Quebec COVID-19 hospitalizations decrease, more than 7,500 absent health-care workers
Quebec's COVID-19 hospitals saw a drop in overall occupancy in the 24 hours prior to Wednesday's update, which also revealed that 7,586 health-care workers were absent from work due to the virus.
As of Wednesday morning, there were 2,176 people hospitalized with the coronavirus, 19 fewer than the day before. That's after 164 people entered hospital and 183 were no longer in care.
Of those in hospital, 78 were in intensive care -- an increase of two since Tuesday's update.
Public health reported 30 more people with COVID-19 have died, bringing that total to 15,066.
The province recorded 1,630 positive PCR tests, which are reserved for certain at-risk populations.
The positivity rate was 11.6 per cent, suggesting the virus is still circulating widely. There were also 389 self-reported positive rapid tests.
There were 942 known active outbreaks as of Wednesday.
Most of Quebec's active cases, as determined by PCR test, are being reported in Montreal, where there are at least 4,243 active infections.
Most of those cases were found in the Rivière-des-Prairies - Anjou - Montréal-Est health region (518), followed by Côte-des-Neiges - Métro - Parc-Extension (454), and Pierrefonds - Lac Saint-Louis (440).
The most cases per capita was reported in Terres-Cries-de-la-Baie-James, where just over one in 191 people are dealing with active infections.
However, First Nations people are one of the few groups still eligible for PCR testing, meaning the heightened per-capita rate is explained, in part, by greater access to those sorts of tests.
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