Saving Private Arruda

It was the revelation of last spring. The national director of public health, Horacio Arruda, has become the darling of the media.

The population, worried about an unknown and deadly virus, adopted this doctor with a hot temper. His talent for dramatizing his words with gestures that have gone viral, such as his two hands flattening COVID-19, was all the rage.

Prime Minister Legault was won over by his director of public health. But after a few weeks, casually, the D^r Arruda, a scientist, let’s not forget, has become, how to say, a prisoner of his character. This gradually weakened the strength of his medical interventions.

Controversy

For example, he has become a staunch opponent of the mask. His desire to convince us of this altered his duty of reserve as a scientist, because he slowly slipped into controversy. Moreover, during the midday televised Angelus attended by more than a million obedient citizens confined to their homes, the journalists’ questions were directed more to the doctor than to the Prime Minister. Moreover, otherwise, the D^r Arruda seemed to be wondering what he was doing there.

Notoriety turns heads. Especially when the person hasn’t chosen it. You don’t become a doctor to have fans, as is the case with the stars of showbiz. The D^r Arruda was swept away by not a pandemic, but a media wave.

It was undoubtedly a mistake on the part of the Prime Minister to be systematically accompanied by the right doctor during press briefings.

We were thus able to witness somewhat tense exchanges between them. Without doubt, François Legault was shaken, like all Quebecers, by an unimaginable situation, except for epidemiologists, who devote their lives to it. Obviously, Mr. Legault needed Horacio Arruda by his side.

Destabilized

The second wave reveals an irritable, nervous public health director who sometimes struggles to clearly convey his message. “At first it was easy to confine people, because they were listening,” he told reporters on Thursday, according to The duty. But the D^r Arruda can’t help but talk about the offensive emails he receives in addition to the death threats.

The director seems disturbed now when he should be reassuring and at a personal distance from the information he transmits. However, he insisted on making it clear that in the event of a discrepancy between him and the government, he would not hesitate to leave. This worries people. “I can tell you that the day he feels it is bullshit, Director Arruda, he won’t be here anymore. Because the D^r Arruda, he doesn’t have his credibility to lose, ”he told the press. When you talk about yourself in the third person, you have a problem, right?

Quebec owes a lot to D^r Arruda. He was a valuable adviser to Mr. Legault. But he should suggest that he step aside momentarily. The current situation is so worrying, it destabilizes so many citizens that François Legault, himself exhausted, needs advice from scientists with a cool head. The D^r Arruda cannot be in the midst of the current turmoil. We have to protect him.