Thread by @Aaron_Derfel

1) The number of Montreal school outbreaks has doubled to 30 in a week, the city’s top public health director revealed Tuesday. There are now as many #COVID19 clusters in schools as there are in the workplace. Yet authorities seem reluctant to want to do more to protect schools.

2) On Sept. 21, Dr. Mylène Drouin disclosed that there were 14 school outbreaks in the city and 28 in the workplace. By Tuesday, the two settings were tied at 30 each, followed by nine in health-care institutions, six in day cares and five following events in the community.

3) These figures would appear to demonstrate the #pandemic has been spreading more rapidly in schools than any other setting. Provincially, there are 1,043 active #COVID19 cases among students and school employees, according to the latest chart below by the Education Ministry.

4) Faced with the second wave, Health Minister Christian Dubé announced Tuesday that Quebec will soon activate the federal COVID Alert notification app. But what about following the lead of Ontario and other jurisdictions in requiring face coverings in class?

5) Quebec’s top health officer, Dr. Horacio Arruda, was asked this question during Tuesday’s news conference. He responded that although he’s not ruling anything out, he complained that it would be uncomfortable for school children to wear a face covering for eight hours a day.

6) Yet earlier in the day, Drouin suggested students may soon be required to wear masks in the school yard. This lack of a coherent strategy on face coverings for students risks undermining confidence in public health authorities during this perilous moment in the #pandemic.

7) Meanwhile, Montreal posted 234 #COVID19 cases Tuesday, as the rising orange line in the chart below shows. The city’s seven-day average has soared to 121 infections per million population and the number of #pandemic hospitalizations has nearly doubled in a week.

8) At the neighborhood level, Montreal North and the east end reported dozens of #COVID19 cases Tuesday, according to the chart below. In contrast, the city centre comprising downtown, Côte-des-Neiges and Park Extension recorded a drop in new infections, perhaps a one-day blip.

9) Provincially, the government added seven #COVID19 fatalities from previous days to a death toll that now stands at 5,833. One of those deaths was added to Montreal’s mortality toll of 3,479, which is more than double all of Israel (1,528) or Japan (1,557). See the chart below.

10) Dr. Arruda said he might require masks for students in classrooms “if there’s a big transmission in schools.” Given the gravity of the #pandemic, why wait to do that? Why not take a more proactive approach? End of thread. Please practice #PhysicalDistancing and wear a mask.