by: paul cherry
the delta variant of the covid-19 virus is “really progressing” in montreal and has contributed to
the increase in diagnosed cases
, according to one of the city’s top public health officials.
on thursday, david kaiser, head of the environmental health unit at the montreal public health authority, expressed concern about the increase in new covid-19 cases witnessed in the city since july, especially with the return to school only three weeks away.
“for the last few weeks, we’ve been seeing the number of cases increase in montreal. it seems to have been getting a little faster over the last week. over the last few days, we’ve also seen what appears to be the number of hospitalizations go up, and that’s a worrisome sign if that continues,” kaiser said.
according to the latest statistics available from the provincial government, there were 109 new cases and 14 new hospitalizations reported in montreal on thursday. on july 5, there were only 13 new cases reported.
in recent weeks, kaiser said, one-third of cases in montreal have come from travellers who arrived from outside of canada.
“that is significant because that is (the source from) where we are seeing many of our delta variant cases. among them, a lot (of the travellers) were double-vaccinated, so they were not required to isolate. that is one prudent message: when we are double-vaccinated, we can still transmit (the virus),” kaiser said, calling on montrealers to avoid potential super-spreader events like large indoor gatherings.