Marie-France Raynault, Quebec senior strategic medical adviser to public health, during a press conference on COVID-19 in Montreal on Thursday March 10, 2022. Photo by Pierre Obendrauf /Montreal Gazette

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After six weeks of increases in cases and hospitalizations, the number of COVID-19 infections is starting to stabilize in Quebec, public health officials said on Thursday.

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Community transmission remains high, however, due to the contagious nature of the BA.5 Omicron sub-variant that is buffeting Europe and the United States and has now become dominant in several regions of the province. The sub-variant, which is more transmissible but does not cause more severe outcomes, accounts for 43 per cent of cases in Quebec, said Dr. Marie-France Raynault, a medical adviser in the public health department. With surveys indicating that Quebecers have widely varied notions on what it means to “live with COVID,” Raynault outlined recommended practices during a COVID-19 news conference in Montreal. “It means taking simple and efficient measures that can integrate easily into a normal life,” she said. “Each effort that we can take collectively will allow us to not aggravate the situation.”

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The measures include always having a mask on hand and being prepared to wear it in crowded spaces, indoors or out, and to stay home and get tested the moment one has symptoms. Those who test positive should quarantine for five days, or longer if symptoms persist, and only go out for essential activities for a further five days while wearing a mask. “Many people with symptoms are still coming to work or going to family outings, which is leading to an increase in transmissions,” Raynault said. She also counselled everyone 18 and older to get a booster shot if it’s been five to six months since their last one, or since they were last infected. As senior health officials have done in previous weeks, Raynault said she was not recommending imposing a return to mandates like wearing masks on public transit or in crowded indoor spaces, even if it appears most citizens are not following the government’s pleas to do so of their own accord.

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“I think that young people tend not to wear a mask, and that was the case before, but for older people who are sick or prone to be sick, we have indications that they have started wearing them a bit more since last week. “I think we have to educate people and tell them we are still in a wave, even if we are in the middle of the summer, and we have high transmission, and we recommend that they wear a mask if they are in situations where there are a lot of people around them.” After two years of the pandemic, “I believe in education and not always mandatory measures,” Raynault said. Dr. Matthew Oughton, an infectious-diseases specialist at the Jewish General Hospital, said the government must give more details of how it plans to educate the public considering vaccination coverage for people with a third dose has remained mired at 55 per cent for months.

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“We know that a third dose provides the best protection against severe disease, and we’ve been stuck at this level for months,” he said. “It seems as if there’s been a stall. This is not unique to Quebec; I would say every province has the same problems. But I would say this is a low-hanging fruit and I would like to see specific measures planned, given that we know there’s a significant benefit for everybody.” The government needs to launch a public education campaign and focus on outreach programs to bring the vaccines to sectors of the population less willing or able to get a shot, Oughton said. Thursday’s COVID-19 numbers were less promising than the government’s forecast. The number of patients hospitalized with COVID increased by 63 to 1,860. Hospitalizations are now at their highest level in more than two months. Of the hospitalized patients, 45 were in intensive care — an increase of two.

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Two weeks ago, Quebec public health director Dr. Luc Boileau said projections showed that hospitalizations, which were at 1,260 at the time, would rise to 1,600 before plateauing and coming back down. The province also announced on Thursday that 18 more deaths had been attributed to the virus, bringing the cumulative death toll to 15,726. Quebec reported 2,457 more COVID cases had been confirmed through PCR testing at its clinics. Insofar as this method of testing is not accessible to most Quebecers, the case numbers are not representative of the situation in the province, but it is the highest single-day increase reported since April. Many regions have seen their numbers plateau in the last week, including Montreal, Laval, Lanaudière and the Montérégie, Raynault said. But in several others, case counts are still growing. Saguenay—Lac-St-Jean, Gaspésie, the Eastern Townships and the Quebec City region have all seen rises in cases.

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“The number of hospitalizations remains high and will remain so for the next few weeks, because we know from previous waves that decreases in hospitalizations come later than the decrease in cases,” she said. Raynault noted that the number of patients in intensive care was lower than in previous waves, indicating that vaccines are working to prevent more serious outcomes. [email protected] All our coronavirus-related news can be found at montrealgazette.com/tag/coronavirus. For information on vaccines in Quebec, tap here. Sign up for our email newsletter dedicated to local COVID-19 coverage at montrealgazette.com/coronavirusnews. Help support our local journalism by subscribing to the Montreal Gazette here.

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