1) Premier François Legault flip-flopped Friday, acknowledging Quebec is in the “beginning of a third wave” in the #pandemic only three days after insisting the opposite. Unlike previous waves, more contagious variants of the #coronavirus are to blame here and across Canada.
2) For much of the #pandemic, British Columbia has managed to keep transmission of the #coronavirus relatively low. But on Friday, B.C. authorities confirmed 215 cases of the P.1 variant, the same strain that is causing massive deaths in Brazil. Quebec so far has one P.1 case. 
3) Meanwhile, Ontario on Friday declared it has 58 cases of P.1, up by four from the previous day. In total, Ontario has 1,612 confirmed variant infections, more than double the tally in Quebec. And like B.C., #COVID19 hospitalizations in Ontario are on the upswing. See below.
4) So far, hospitalizations in Quebec remain stable, but for how long? Montreal recorded a dip in #COVID19 hospitalizations — 263, down by eight — but the situation at north-end Sacré-Coeur Hospital may portend what’s to come, as it posted nine admissions in the past two days.
5) Quebec’s public health institute released a confusing graphic on the number of variants as it changed its methodology, dropping the ambiguous term, “presumptive,” to describe cases that await genetic sequencing. We’ll need to wait another day to discern the real numbers.
6) As I wrote in my updated column in the @mtlgazette tonight, six regions beyond Montreal have posted a rising number of #COVID19 cases, most likely driven by the variants. The increase in variants is of particular concern in the Capitale-Nationale. montrealgazette.com/news/local-new…
7) Montreal, for its part, posted a dip in #COVID19 cases Friday. The city has remained in an epidemiological plateau for the past four weeks, as the chart below indicates. It’s fair to assume that had it not been for the variants, Montreal would have a lot fewer cases by now.
8) Meanwhile, as the weather gets better young Montrealers have been gathering in larger numbers, with little #PhysicalDistancing or wearing of masks. Please see the purposely blurred photo below of a group of McGill University students.
9) It’s also worth pointing out that more than two dozen schools across Quebec have shut down or shuttered classes after announcing they have suspected variant cases. On Friday, the Education Ministry confirmed 10 schools closed in a day for a total of 37.
10) After Quebec’s top epidemiologist warned Friday that current measures are not enough to contain a third wave, Premier Legault said he was open to reversing his latest loosening of #pandemic restrictions. Let’s hope he does so sooner rather than later. End of thread.
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