1) A record 27 schools across Quebec announced on Tuesday that they have suspected variant #COVID19 cases. Most are found in the Capitale-Nationale region, which has already shut schools until April 12. But seven schools are located in the Montreal area.
2) On Tuesday evening, Premier François Legault backtracked on his decision requiring Montreal high school seniors to attend classes five days a week. But as the latest list by covidecolesquebec.org shows, the variants are still circulating widely in Montreal classrooms.
3) Legault again asserted that the situation is under control in Montreal. Please let me draw your attention to an article by my @mltgazette colleague @katelynthomas that Montreal's #COVID19 case numbers are again rising from a plateau. montrealgazette.com/news/local-new…
4) The city of Toronto announced it will shut schools Wednesday to counter a major third wave. A Quebec group of physicians and other experts, @COVIDSTOPQC, has called for the closing of Montreal schools, raising the question as to whether Legault might not have gone far enough.
5) We’ll find out soon enough the answer to that question. In the meantime, Montreal posted 139 of the more transmissible variant #COVID19 cases on Tuesday for a cumulative total of nearly 4,000. But Montreal’s per capita rate trails those in the Capitale-Nationale and Outaouais. 
6) Montreal’s rolling seven-day average of #COVID19 cases stood at nearly 17 infections per 100,000 residents on Tuesday. The city posted 300 cases the day before. By comparison, on March 15 Montreal recorded 245 cases. Please see the chart below.
7) After 13 daily increases in a row, the number of #COVID19 outbreaks across Quebec did not rise on Tuesday. Still, clusters did go up by six to 86 in daycares, by six to 27 among unspecified events or activities and by 11 in the workplace.
8) It's also worth noting that the Centre de detention Hull is in the midst of a new #COVID19 outbreak with 19 inmates and 13 guards infected. This prison is located in the variant hot spot of Gatineau.
9) Although Quebec's #COVID19 hospitalizations crept up by 14 to 514, the number in Montreal declined by seven to 249. Perhaps that’s why Legault suggested the situation is stable in Montreal. But given the proliferation of the variants, it might not stay that way for long.
10) Finally, Montreal added another four #COVID19 fatalities to a death toll of 4,634. Again, for context only, the locked-down city of Paris reported 19 such deaths for a total of 3,727. End of thread. Please limit your social contacts and wear a mask in public.
• • •
Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to
force a refresh
