1) Montreal’s public health director finally acknowledged on Friday what many suspected — that it’s the schools in the city that are witnessing the biggest increase in both #COVID19 cases and outbreaks. In this thread, I will examine the implications of this in the weeks ahead.
2) Dr. Karl Weiss, one of Quebec’s leading infectious diseases expert, suggested at the end of September that the province’s second wave was triggered by the reopening of schools. Weiss told me recently he caught a lot of flak for making that remark.
3) For weeks, public health officials maintained that #COVID19 clusters in schools were merely a reflection of what was going on in the community. But on Friday, there were more outbreaks in the city’s schools (93) than in the workplace and health-care institutions combined (85).
4) One of those schools, Ali Ibn Abi Talib, has been ordered to close for two weeks after a major outbreak. Dr. Mylène Drouin, director of public health, noted #COVID19 cases were found in nearly every class, a worrisome development. montrealgazette.com/news/local-new…
5) Provincially, the picture is not much better for schools. The Education Ministry on Friday reported that the number of shuttered classes due to #COVID19 exposure is 938, up by 18 since Thursday. Active cases are also rising, as you can see from the chart below. 
6) Drouin explained that authorities have made progress in reducing the number of workplace outbreaks. This is largely a result of the belated decision to reinstate the closing of bars, gyms and the dining areas of restaurants a month ago. But what about new measures for schools?
7) Despite #coronavirus clusters, hospitalizations and cases in eldercare homes still rising in Montreal, Drouin hinted of a new plan to reopen public libraries and allow certain sports and cultural activities. Yet she spoke of no plan to curb the expanding contagion in schools.
8) The only new measure for schools that Premier François Legault announced this week is requiring Grade 9 students to study at home one out of every two days. Why not extend that to Grades 7 and 8? Why not mandate face coverings in Grades 4 and up, as Ontario has done?
9) Meanwhile, Montreal posted 277 new #COVID19 cases Friday, up from 245 the day before. The seven-day rolling average in the metropolis was 117.96 infections per million population, up from 115.19 on Thursday — still very much red-zone territory. See the chart below.
10) At the neighborhood level, #coronavirus transmission is the highest in districts with lots of schools like Côte-des-Neiges, Ahuntsic (where Ali Ibn Abi Talib closed) and Saint-Léonard. This is a big problem that deserves attention. Will authorities address it? End of thread.
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