Thread by @Aaron_Derfel

1) Quebec set more grim records in the #pandemic Friday, all of them in the educational sector. The most notable one is 1,241 classes shuttered due to #COVID19 exposure, up by 27 from the day before. In this thread, I will take stock of the growing contagion in schools.

2) Another record: a total of 3,193 students and staff have tested positive for the #coronavirus, up by 159 since Thursday. That increase represents the second biggest daily spike recorded during the second wave. A third record: 950 schools now have at least one #COVID19 case.

3) A fourth record: the province reported 417 #COVID19 clusters in schools, up by two since Thursday and 43 since a week ago. Nearly half of all of Quebec’s schools have confirmed cases since the start of the academic year, according to covidecolesquebec.org.

4) No wonder Quebec Premier François Legault warned Thursday the government might close schools for longer than the holiday break next month. And on Friday, Education Minister Jean-François Roberge said Quebec is now considering reduced class sizes. montrealgazette.com/news/quebec/cu…

5) What’s hard to comprehend is why Quebec is only now considering smaller class sizes and is still studying whether to install portable air purifiers despite having all summer to prepare for this worst-case scenario. I devoted an entire Twitter thread to schools back on July 25.

6) Meanwhile, Quebec on Friday reported its highest seven-day rolling average during the second wave: 150.83 #COVID19 cases per million population. The province also crossed the threshold of 12,000 active #coronavirus infections.

7) Montreal posted 317 #COVID19 infections, its third straight day in the 300-range. The city’s rolling average rose to 145.08 cases. Some experts say the U.S. is now in its third wave. The chart below suggests Montreal already went through a second (tiny?) wave in the summer.

8) At the neighborhood level, the entire metropolis is beset with community transmission of the #coronavirus, as the chart below makes clear. These #COVID19 cases will lead to a smaller number of hospitalizations in two to three weeks’ time, and two weeks after that, more deaths.

9) Montreal declared four more #COVID19 fatalities Friday, raising the city’s death toll to 3,566. (See the chart below.) To date, almost one-third of the city’s deaths (1,026) have occurred in the east end of the city. What does this fact say about Montreal?

10) There are #COVID19 cynics who dwell on cases versus hospitalizations and deaths, or who seek to minimize the threat that crowded, poorly-ventilated schools pose to community transmission in Montreal. But the time for cynicism is now over. End of thread. Stay safe, everyone.