Curfew may be extended, Legault and Dubé suggest
Too many hospitalizations to think of easing restrictions, premier says
With the number of new cases dropping, Premier François Legault said Thursday that Quebec is moving in the right direction in its battle with COVID -19, but it has a long way to go before the crisis is over.
After nearly two weeks of living under a curfew and with other restrictions in place, Legault said Quebec's collective efforts are yielding results.
The other bit of good news is that as of Thursday, just about all CHSLD residents in Quebec, a total of 37,948 people, have received their first dose of vaccine. Another 125,357 health-care workers have also been inoculated.
“The curfew is paying off,” Legault said at a news conference at the legislature. “There are fewer gatherings after 8 p.m. and less contagion. We've been going in the right direction in the last 10 days, but there's still a long way to go.
“We must be patient and continue our efforts, especially for people over 65.”
For the first time in three months, projections from the Institut national d'excellence en santé et en services sociaux (INESS) suggest the number of patients in hospital will drop, which will ease lots of pressure on health-care workers.
The INESS concludes the chance of hospitals being overwhelmed in the next three weeks is “very unlikely.”
A debate has been raging for weeks in Quebec over the possibility hospitals might have to select who would be treated and who would not if the influx of patients did not slow.
As of Thursday, there were 1,453 persons hospitalized — 14 fewer than a day earlier — and 1,624 new cases. Sixty-five more deaths were declared for a new total of 9,273. Montreal Island was responsible for 679 of the cases and 20 of the deaths.
Legault said there are still “way too many,” hospitalizations to even think of easing restrictions — particularly in Montreal and Laval where the number of cases is still high.
In fact, neither Legault or Health and Social Services Minister Christian Dubé ruled out extending the current curfew past the Feb. 8 cutoff date.
“We have to be cautious with this (hospital) data,” Dubé added. “The situation remains fragile. We have to consider (the effects) of reopening schools. We said it was a risk. A sudden increase in the number of new cases could modify the projections.
The worst thing, Dubé added, would be easing restrictions and then have cases soar again and have to reimpose them.
“I don't think the people would forgive us for that,” Dubé said.
“We don't want to play yo-yo,” Legault added.
“It is a virus which is present all over Quebec,” added Horacio Arruda, the director of public health. “Even if the number of cases is dropping, it is still present in the community and it feeds itself off human contact.”
He added there is another unknown to consider in the debate about eventually lifting restrictions: the presence of other variants in the population. One case of the U.K. variant was identified in December and affected four people. Another case, announced earlier this week, is still under investigation, Arruda said. He added officials have doubled the testing of anyone coming back from countries where there is an outbreak of new strains such as the U.K., Brazil and South America.
The variant issue has everyone on edge. It is believed a fast spread of the virus in a Barrie, Ont. longterm care home this week is the new variant. At last count, 122 residents and 69 staff tested positive, and 19 have died.
Earlier, Legault tweeted Quebec must avoid at all costs a situation like the one being experienced in the U.K., which has been ravaged by the new variant.
“It's a catastrophe,” Legault said at the news conference. “The number of deaths gets worse and worse. We don't want that here.”
He repeated his plea to Prime Minster Justin Trudeau to ban non-essential international travel. If Ottawa cannot ban such travel it should impose an obligatory 14day quarantine on those returning. They would have to pay the hotel bills, Legault said.
The quarantines would be supervised as well. New Zealand has adopted the policy.
“The RCMP could give us a hand if necessary (to enforce the rule), so could the Sûreté du Québec,” Legault said. “I don't think Quebecers should have to pay for these hotel rooms.
“If we tell eventual travellers that they will have to pay for a room in a hotel for two weeks when they come back, I think we will have a lot less travellers.”