Quebec cites dubious sources to justify the curfew

During Thursday’s press conference, Prime Minister François Legault invoked “common sense” to justify the imposition of a curfew in Quebec.

Photo : The Canadian Press / Graham Hughes

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In the case of Frontiers, the publisher was included on the list amid allegations of misconduct during the peer review process in several of its journals, the Beall list website says. Some of them, for example, have not been removed from journal editorial boards. Frontiers despite their requests.

Julien Simard, postdoctoral researcher at the School of Social Work of McGill University, and Emma Jean, doctoral student in sociology at the University of Montreal, say they are MSSS may think that this article is credible “,” text “:” alarmed that the MSSS may think that this article is credible “}}”>alarmed that the Ministry of Health and Social ServicesMSSS may think this article is credible.

The author claims to establish the effectiveness of the Jordanian curfew through an international comparison with other countries in the Arab world, but he does not adjust his data to be comparable, for example, and taking into account screening capacities that differ greatly between countries, they denounce.

The methodology used is very rudimentary, to a point that makes the study unnecessary, they continue in an email after looking at the study cited by the Ministry of Health and Social ServicesMSSS at the request of Radio-Canada.

Asked about this by email, the Ministry of Health and Social ServicesMSSS had not responded to Radio-Canada’s requests regarding the reliability of the study at the time of publishing this text.

The relevance of other studies questioned

Julien Simard and Emma Jean themselves examined the impact of the first curfew in Quebec (New window), concluding in a post – which has not been peer reviewed – that a clear effect of the measure was not found.

The two academics also question the methodology or the relevance of the other studies cited by the Ministry of Health and Social ServicesMSSS Thursday.

As for the Ontario study, according to them, it suffers from several methodological weaknesses, in particular with regard to the transparency of the data and the basic assumptions. In addition, and although it dates from April, it has not yet been published, which indicates that the authors may have difficulty getting it published while showing us that it has not been reviewed by the scientific community, they continue.

The two French studies, peer-reviewed, published in serious journals and completely credible, according to the two researchers, clearly show a decrease in the number of cases and the reproduction rate (Rt) following the introduction of the curfew. However, what the two researchers observed in Quebec during the first curfew was a drop in these variables even before its imposition and a lack of effect thereafter.

Rt in relation to the curfew is practically non-existent in Quebec, it seems real in France “,” text “:” The reactivity of the Rt in relation to the curfew is practically non-existent in Quebec, it seems real in France “}}”>The responsiveness of reproduction rateRt in relation to the curfew is practically non-existent in Quebec, it seems real in France, they write.

Julien Simard and Emma Jean emphasize that it is difficult to isolate the effect of a measure such as a curfew from social behavior which itself varies according to several cultural, political, socioeconomic and probably also climatic factors, so that the conclusions from overseas would be difficult to apply in the Quebec context.

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