1) Have Montreal schools inadvertently become Trojan horses for the much more transmissible B117 variant? That’s a fair question to ask after a second school this week disclosed that students were infected with the variant that originated in the U.K.
2) For months, Quebec authorities have downplayed the risk schools play in the #pandemic, asserting that children are much less likely to develop serious #COVID19 complications. But that misses the point that schools are breeding grounds for the #coronavirus.
3) Dr. Mylène Drouin, head of the Montreal public health department, said as much on Wednesday when she expressed concern about the rise in #COVID19 cases among students. She also bemoaned an increase in cases among the parents of schoolchildren.
4) Meanwhile, the Quebec Education Ministry reported closing three more schools Thursday because of #COVID19 outbreaks and shuttering another 40 classes to 1,193. At the same time, the B117 variant — which is at least 50% more communicable — is circulating in Montreal. 
5) Provincially, the total number of #COVID19 outbreaks rose by eight to 1,123. Once again, schools posted the biggest increase, 11 to 264. The number of clusters increased by six to 101 in daycares and by six to 370 in the workplace.
6) Health Minister Christian Dubé announced the government will step up #COVID19 vaccination efforts in Montreal, given the proliferation of the variants in the city. But Quebec has still not undertaken any new measures to protect overcrowded schools. montrealgazette.com/news/local-new…
7) Hospitalizations due to #COVID19 plummeted by 27 to 452 in Montreal on Thursday. But at the same time, emergency room overcrowding — never an acceptable situation in the metropolis — has returned in the context of super transmissible variants. See the chart below.
8) Since Monday, retail stores have reopened across Montreal. Yet community transmission of the #coronavirus remains high in the centre of the city, the north end and the east end, as the chart below indicates. Transmission remains the most elevated — by far — in Saint-Léonard.
9) Although the incidence of #COVID19 in Montreal has subsided from a peak a month ago, it’s nonetheless stuck in the 500-range, Dr. Drouin noted on Wednesday. The latest stats show the city posting 503 cases. Please take a look at the chart below.
10) The temporary closing of Collège Stanislas and Académie Yechiva Yavne should serve as a warning to authorities not only to boost vaccinations in Montreal but to implement rapid #COVID19 testing in schools and to install air purifiers in all classrooms. End of thread.
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