Montreal City Weblog

Kate 22:27 on 2020-07-20 Permalink Reply  

• DeWolf 09:21 on 2020-07-21 Permalink

  I’m not sure why he is waging a crusade against bars while dismissing the impact of private gatherings. “There’s no doubt that many community cases have occurred after house parties,” he writes, but that’s about all the attention he pays to them. But bars are public places that are regulated and capable of enforcing physical distance and mask-wearing rules, whereas private gatherings are hidden out of sight. All you have to do is walk down an alleyway to see that many balconies and backyards are full of people who aren’t taking the necessary precautions at all.

  I worry about bars too, and I think it was a mistake to allow bars to open their interior spaces. But I think the emphasis on them has been disproportionate. There have been 1,902 new cases since July 1 and if only 113 of them can be traced to bars — that’s less than 6 percent — then it really doesn’t seem like they have been a major source of infection. So why the single-minded focus on them?

• Kate 09:41 on 2020-07-21 Permalink

  I think it’s partly because Derfel suspects the government is soft-pedaling the bar numbers – either to save jobs or save tourism or some combination?

• DeWolf 10:14 on 2020-07-21 Permalink

  Maybe. But a journalist shouldn’t make insinuations if they don’t have the facts to back them up.

  I’m probably just cranky because I can’t stomach the sanctimonious, portentous tone of his writing, even if I can’t fault his reporting.

• EmilyG 10:15 on 2020-07-21 Permalink

  I think Derfel may have had an article from a few days earlier about why he thought the bar statistics were inaccurate, but I can’t find the article at the moment.

• walkerp 11:23 on 2020-07-21 Permalink

  I want to see some data from the government backing up their house party scapegoat. I am sure it is a factor, but they also seem to be downplaying bars, which is super suspicious given the history of the industry, corruption and lobbying.

• EmilyG 16:51 on 2020-07-21 Permalink

  Here’s Derfel’s July 18th article about how the government might be downplaying the bar data.
  https://montrealgazette.com/news/local-news/analysis-why-isnt-quebecs-latest-covid-19-bar-data-being-released

  Also maybe relevant: his July 17th article about goings-on in the Quebec government related to some of the things they’ve been telling Quebec about the virus data.
  https://montrealgazette.com/news/local-news/analysis-legault-fuming-behind-scenes-over-quebecs-pandemic-response

• EmilyG 16:52 on 2020-07-21 Permalink

  I just tried leaving a comment with some relevant articles, but it doesn’t appear to have been successfully posted.

• Kate 17:46 on 2020-07-21 Permalink

  EmilyG, comments with links are automatically held for my approval because this makes them potentially resemble spam.

• Douglas 21:40 on 2020-07-21 Permalink

  Derfel is just throwing crap at the wall at this point. Whatever sticks to get clicks and viewers.

  I remember having to spam write 30 analysis for a university project. After a while you are just throwing whatever garbage you can throw together to make it look important.

• Kate 10:41 on 2020-07-22 Permalink

  Douglas, you don’t want Aaron Derfel to be right, but you don’t have any legitimate counter‑argument against his analysis, so you’re just mindlessly sneering. Why even comment when you have nothing to say?

• Uatu 17:49 on 2020-07-22 Permalink

  Well Derfel knows that getting clicks and views= putting food on the table, right? ;P

• Ian 08:06 on 2020-07-23 Permalink

  So wait, Douglas, because you are a self-admitted bad faith actor, you don’t trust others? Classic.

  If you want to be cynical the same could be said of anyone who works for the media, and if you automatically distrust everything that comes from the media, there’s no point singling out Derfel. I mean really, why read anything, or even bother commenting on it? At the very least you may as well stop bothering people that actually do take the news seriously.