QUEBEC FOCUSES ITS RESOURCES
Have symptoms? Get tested: Arruda
Public-health authorities are stepping up their efforts to slow the spread of the coronavirus in Montreal, as several neighbourhoods are now dealing with widespread community transmission of the virus.
COVID-19 testing will be increased in the Greater Montreal region, and hundreds of people will be hired in the coming weeks to carry out public-health investigations of COVID-19 cases and to manage outbreaks in places such as daycares or offices. Quebec public-health director Dr. Horacio Arruda urged anyone with symptoms (fever, difficulty breathing, sudden loss of taste or smell) to contact public health officials at 1-877-644-4545, after which a test would likely be arranged.
“You are part of the equation,” Arruda said Friday afternoon. “Without you, without your commitment, without your respect of what we are telling you, the situation will get worse.”
Officials said they are shifting 80 per cent of their testing capacity to areas where the outbreaks are most severe and urging anyone who has symptoms to get tested right away.
The strategy should allow investigators to catch more cases early, according to Dr. David Buckeridge, an expert in public health informatics at the MUHC. When someone has the virus, research shows they could be asymptomatic for several days. But if investigators find a positive case who has just begun to show symptoms, they will more easily be able to trace their contacts and find people who might have the virus but still be asymptomatic.
“From what I understand, they’re going to be much more aggressive in testing contacts of known cases to really help to break those chains of transmission within families,” he said.
Buckeridge noted that, in the coming weeks, increased testing — even of those who don’t have symptoms of the coronavirus — would be necessary to give officials a better idea of its spread through the community.
As of Friday afternoon, 18,435 people had tested positive for COVID-19 on the island of Montreal and 1,727 had died. The virus had also penetrated 133 of the city’s public retirement homes and long-term care centres.
Between Sunday and Friday this week alone, 362 deaths from COVID -19 were reported on the island of Montreal, while 2,184 more people were confirmed to have the disease.
Montreal’s public-health director, Dr. Mylène Drouin, acknowledged that Montreal is the epicentre of COVID -19 in Canada, and that has been very difficult for many people.
“I understand that all Montrealers are living with a lot of uncertainty, and don’t know when this is all going to end,” she said. “We also want to have a return to normal life.”
Montreal Public Health has increased testing in areas like Montreal North and St-michel, where community transmission of the virus has been observed, likely via infected health-care workers.
In the territory of the Ciusssnord-de-l’île-de-montréal, which includes Montreal North and Ahuntsic, 762 health-care workers have been infected.
Although there are four teams of investigators working seven days a week, several hundred more people will be hired in the coming weeks to help, Drouin said.
Later Friday, Arruda, Plante and Drouin visited a temporary day centre for homeless people set up at Place du Canada. There, workers handed out meals next to a grouping of canopy tents and folding chairs.
Temporary day centres like the one Arruda and Plante visited were important, according to Matthew Pearce, president and CEO of the Old Brewery Mission. Shelters admit fewer people these days, he said, so a temporary centre gives people somewhere to go.
One of the Old Brewery Mission’s clients had this week tested positive for the virus, he said, but none of the person’s close contacts had tested positive.
“We hope we nipped that one in the bud,” he said. There have been no confirmed cases among the shelter’s staff.
At the day centre, Plante and Arruda both touted the use of masks among the population.
The mask isn’t just a fashion statement, Arruda said. “It’s a new way of protecting others,” he said. They aren’t mandatory, but they are encouraged, especially when physical distancing is difficult or impossible.
A large crowd of reporters and onlookers gathered around Arruda and he jokingly threatened to spank those who were crowding together without wearing masks.
He gave a passionate five-minute speech, waving his arms and raising his voice.
“We are all in the same war against this terrible virus,” he shouted. “I hate it. I hate it. I hate it.”
Local Journalism Initiative Reporter