1) Premier François Legault decided not to sugar-coat the #pandemic on Tuesday, warning Quebecers there will be “a lot of uncertainty over the next two months.” Legault spoke of the #COVID19 resurgence in the regions. In this thread, I will focus on what he didn’t speak about.
2) Legault spoke about how Quebecers in their 20s, 30s, and 40s are now being hospitalized for #COVID19 amid the variant-driven third wave. But he didn’t speak about the rise in cases in eldercare homes. montrealgazette.com/news/quebec/an…
3) As I wrote about in my @mtlgazette column tonight, Quebec’s eldercare residents are overdue their second vaccine shots, especially in regions where the more contagious variants are accelerating. Elders are also being hospitalized in high numbers, as the chart below shows. 
4) The other trend Legault didn’t talk about is the proliferation of #COVID19 outbreaks in the workplace. The province reported its fifth daily increase in clusters in this sector. The number jumped by 43 to 583, the biggest hike by far of any sector.
5) Quebec on Tuesday crossed the thousand-outbreak threshold, 1,037 to be exact — with those in the workplace accounting for 56% of all such clusters. Beyond mandating face coverings in the workplace, what other measures is Quebec considering?
6) The province’s public health institute recorded 728 more variant #COVID19 cases, raising the total to 17,444. Puzzlingly, Health Minister Christian Dubé announced Quebec will now screen only half of #COVID19 samples for the variants.
7) Dubé explained the government is doing this to ease the burden on labs. But with such screening down to 50 per cent, Quebec could deprive itself of knowing much better where the new, more transmissible variants are spreading in the province, and what strains they might be.
8) On Tuesday, the Outaouais reported the sharpest increase in variant cases of all the regions, suggesting the contagion is worsening in this corner of Quebec. If screening is cut in half, what kind of picture will the province have of the variants?
9) The third wave is beginning to weigh on hospitalizations, with the number rising by 13 to 643 in Quebec. Most of the increase in hospitalizations is occurring in the Capitale-Nationale, but the number in Montreal inched up by three to 281.
10) In addition to hospitalizations, there are four critical outbreaks in eldercare homes, as the chart below indicates. In the most serious example, the CHSLD L’Assomption in Chaudière-Appalaches added six cases in the past 24 hours to a total of 35, with one death.
11) And at the other end of the age spectrum, the number of active #COVID19 cases among students and staff climbed by 81 to 3,506. In addition, 428 schools across the province were closed, according to the chart below by the Education Ministry.
12) And the number of #COVID deaths rose by a dozen in Quebec to 10,756, the sharpest daily increase in nearly three weeks. No wonder Legault said Quebecers face two more tough months despite the progress in vaccinations. End of thread. Please limit your social contacts.
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