1) On Tuesday, the Quebec government unveiled its 2024-2025 budget, with the biggest expenditure to be made on health and social services. In this Twitter thread, I assess whether this "Health/Education Priorities" budget lives up to its hype, especially when it comes to seniors. 2) As you can see from the chart below, the lion's share of spending in the budget is for health and social services, pegged at $61.9 billion — up by 4.17% from the year before. In contrast, spending on education — so vital to Quebec's future — will rise 9.35% to $22.3 billion.

1) "The pandemic is far from over," one of the preeminent experts on #COVID19, Dr. Eric Topol, declared today, Jan. 4, 2024 — three years after the world first learned of a novel virus that was killing people in China. In this thread, I take stock of what's going on in Quebec. 2) "The pandemic is far from over, as evidenced by the rapid rise to global dominance of the JN.1 variant of SARS-CoV-2," Topol noted in a Los Angeles Times op-ed. In Quebec, nearly one in two genetic samples collected was from JN.1 as of two weeks ago. It's likely higher now.

1) BREAKING: By every major indicator, Quebec's health-care system is now arguably the worst it's ever been. Please click on my story below on Quebec wait lists for cancer and other surgery setting record highs — again. via @mtlgazettemontrealgazette.com/news/local-new… 2) Although Quebec has made it a priority to tackle wait lists for cancer surgery, more than 4,400 oncology patients are still waiting for their operations. More than 600 are waiting longer than the medically acceptable delay of 57 days, potentially putting their health at risk.

1) BREAKING: Quebec, like other jurisdictions across North America, is now in the midst of a new #COVID19 resurgence — nearly 4 years into the #pandemic. In this thread, I will assess the implications of this latest wave of infections, likely driven by a new SARS-CoV-2 variant. 2) On Dec. 5, Quebec declared a total of 2,214 hospitalizations with and for #COVID. Please note this increase also reflects a change in the way Quebec's public health institute has been compiling such hospitalizations. But make no mistake: Quebec is still facing a resurgence.

1) BREAKING: Jewish-owned businesses in Montreal are being targeted and vandalized with antisemitic profanity. Please click below to read my report.
via @mtlgazettemontrealgazette.com/news/local-new… 2) "Last weekend, they put swastikas on the … menus downtown and they wrote FUCK THE JEWS," a Jewish business owner told me. I have also seen a list of Jewish businesses that is circulating, provoking not only boycotts but vandalism.

1) BREAKING: A month after Japan downgraded #COVID19 to the seasonal flu, the country is now beset with a 9th wave of infections. In this thread, I will explore the persistence of the #pandemic that everyone — especially politicians — wants to forget. 2) First, it's worth noting that the number of #COVID hospitalizations in the nation of 125 million rose to 4,330 from 4,122 a week before. The seven-day average for the number of patients in intensive care units was 79, according to the Japan Times.

1) It is a sad day for journalism and a sadder day for democracy when news organizations have no choice but to resort to mass layoffs, as occurred yesterday with the announcement by Bell Media that it is cutting 1,300 positions across Canada.
financialpost.com/telecom/bell-c… 2) My heart goes out to the many fine journalists who lost their jobs, and I hope they find new employment soon. Unfortunately, the mass layoffs at Bell Media are only the latest in a series of cuts to newsrooms, and they likely won't be the last.
noovo.info/nouvelle/group…

1) EXCLUSIVE: With fewer nurses on staff, Montreal ERs now have to contend with patients who suffer from far more complex medical problems than 5 years ago. Here is my final story from this McGill report on the pitiful state of the city's emergency rooms.montrealgazette.com/news/quebec/mo… 2) Recall my story yesterday about how ER overcrowding is so bad at Montreal's Royal Victoria Hospital, doctors have no choice but to take more than six hours to respond to P3 patients who should be seen within 30 minutes under Canadian triage guidelines.
montrealgazette.com/news/local-new…

1) EXCLUSIVE: Montreal ERs are so packed, doctors often can't examine patients within the delays recommended by triage guidelines. At Royal Victoria Hospital, the average delay in May was 371 minutes for P3 patients who should be seen in 30 minutes.
montrealgazette.com/news/local-new… 2) If ER doctors can't examine P3 patients within the recommended time frame of 30 minutes — and at the Royal Vic the average delay in such cases was a staggering 371 minutes or more than six hours — there's a risk a patient could develop complications.

1) Il y a 4 ans, j'ai écrit un texte sur une étude de l'Institut de santé publique concluant que les anglophones « sont toujours confrontés à des barrières linguistiques dans leur vie quotidienne, en particulier dans le domaine des soins de santé. »
montrealgazette.com/news/local-new… 2) Cet article a été publié avant la loi 96, qui oblige les médecins à s'adresser automatiquement à tous les patients en français (sauf en cas d'urgence), et avant le projet de loi 15, qui, selon un groupe, menace l'accès aux soins de santé en anglais.
montrealgazette.com/news/local-new…

