1) It is now universally acknowledged that Quebec authorities maintained a big blind spot during the #pandemic's first wave: the province’s long-term care residences. In this thread, I will focus on what appears to be a new fatal blind spot: the personal homes of the elderly.
2) First though — on the day Quebec Premier François Legault asserted that the province was emerging from the #pandemic's tunnel of darkness — the Health Ministry declared another 85 #COVID deaths. The latest mortality wave may be bigger than last January’s. Please see below. 
3) Since January 1st, a total of 1,212 Quebecers have died from and with #COVID19. Most who have passed away were in their 80s and 90s and had been living at home — not in long-term care (CHSLDs). Why are they the ones dying now, and could their deaths have been prevented?
4) During the first wave of the #pandemic in the late winter and early spring of 2020, the overwhelming majority of deaths took place in long-term care, as the chart below shows. But during the 5th wave, most deaths have been occurring at home.
5) A review that I conducted of the government’s own #COVID mortality figures shows that since Jan. 1, 66.84% of #pandemic deaths (760) have occurred in people’s homes, followed by 16.09% (or 183) in long-term care. Please take a look at the chart below.
6) During the 5th wave, 86.1% of Quebec’s population above the age of 70 has died from and with #COVID, according to the pie chart below by the provincial public health institute. This suggests most of the latest deaths have been occurring among elderly shut-ins in their homes.
7) This tragic trend raises some hard questions. The data suggest that many of these shut-ins may not have received a third booster #vaccine dose in time. In contrast, the government was very quick to administer third doses to the elderly in long-term care.
8) Undoubtedly this time around, the government did not make the same mistake as it did in the first wave and promptly gave third doses to long-term care residents, saving many lives. But in the process, it seems not to have quickly spotted another blind spot: elderly shut-ins.
9) The Quebec government knew fairly early that the more contagious #Omicron variant was circulating. What would have happened had authorities mobilized to give the elderly in their apartments 3rd doses much sooner? How many lives would thus have been saved in this current wave?
10) Despite the relatively high #COVID death toll this time around, Premier Legault has preferred to discuss the arcane term of “surmortalité” (with quite a few news outlets confirming his line), claiming (without proof) that Quebec has been doing better than other provinces.
11) And Dr. Luc Bolieau, new chief of public health, appeared to veer from the scientific to the political last week, opining Quebec doesn’t have to be “ashamed” of its COVID death toll. Incidentally, Quebec is poised to cross the 13,000-death threshold this week. End of thread.
ADDENDUM: A sharp-eyed reader drew my attention to my clumsy phrasing in Tweet #6. I meant to write that during the 5th wave, 86.1% of COVID deaths in Quebec have occurred among those above the age of 70. My apologies.
ADDENDUM TWO: In response to some questions: First, these elderly individuals may not all be shut-ins, although most probably are. And my understanding is their deaths are registered from where they had lived, not the actual place of death. So many probably died in hospital.
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