Due to the increase in COVID-19 cases associated with the Omicron variant and the horrendous increase in hospitals, Franకోois Legalt must re-declare a mandatory curfew throughout Quebec. A radical measure that will take effect for three weeks from Friday.
According to information received by Press, Franకోois Legalt was reluctant to move forward with this measure, which was already in use at the beginning of 2021, but Health Minister Christian Dubey, Mr Legalt’s Chief of Staff, Martin Koskinen and public health experts were clear. In favor of it.
Over the weekend, Public Health sought “more time” to see the direction the pandemic would take. Four days later, the findings are clear: with 13,149 cases, Quebec has broken a new record and reached 804 hospitals on Wednesday – 102 jump compared to the previous day – showing that the hospital system has reached its limit before exit. ‘We do not run huge installments of interventions for other diseases.
These statements should be formalized by the Prime Minister at a press briefing this Thursday at 5pm or 6pm, we learned internally.
The deadline for the meeting on the public road was not set for Wednesday evening; Curfew was discussed from 9 or 10 pm to 5 am.
Quebec used the same measure in January 2021 when it estimated that the pandemic could no longer be controlled. The curfew then went into effect from 8 p.m.
Restaurants and Family Bubble
The government is also considering a decree to close restaurants completely. Public health specialists have observed that this outbreak occurs mostly among kitchen workers and waiters rather than among consumers. However, unlike last year, “unnecessary” businesses do not have to close their doors completely. They have already been subject to restrictions on the number of customers they can accommodate since last week. Already last week, Quebec asked employers to return to Telework.
At the same time, Quebec is expected to announce that it will further reduce the number of people attending the rally. From December 26, we will have to limit ourselves to 6 people.
On Friday, Franకోois Legalt asks people to limit themselves to their family bubble, as at the beginning of the year.
The start of the academic year, which was postponed to January 10, has been postponed again. We are now talking about January 17th for all levels, can we understand.
There will be no localization of actions: Quebec lives in a single system as a whole.
In the fog
But echoes from public health have made it clear that decisions are now being made on the basis of intuition rather than on a formal scientific basis. With the proliferation of rapid tests, Quebec has lost control over estimating the number of cases that are not necessarily reported.
Photo SARAH MONGEAU-BIRKETT, Press Archives
DR Horacio Arruda, Prime Minister Franకోois Legalt and Minister Christian Dubey on December 16
Under these circumstances, it is difficult to identify the sources of the outbreak and to know exactly where to hit. Two important meetings, Tuesday evening and Wednesday afternoon, were not given to D’s teamR Horacio Arruda in the direction to be taken. The meetings ended without a clear conclusion, without even expressing the view that he had a strong opinion on the action to be taken even by the National Director of Public Health.
For example, opinions among experts differ on the impossibility of accurately assessing the effectiveness of curfews to prevent the spread of the disease.
Admission to the hospital
The idea of imposing a curfew resurfaced as the number of hospitalized patients increased by 81% in a week. Of the 804 people on Wednesday, 122 were in intensive care. Initially, 700 beds were reserved for infected patients across the network.
The doctor said load shedding in hospitals was well and really started.R Gilbert Boucher, Emergency Physician at the Montreal Heart Institute. “In every case of COVID-19 we see, he is a man without services,” he said.
All our beds were already full and we could not leave these patients in the corridors of our emergency rooms.
DR Gilbert Boucher, Emergency Physician at the Montreal Heart Institute
D warned that the situation would not improve so quicklyR Butcher. “Right now, with 100 [nouveaux patients] Per day, it’s unfortunate, but it’s like last year in the hospital system in early January [traitait] COVID-19 only, ”he said.
D also predicts the need to move to new offloads “when hospital admissions increase”Back Judy Morris, President of the Quebec Association of Emergency Physicians.
According to dR Boucher, Quebec still sees only the “peak of the iceberg” cases due to the omicron transformation.
In early December 2020, Quebec asked health organizations to reduce the number of operating theaters by 50%.
The proportion of those admitted to the hospital is actually linked to COVID-19
However, these statistics must be qualified: DBack Morris said he would treat patients who go to the hospital for another condition, but only those who have tested positive for COVID-19. These patients were counted in the statistics of patients with coronavirus.
It is estimated that the care trajectory of these patients will not be as long as the previous waves.
DBack Judy Morris, President of the Quebec Association of Emergency Physicians
DBack Morris, however, described the rise in cases as “worrying”.
Health and Social Services Minister Christian Dubey agreed at a press conference on Tuesday that patients admitted to the hospital due to COVID-19 need to be admitted for another reason and separated from those declared positive. “We have to do it systematically to get a fair picture of the situation,” he added.
Prevalence in CHSLDs
During this time, the prevalence of CHSLDs is increasing. According to the Quebec government, as of December 28, there were seven CHSLDs in the Red Zone, and more than 25% of the population was infected with COVID-19. These establishments are located in the Montreal, Lanadier, Mauritius and Montrege areas. In the Chaudhry-Appalachian region, the Saint-Raphael CHSLD is in the Orange Zone: 15% of its inhabitants are positive.
Some private seniors’ residences (RPAs) are struggling with the spread. At Le Saint-Guillaume’s residence in Boise, 14% of residents were infected with COVID-19. At CHSLD Marguerite-Rochelle in Langueil, more than half of the residents or 59% of them were infected.
To date, 77% of residents with CHSLDs and 84% of those with RPA are considered to have been adequately vaccinated and have received a booster dose, according to the latest data from the Institute de Sants public du Quebec (INSPQ).
Terrible staff shortage
Many Kovid-19 cases in CHSLDs are at risk of staff shortages, requiring them to isolate themselves after being infected with the coronavirus, d.Back Sophie Zhang, Co-Chair of the Physicians Community of Practice in CHSLD.
This is likely to create service interruptions in many areas. This is the great danger that awaits us with the spread that appears everywhere.
DBack Sophie Zhang, co-chair of the Physicians Community of Practice at CHSLD
DBack Zhang fears that in this context residents will no longer be able to provide basic care. According to the doctor, the measure announced by Minister Christian Dube on Tuesday to reduce the isolation of asymptomatic workers is being justified in these “extraordinary circumstances”. “All workers” wear N95 masks, she said.
D says the omicron variant is still alarmingBack Zhang. “But since most of the residents have been vaccinated three times, we have reasons to be a little less anxious than before,” she argued. Less serious illness is expected. ”
In collaboration with Leila Dassault and Arian Lacorsier, Press
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