Maintain measures to protect seniors

Even if the number of new coronavirus infections in Quebec remains stable, the population must continue to respect health instructions to see an improvement in the coming weeks and to protect the elderly, experts remind.

• Read also: All developments in the COVID-19 pandemic

“Whether there are 800 cases or 1200 cases, it does not change anything. Currently, we have reached a plateau and we have reached it for one or two weeks and we are not going down again, ”explains Karl Weiss, microbiologist and infectious disease specialist at the Jewish Hospital in Montreal.

Like him, Christian Jacob, president of the Association des microbiologistes du Québec (AMQ), recalls that there can be many reasons that make it sometimes seem as though the number of cases is decreasing, such as administrative delays or a decrease in the number of tests.

The province recorded an increase of 1,094 COVID-19 cases and 13 hospitalizations on Sunday, including 3 in intensive care. This is the third consecutive day during which Quebec exceeds 1000 cases, after a semblance of calm for 3 days.

For Christian Jacob, even if we see a certain stability in the number of cases, we are still far from being able to claim victory. “We have to manage to get back on a downward slope, we can’t stay in the red. In order for us to start returning to orange, yellow or green, we must be able to show that we have better control over the spread of the virus, ”he explains.

However, according to D^r Weiss, you shouldn’t expect to get out of this level right away. “What is needed is to hold this plateau and keep all the measures in place so as not to have an increase. In reality, what we are doing right now is the Christmas battle, ”he adds.

Protect seniors

But compliance with the health instructions in force also helps prevent spread in the living environments of seniors, such as residential and long-term care centers (CHSLDs) or private residences.

Currently in the province, four private seniors’ residences are struggling with outbreaks, three are in Montérégie and one in Lanaudière.

At Villa St-Joseph, in Saint-Hyacinthe in Montérégie, 48 residents and ten employees have contracted COVID-19. At Résidence Bourg-Joli, also in Saint-Hyacinthe, the number of contaminated residents is 42 out of 130, in addition to a dozen employees. There are also 43 cases at the Lachance residence in Saint-Charles-Borromée, and 15 cases at the Résidence des Berges de Boucherville.

For the owner of Résidence Bourg-Joli, Sylvain Talbot, all the necessary measures had been taken to ward off the virus. He says the challenge is great to control everything, but he has already been able to find the source of the contamination.

“We have two residents who drove out to shop in a supermarket, even though they had been asked to limit this trip. We understand that they needed some air […], but they came back with COVID. “

The two ladies had no symptoms and it was during a routine hospital appointment that one of them tested positive.

The Montérégie public health did not wish to answer the questions of the Newspaper.

– With VAT News