Doctors are urging Quebec to step up its tonus as COVID numbers rise

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“In theory, we should have all the tools we need to manage things before we get to a point where we have to impose measures,” said Dr Nathalie Granvaux. “But we’re not doing anything to make sure we don’t end up in those circumstances.”

Article author:

Jesse Faith • Montreal Gazette

Publication date:

July 06, 2022 • 13 hours ago • 4 minutes read • 16 comments Customers make their way through the produce stands at the Jean-Talon Market on Saturday, June 25, 2022. Photo by Pierre Obendraouf /Montreal Gazette

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Quebec’s health minister and director of public health will hold a joint press conference Thursday to discuss the province’s recent uptick in COVID-19 pandemic indicators.

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The update comes as hospitalizations continue to rise in Quebec and the number of daily cases confirmed by PCR tests has nearly tripled in the past month.

In an interview Wednesday, Dr. Nathalie Granvaux of the CHUM research center said she did not believe the province should return to public health measures just yet.

But she urged the government to step up its tone on the pandemic and remind people what needs to be done to protect themselves and those around them.

“In theory, we should have all the necessary tools to manage things before we get to a point where we have to impose measures,” Granvaux said. “But we’re not doing anything to make sure we don’t end up in those circumstances.”

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On Wednesday, the Quebec Ministry of Health said there were 1,497 patients hospitalized with COVID-19 in the province, the highest number since late May.

Of the hospitalized patients, 40 are in intensive care – nearly twice as many as in mid-June. An additional 13 deaths were also attributed to the virus.

The province has reported an additional 1,839 cases of COVID-19 confirmed through PCR testing. Since the tests are not available to most Quebecers, the numbers are not representative of the situation in the province.

However, the seven-day moving average of new cases identified through PCR testing rose from 517 in late May to 1,324 on Wednesday.

Speaking to reporters earlier this week, Prime Minister Francois Legault said he was closely monitoring the rise but believed the situation remained under control.

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Last week, Public Health Director Dr. Luc Boileau urged Quebecers to be cautious, but maintained there are no immediate plans to return to public health measures.

Since then, however, the indicators have continued to move in the wrong direction. In the past seven days, the number of health workers absent due to COVID-19 has risen from 6,285 to 7,041.

Grandvaux said there are several factors contributing to the increase. These include the availability of more portable options, waning vaccine immunity and the lifting of public health measures to coincide with summer gatherings.

“So a lot of people are getting infected,” she said. “And as a result, vulnerable people end up in hospital.”

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In an interview, Dr. Donald Winn, an infectious disease specialist at McGill University Health Center, called on the government to address the situation before it worsens.

“All the indicators are pointing in the wrong direction,” Wynn said. “I don’t think there is one bullish indicator that can be used to show that things are going well.”

Wynn says the province needs to re-implement public health measures. And refusing to do so because it might look like a step backwards after removing them, he added, is a “failing mentality that could get us into trouble.”

He also took exception to the government’s repeated assertion that it does not believe the situation will worsen over the summer.

“The days of foolish optimism are over,” Wynn said. “It’s hard to hear someone say, ‘We don’t expect this to get worse,’ when it’s getting worse.”

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Forecasts released Wednesday by the Institut national d’excellence en santé et en services sociaux suggest that hospital admissions for COVID-19 could soon reach 170 per day.

The institute noted that those numbers would put the entire province above the Level 3 alert threshold set by the provincial Department of Health.

Meanwhile, doctors have warned that the increase comes at a time when the network is already strained, with holidays and absences related to COVID-19 contributing to staff shortages.

With the surge in recent weeks, several public health experts have questioned whether Quebec is entering a seventh wave of the pandemic. Boileau said last week it was too early to tell.

Granvaux, for his part, said debating whether or not the next wave has begun misses the point.

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The virus is always here, she said, and there’s no reason to believe the province will somehow be protected from future variants.

“Talking about waves is a bit like telling people that they have nothing to worry about with each other,” Granvaux said. “But that’s not the case – the virus is always there.”

jfeith@postmedia.com

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All our news related to the coronavirus can be found at montrealgazette.com/tag/coronavirus.