1) Nearly four years ago, I wrote a story about a study by Quebec's public-health institute warning that English-speaking Quebecers "still face language barriers in their daily lives, especially in health care." The story drew little attention at the time.
montrealgazette.com/news/local-new… 2) Of course, that story ran before Bill 96 was adopted, compelling doctors to automatically speak to all patients in French (except for emergencies), and before the latest reform, Bill 15, which one group says threatens access to health care in English.
montrealgazette.com/news/local-new…

1) BREAKING: One of Quebec’s most problematic hospital emergency rooms will be subject to a third government inspection next week. Here’s a follow-up story to my investigative series last February on rising deaths at Lakeshore General’s ER.

montrealgazette.com/news/local-new… 2) Meanwhile, staff at the Lakeshore ER anxiously await the results of an independent investigation that Health Minister Christian Dubé launched in response to the Gazette series of articles.

montrealgazette.com/news/local-new…

1) The latest graph by Our World in Data shows #COVID19 deaths globally trickled to a mere dozen on May 17. Yes, that's right, only 12 such fatalities the world over. How is that possible? In this thread, I explore our rush to wipe the #pandemic from our collective consciousness. 2) Our World in Data had been a reliable source of #COVID stats. But since March 8, it's depended on data from the World Health Organization, whose information is only as accurate as the stats it collects from jurisdictions. But many countries are no longer so diligent.

1) BREAKING: Two days after I wrote a story about psychiatric patients being forced to lie on floor mattresses in the corridors of the emergency room at Douglas Hospital, the latest government figures show an average ER wait time there of 105 hours and 28 minutes. 2) The Douglas's appalling emergency department numbers fall far short of the Quebec Health Ministry's own objective that no patient should have to stay on an ER stretcher for longer than 14 hours. Again, in the case of the Douglas, the latest average is 105 hours and 28 minutes.

1) Breaking: Reducing ER overcrowding is the McGill University Health Centre’s No. 1 priority, the new executive director pledges.
montrealgazette.com/news/local-new… 2) Dr. Lucie Opatrny was previously known to many Quebecers as the deputy health minister in charge of hospitals during the #pandemic. Whether she can fix the MUHC’s major ER overcrowding problem remains to be seen, She told me this will take a team effort.

1) Dernière heure : Le temps d'attente moyen sur civière pour les patients des urgences âgés d'au moins 75 ans a grimpé à près de 28 heures à Montréal, contre 21,3 heures seulement quatre ans plus tôt. Doit-on tolérer cette situation comme étant normale ?
montrealgazette.com/news/quebec/an… 2) Il y a trois ans, j'ai sonné l'alarme au sujet de la crise des soins aux personnes âgées dans CHSLD. Aujourd'hui, j'attire l'attention sur ce que je crois être une véritable crise concernant les personnes âgées dans les salles d'urgence du Québec.
montrealgazette.com/news/local-new…

1) Breaking: The average wait time on stretchers for ER patients aged at least 75 jumped to nearly 28 hours in Montreal from 21.3 hours only four years earlier. Should anyone — let alone an elderly person — stew on an uncomfortable stretcher for 28 hours?
montrealgazette.com/news/quebec/an… 2) Three years ago, I sounded the alarm about the crisis in eldercare in nursing homes. Today, I'm drawing attention to what I believe is an unspoken crisis involving the elderly in Quebec's ERs. They are bearing the brunt of this terrible overcrowding.

montrealgazette.com/news/local-new…

1) Dernière heure : Certains patients qui devaient être admis à l'unité de cardiologie de l'Hôpital Royal Victoria ont passé près de trois jours à l'urgence avec des soins moins appropriés.
montrealgazette.com/news/local-new… 2) D'autres patients qui devraient être admis dans l'unité de médecine interne du Royal Vic restaient sur des brancards à l'urgence pendant parfois plus de 120 heures. Cette situation est médicalement risquée, en particulier pour les personnes âgées. montrealgazette.com/news/local-new…

1) Breaking: A year-over-year comparison of overcrowding in Montreal's hospital emergency rooms continues to show the situation is worsening. A year ago on this date, all the city's ERs were filled to 119% capacity. Today, the percentage has surged to 144. 2) A year ago on this date, no Montreal ER was overcrowded above 200%. Today, the Royal Victoria Hospital's occupancy rate is a staggering 242%; its average ER stay on a stretcher is 48 hours and 27 minutes. Both stats are the highest by far in the metropolis.

1) The McGill University Health Centre appears to have tried to muzzle one of its own doctors for speaking out against its decision to close Lachine Hospital's emergency room overnight. Excellent column by my colleague @AllisonHanes.
montrealgazette.com/opinion/column… 2) The MUHC — Quebec's largest hospital network — had already tried to muzzle the co-authors of a report on systemic racism last fall from speaking to the media. It was only when I wrote about this that they were given the Okay to talk to journalists.
montrealgazette.com/news/local-new…

1) As much as we'd all like this #pandemic to be over, it simply isn't. In this thread, I explore the latest trends internationally and in my own backyard of Quebec. Let's start with the picture internationally, focusing on India, its new subvariant and its impact on children. 2) More than three years into this #pandemic, India is once again reimposing some public health protections, including a mask mandate and running hospital drills, as the Independent reported on Saturday. This latest wave is being driven by the XBB.1.16 subvariant, Arcturus.