Thread by @MarieTattersall

Snippets Dec 10 Press Conference Minister of Health Jean-Yves Duclos
Today I will proceed with an update on the COVID-19 situation and more specifically the Omicron variant of concern. As you know our government rapidly put in place measures to stop the spread of this variant

in the country. The situation is serious. Countries around the world are seeing or projecting an important rise in numbers, in the number of cases. Dr. Tam & Dr. Njoo will speak about this as part of their modelling update in a few minutes.

As a government our objective is simple, we want to protect the health and safety of Canadians and protect the gains that we have made in the fight against COVID19 for the last 20 months. This is why we have put into place new measures to mitigate the impact and slow the spread

of the new variant in Canada. It’s important to keep in mind these measures might change as we adapt to this evolving situation.
As announced on November 30 we are gradually ramping up our testing capacity at international airports. (insert specific stats for all major

Canadian airports here, maybe halfway to goal) As you can see our testing capacity is increasing steadily and significantly BUT IT REMAINS LIMITED…BUT IT STILL REMAINS INCOMPLETE. In order to further increase our capacity quickly we’ve awarded contracts to private companies

providing us with additional testing and processing services. These companies include Switch, LifeLabs and Dynacare labs. These companies will help us to increase our capacity to test travelers upon arrival until we are able to test ALL TARGETED travellers as we announced on

November 30th.
Once again to ANYONE who is planning to travel, I want to say this, you need to plan ahead, be prepared for airport delays, have a quarantine plan and be sure to use the ArriveCAN app or website to submit your information before you arrive at the Canadian border.

You should also be prepared for officials to follow up with you to make sure your COVID testing is COMPLETE. The goal of these measures is, and ALWAYS has been to PROTECT the HEALTH & SAFETY of ALL CANADIANS.
On Wednesday I held another meeting with my provincial and territorial

counterparts to keep them apprised of the EVOLVING SITUATION. Over the course of the pandemic our government has made significant investments in order to BUILD TESTING CAPACITY with provincial and territorial HEALTH CARE SYSTEMS. Through the SAFE RESTART AGREEMENT, we have

TRANSFERRED OVER 3 BILLION DOLLARS to provinces and territories for TESTING & CONTACT TRACING. The FEDERAL government has also PURCHASED 95 million rapid tests and SHIPPED 86 million rapid tests to provinces and territories. As you know, the provinces and territories request

for these rapid tests has also increased now. For a number of months those tests were LARGELY UNDERUTILIZED, but for the MONTH of DECEMBER the provinces are hoping to receive approximately 35 million of them, which is about 5 times the tests that were unused over the past year.

This is excellent news and as we have ALWAYS DONE since the beginning of the pandemic, we will RESPOND to Provincial & Territorial REQUESTS and WE WILL ASSURE THESE TESTS WILL BE SHIPPED IN TIME FOR THE HOLIDAYS.
Finally, I would like to take a moment to come back to the National

Advisory Committee on Immunization Recommendations from last week. As clearly stated by NACI, BOOSTER shots are a SAFE and EFFECTIVE WAY of ENHANCING our COLLECTIVE LEVEL of PROTECTION AGAINST the VIRUS. I ENCOURAGE ALL CANADIANS to get a BOOSTER shot AS SOON AS POSSIBLE.

In our meeting on Wednesday, I reassured my provincial and territorial colleagues that the FEDERAL SUPPLY of VACCINES is READY & AVAILABLE to them to USE.
In closing, I want to take a brief moment to take stock of the formidable progress we’ve made over the last 20 months.

It’s been tough for ALL of US, and we DO NOT WANT TO MOVE BACKWARDS. The Omicron variant of concern is a CRUEL REMINDER that the GLOBAL Epidemiological SITUATION can CHANGE QUICKLY. WE ALL NEED to be PREPARED for that as well. AT ANY GIVEN TIME WE MAY NEED TO CHANGE GEARS,

ADJUST OUR PLANS, OR CHANGE BEHAVIORS TO MEET THE NEED OF THE MOMENT. THAT GOES BOTH FOR INDIVIDUAL CANADIANS AND FOR THEIR GOVERNMENTS. Canadians who are thinking about travelling abroad need to BE WARNED that the situation ABROAD is BOTH RISKY & UNSTABLE. They should also

know that returning to Canada will likely involve DELAYS and HASSLE.

Question part of Presser
Q: Rapid tests in Ontario, it’s about $40 at Shoppers, are you disappointed that provincial governments have not made the rapid tests you’ve given them, more affordable and available

for Canadians?
A: We know it’s been challenging for provinces and territories the LAST YEAR and we certainly have no intention of, for me and for us at the federal level to blame anyone. Experts have however said that we COULD HAVE USED RAPID TESTS MORE OFTEN. This being said,

EXPERTS also tell us that these rapid tests NEED to be used in a particular context, in a particular manner to understand what they really can and cannot do.
The 2 THINGS that RAPID TESTS CAN DO
1.What Rapid Tests are quite good at is to provide what we call SURVEILLANCE

ACTIVITY. So if in an environment like a SCHOOL, HOSPITAL, COMMUNITY CENTRE, or FACTORY. There is NO APPARENT sign of COVID-19, BUT WE STILL WANT TO BE DOUBLE CERTAIN. Because it’s a LARGE COMMUNITY RAPID TESTS are useful because they SCREEN a LOT of PEOPLE RAPIDLY and they get