveness data and the demonstration of collateral impacts, the Montreal PSD recommends the implementation of alternative measures to the imposition of curfew.”
Despite the recommendation and the lack of scientific data, the government imposed a mandatory curfew on December 30, 2021.
Montreal Public Health advised Quebec government against curfew, and Legault imposed it regardless
https://jhsphcenterforhealthsecurity.s3.amazonaws.com/spars-pandemic-scenario.pdf
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