Thread by @Aaron_Derfel

1) Breaking: #COVID hospitalizations in Quebec have now risen to their highest point in nearly two months, as the province reported on Thursday a total of 1,981 people admitted to hospital for and with the #pandemic illness.

2) What's more, the number of health-care workers absent due to #COVID has climbed back above 4,100, the highest total since August. But back in August, Quebec was not also in the grip of a flu epidemic that may turn out to be the most severe in a decade.

3) This #Syndemic of #COVID and influenza has also resulted in a growing number of school teachers booking off sick. This prompted the Lester B. Pearson School Board to urge mask-wearing in class to limit the spread of SARS-CoV-2 and other viruses.
montrealgazette.com/news/local-new…

4) The Health Ministry acknowledges the importance of wearing a mask in public to limit the transmission of respiratory viruses in this unprecedented #Syndemic, posting this message below on its Twitter feed. However, the government has stopped short of making this mandatory.

5) Without the mask mandate, many Quebecers are choosing to shop for holiday gifts without a face covering on, as the Journal de Québec reported on Dec. 4 after a reporter visited and observed consumers in a dozen malls and big box stores.

6) Of course, a mask mandate is not a miracle solution. It would be one of several measures to fight the #Syndemic, including vaccination. On that score, since mid-August, 27% of the adult Quebec population has received a bivalent booster to guard against #Omicron subvariants.

7) Meanwhile, Montreal's emergency rooms are still overwhelmingly overcrowded despite the "crisis cell" Health Minister Christian Dubé set up last month. The chart below shows 327 ER patients on stretchers being treated in hallways without any privacy, some for at least 48 hours.

8) It bears repeating the definition of a #Syndemic, which is the reality now in Quebec. It's an "aggregation of two or more concurrent or sequential epidemics or disease clusters in a population with biological interactions, which exacerbate the prognosis and burden of disease."

9) To recap, flu infections in Quebec have soared by nearly 59% in a week. #COVID hospitalizations are at their highest point in nearly two months as the BQ.1.1. #Omicron variant (with "marked immune evasive properties") becomes predominant in the province.

10) This means more co-infections of #COVID and the flu, which is what infectious diseases experts had feared might happen eventually and which scientific studies have been observing. Under such circumstances, please go get your booster and mask up in public. End of thread.

ADDENDUM: Since it's all the rage, I asked ChatGPT when the #COVID19 pandemic will end. Its response? Some experts believe it could end within the next few years! Ultimately, all depends on the collective efforts of individuals and governments. Collective efforts! See below.👇

ADDENDUM 2: As the tweet below by ace French journalist @nicolasberrod reveals, France's 9th #COVID wave has now surpassed its 8th in terms of critical-care admissions. Evidently, this is something for Quebec to watch.

https://twitter.com/nicolasberrod/status/1600911657001439232