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home / 世界杯决赛2022

quebecers urged to mask up against holiday season 'virus cocktail'

health minister christian dubé and public health director luc boileau stop short of mandating masks or offering free flu shots to everyone.

by rené bruemmer

nov 16 2022
read time 4 minute read
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warning that quebecers are facing a dangerous “virus cocktail” as the holiday season approaches, health authorities have called on citizens to wear masks in public spaces, wash hands and stay home if they’re sick to ease the pressure on the province’s fragile health-care system.
“we are facing a potent cocktail for the next weeks if not months, so it’s time to return to good practices of prudence and vigilance for everyone,” health minister christian dubé said wednesday. “as of now, wear masks in crowded areas, in public areas, and this is for everyone. you can come across infected people, but also infect vulnerable people,” such as the elderly, immunocompromised or pregnant women. “we must all do our work to eliminate the risk.”
public spaces include any crowded indoor area, such as public transit, shopping malls, cinemas, restaurants, bars and grocery stores.
health officials stopped short of mandating masks in public spaces, however, or offering free flu shots to the entire population.
dubé and quebec public health director luc boileau said enforcing masks would be too much of an imposition on the populace, and flu shots are already offered for free to those most at risk of severe illness or death.
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regulations could change if the situation worsens, they said, but for the moment quebec should be able to handle the wave of viruses if people follow the recommendations, and get vaccinated against covid and the flu, particularly if they are more prone to becoming seriously ill.
dubé seemed to open the door to free flu shots, however, noting the question has been argued vigorously among quebec health experts, and telling journalists at the wednesday news conference in quebec city that “i’m open to being challenged.”
the recommendation to wear masks in public spaces does not extend to classrooms or daycares, unless children are showing symptoms of being infected, or just returning to class after being sick. the health ministry said the decision was based on the advice of pediatric specialists who said forcing children to wear masks in class was harmful to their learning and development.

the government’s recommendations echo those made by the quebec college of physicians on monday, counselling the populace to voluntarily wear masks in order to protect themselves and others.

quebec is on the cusp of a wave of a trio of respiratory viruses — covid-19, influenza and respiratory syncytial virus (rsv), dubé said.
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while the numbers of covid-19 cases and hospitalizations are going down slightly, health authorities are concerned by the rise in quebec of a new variant of the coronavirus labelled bq.1.1 that is much more infectious than previous versions.

influenza season is just beginning, with cases starting to show up in hospitals. rsv, which can hospitalize very young children, is already spreading quickly and accounting for roughly half of cases seen in hospitals. boileau called on citizens to be especially careful around babies and newborns, who cannot wear masks and are susceptible to rsv.

quebec has succeeded in suppressing covid-19, but analyses predict numbers will rise and there are still 700 to 800 people in hospitals because of the disease, dubé said. with influenza season starting and rsv already prevalent, “it’s like the three viruses are being added one on top of the other. … we don’t want to have a perfect storm, which is why we’re asking quebecers to act accordingly and to protect themselves as much as possible in order to limit the combined effect of these three viruses.”
a survey published this month by the institut national de santé publique du québec suggested few quebecers are still wearing masks around others.

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only 27 per cent said they still wear a mask on public transit, 22 per cent said they do at work and 21 per cent said they do while shopping. at the same time, 39 per cent said they were in favour of a return to mandatory masks in closed public places.

officials said they are working to alleviate the crisis of er overcrowding by opening three new clinics in montreal run by specialist nurses. one will open next week in east montreal, the other two in december.

an 811 pediatric information line to give parents information on where to get care or doctor appointments for their children is up and running in montreal, and was opening as of wednesday in montérégie and laval. it will be available in the lanaudière region on thursday and will spread to other regions in the coming weeks, dubé said.

officials are working on increasing the number of patients who can wait for care at home as opposed to in ers, dubé said, and working to institute a command-centre system based on one developed by the jewish general  in hospitals throughout quebec to ensure a better flow of patients through the system.

rbruemmer@postmedia.com

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rené bruemmer
rené bruemmer

rené bruemmer is a montreal native who covers mainly municipal affairs and social issues for the gazette, with forays into covid-19, health care, haiti and outdoor ice rinks. he has been at the paper for more than two decades.

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