1) For the longest time, Montreal remained the epicenter of the #COVID19 pandemic in Quebec. But in a disturbing new development, the Indigenous-populated Far North of the province is now reporting the highest number of cases per capita.
2) In this thread, I will examine this new trend — one that probably deserves more attention by public health authorities. The Health Ministry chart below shows Nunavik and Terres-Cries-de-la-Baie-James now recording the highest #COVID incidence of any region in Quebec. 
3) Perhaps this could be a perverse artifact reflecting much lower #COVID screening in the rest of the province. But the chart below prepared by the Cree community reveals a particularly low adult vaccination rate of 45% in Mistissini.
4) Meanwhile, alert levels are at their highest for all 14 Inuit communities of Nunavik, as the chart below shows. Given that health services in Nunavik and Terres-Cries-de-la-Baie-James are much scarcer than the rest of Quebec, this current contagion needs to be addressed fast.
5) According to Nunatsiaq News, eight people in Nunavik have died with #COVID19, with three of those deaths being declared in the sparsely populated region since Jan. 13. The fact that they died with COVID likely reflects underlying health problems.
6) Bertie Wapachee, head of the Cree Board of Health and Social Services of James Bay, told the CBC two weeks ago that #Omicron has hit the Cree Nation of Quebec particularly hard. “It stunned us…The way it spread was like no other [wave], this one was very different."
7) Wapachee added that COVID infections among health workers have caused low staffing in his region, which has just one hospital in the community of Chisasibi. Severely infected Crees requiring hospitalization must be sent far distances to Val-d'Or or Montreal.
8) The rapidly spreading contagion in the Far North of Quebec underscores how the #coronavirus can sneak up anywhere in the province, often in areas historically overlooked by authorities. It also illustrates how we are all in this together. End of thread.
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