“With three vaccines, it helps, I experienced it last week. Even if you catch it, it gives you a cold, more or less, ”said François Legault speaking of COVID-19 at a press conference on Monday, based on his experience. As a reminder, the Prime Minister announced that he contracted the virus on March 24, following which he confined himself. It was therefore a first public appearance in ten days and it caused quite an uproar on social networks.
Trying to demonstrate the effectiveness of vaccines, the head of the CAQ instead got bogged down with a comparison that seems to devalue the work of caregivers who have been fighting COVID-19 for two years and minimize the dangerousness of the virus.
His remarks then circulated widely on the Web, some rejoicing that the “truth” about COVID-19 was finally revealed by the authorities, others being discouraged to see the Prime Minister mitigate the seriousness of the disease which still causes about ten daily deaths in Quebec, with more than 2,800 deaths since the beginning of December.
Qui you!
It’s a cold, you have to learn to live with it!
In other words: the anxious, take your hole and buy yourself some Kleenex!
:laughing_at_rolling_on_the_floor: pic.twitter.com/i4H1Vo4RZi— Mrais Live (@mraislive) April 5, 2022
Among the most discouraged of the words of François Legault, there are those who have not been able to take leave for two years, the shortage of labor and the pandemic do not go well together. The Internet user, mother of four children and who works with the elderly, named it well, like many other caregivers.
Shout out to @francoislegault for comparing his Covid episode to a cold when we’ve been killing ourselves for 2 years explaining that it has nothing to do with it.
A big thank you
— Nadine Gauthier (@NGauthier_) April 6, 2022
Geriatrician David Lussier, for his part, recalled the seriousness of the effects of COVID-19 in some, while inviting us not to “minimize the seriousness” of the virus.
For most vaccine recipients, COVID feels like a bad cold or the flu.
But some must be hospitalized, intubated, or die.
The effects on society, including the health care system, have nothing to do with a cold.
The seriousness of COVID should not be minimized https://t.co/i2prwbGxpe— David Lussier (@LussiD) April 6, 2022
Dr Lisa Iannattone explains that: “When COVID is the 3rd leading cause of death in your country (even in the post-vaccination era) and your prime minister manages to say it’s just a cold with a straight face… Clearly lacking the judgment and empathy required of a leader and it’s time to elect someone else. »
When covid is the 3rd leading cause of death in your country *even in the post-vaccination era* and your premier manages to say it’s just a cold with a straight face… he clearly lacks the judgment and empathy required of a leader and it’s time to vote him out. https://t.co/zmvhf7S1qv
— Dr. Lisa Iannattone (@lisa_iannattone) April 5, 2022
Columnist and public policy analyst Patrick Déry also questioned the situation.
It’s amazing to see Mr. Legault score in his goal this way.
The quote will be picked up by all Holocaust deniers, conspirators, and a bunch of good faith citizens, who will drop out.
If the Prime Minister no longer takes the pandemic seriously, who will?
— Patrick Déry (@Patrickdery) April 5, 2022
Save the mask for a “cold”
The extension of wearing a mask in public places indoors, announced Tuesday by the acting national director of public health of Quebec, the Dr Luc Boileau, the day after Mr. Legault’s controversial remarks, disturbed many.
Thus, while the mask was to become only a bad memory from April 15, Quebecers will have to keep it until April 30, minimum, due to the sixth wave.
Quebec will be the only place in North America to require the mask in indoor public places for the next few weeks. Many consider the measure unjustified, considering Mr. Legault’s comments about the virus.
Under this publication of Québec Fier, which defines itself as a collective citizen, several Internet users raise the contradiction between the words of the Prime Minister and the measures of his government. In the comments, several suggest that Mr. Legault is trying to maintain the support of the population for the provincial election next October. Many are those who evoke a supposed will of the government to control the population or the importance of waking up from a great deception. Theses often repeated in conspiracy networks.
Boileau full of nuances
Tuesday, during his press conference, the Dr Boileau returned to François Legault’s personal experience with COVID: “Not everyone has a cold with this virus, whether Omicron or BA.2. There are people who unfortunately develop illnesses, symptoms and go to the hospital to receive critical care and even die. So it’s a serious disease. »
However, on Wednesday, the acting national director of public health called the Prime Minister’s remark “true” and “responsible”. COVID-19 is now seen as a cold for the majority of Quebecers thanks to vaccination, he said as he testified in parliamentary committee in favor of Bill 28, which extends certain exceptional powers of the government until at the end of 2022.
Liberal health critic Monsef Derraji had just questioned Dr.r Boileau, asking him how he could say that COVID-19 resembled a cold and at the same time claim the extension of exceptional powers.
With The Canadian Press