1) In a shocking development in the #pandemic in Quebec, Montreal public health authorities announced Saturday they’ve launched #COVID19 investigations into at least five bars since July 1 where eight people were contagious. In this thread, I'll explain the full import of this.

2) What is truly disturbing is the speed with which the #COVID cases sprung up so soon after Quebec allowed bars to reopen on June 25 — despite a mountain of evidence that drinking establishments are breeding grounds for the highly contagious #coronavirus.

3) What’s also worrisome is Quebec health minister Christian Dubé ( @cdube_sante) let bars stay open even though he cited a New York Times article about the huge risks they pose in the #pandemic — and even after the #COVID19 outbreak at the Mile Public House pub in Brossard.

4) I’ve already written about the temporary closings earlier this week of Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue’s Annies Bar, where a manager tested positive, and La Voûte nightclub in Old Montreal, where a customer got sick. Those two are among the five venues under investigation.

5) Dr. David Kaiser, of the public health department, noted authorities have confirmed that at least one of the eight people infected likely contracted #COVID19 in one of the venues. Kaiser expressed concern that investigators are unable to re-trace all contacts.

6) This is because bars are probably the worst places to do contact tracing. How can someone who got drunk remember days later the names of everyone to whom they spoke in a nightclub? Kaiser warned the number of bar-related #COVD19 cases is expected to grow in the coming days.

7) The health minister has tried to address the difficulty of re-tracing potential #COVID contacts in bars by asking customers to write down their names and phone numbers in a registry. But this measure is purely voluntary and it’s unlikely it will be followed religiously.

8) Kaiser told me the local health department does have the authority to close a bar it deems is not complying with #PhysicalDistancing measures. But ultimately, the power to close all bars rests with Premier @francoislegault’s government. Will he act now before things get worse?

9) What's curious about the health department’s announcement is the timing. Why make it on Saturday and not earlier? The minister said he was anxious to see what would happen to the bars over the weekend. Perhaps the #COVID announcement was aimed as much at Dubé as the public.

10) On Saturday, the city declared 26 new #COVID infections, as the orange line in the chart below shows. Given the cases tied to the bars, it’s likely Montreal will observe an uptick in the coming days, as Kaiser himself warned, threatening to undermine months of progress.

11) The city posted two #COVID fatalities Saturday, raising the death toll to 3,420. Such grim numbers should remind the government that what’s of paramount importance is the health of our population, not the desire to spur an economic recovery at all costs. End of thread.