NDP calls for COVID-19 transparency

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This article was published 17/01/2021 (1341 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

With a hint that revised public health orders may be revealed as soon as Tuesday, and rejigged vaccination plans expected later this month, the province should be sharing more data with Manitobans about the impact of COVID-19, the Opposition says.

“The No. 1 thing I think the data will show is where Manitobans should hold this government accountable,” NDP Leader Wab Kinew said Monday.

The province is not informing the public of data it is collecting about how often the novel coronavirus impacts a workplace, and the rate of infection among different cultural communities and groups, “because they don’t want to be held accountable,” Kinew told reporters.

Government and public health officials, including chief provincial public health officer Dr. Brent Roussin, have avoided identifying Manitoba workplaces and cultural or racialized groups because of the stigma associated with COVID-19 — unless it would benefit public health in some way.

Kinew suggested there’s more to the government keeping a lid on such data.

“If you were to release information on workplaces on an ongoing basis, then government would have a responsibility to protect workers,” he said. “If you were to release information on different cultural communities on an ongoing basis, the government would be responsible for having to invest in working with those communities to keep Manitobans safe.

“I think failure to release this information is not only a public health failure but a failure in accountability.”

Sharing information would benefit the public — and the government, which is trying to get Manitobans to accept and abide by public health orders, said NDP health critic Uzoma Asagwara.

“We’ve been calling on this PC government to be transparent when it comes to the public health data that we know has been collected,” Asagwara said.

“We know that good data informs good public health strategies,” the MLA for Union Station said. “If folks have more information and understand data, they’re going to be more inclined to buy into the plans and do their part from an informed perspective.”

Early in the pandemic, the province committed to collecting COVID-19 data concerning Indigenous Manitobans and other racialized and cultural communities.

“We expected this information months ago. It’s long overdue,” said Asagwara. “We’re falling behind other jurisdictions in being public and transparent about that data, and about coming up with plans based on that data. We’re seeing the impact of the government not consulting with the communities effected by that data.

“We know COVID-19 disproportionately impacts some communities… (Such data would allow) for folks to make informed decisions about how they keep themselves, their families and their communities safe.”

carol.sanders@freepress.mb.ca