Quebec does not plan to postpone the return to classes if the emergency situation worsens over the holidays, but faced with an “already very stretched” health network, François Legault urges Quebecers “not to do it on purpose to get on board”. [les] hospitals”.
Updated yesterday at 3:55pm.
The holiday season is always “very difficult” in the province’s emergency departments, but Premier François Legault assures there is no “scenario” comparable to last year’s as the holidays approach, such as a late start of the school year in January to curb the spread of viruses.
On Thursday, he and his wife, Isabelle Brais, visited children at the Sainte-Justine hospital. Before entering, he repeated the message released by his health minister the day before. Christian Dubé warned that the situation will be “difficult” in the coming weeks “especially in emergencies” due to the increase in contacts.
A few days before Christmas, the Prime Minister also urged caution.
“It sucks, but if you have cold symptoms, you stay at home. We do this for vulnerable people, but also for health workers. We have a network that is already very congested, so let’s not intentionally pick it up at our hospitals,” Mr Legault said.
Minister Dubé, he added, “do everything possible with the means we have to get through this period”.
School absenteeism is increasing
On Monday, student absenteeism from the province’s schools was still plentiful. One in ten students was absent from class (124,628 students), according to figures provided by the Education Ministry to La Presse.
That’s a slight increase from the previous week. At that time, 9.4% of all students in preschool, primary school, secondary school, vocational education and adult education were absent.
On Thursday, Quebec reported seven new deaths related to COVID-19 in its latest report.
None have occurred in the last 24 hours. Five people died between two and seven days ago and two more than seven days ago.
In terms of hospitalizations, authorities reported a drop of 27 from the previous day. There are currently 2,122 patients hospitalized with COVID-19, including 735 due to the disease.
The number of patients ending up in intensive care has fallen by 2 to a total of 55 people, including 26 who are being treated specifically for COVID-19.
With the Canadian Press