Quebec COVID-19 hospitalizations drop below 2,000, with two dozen new deaths

After a bump in Quebec COVID-19 deaths on Tuesday, Wednesday's numbers dropped down to more average recent levels, though the province is still seeing dozens of deaths per day.

In the last 24 hours, 24 people have died from the virus.

Total hospitalizations, however, dropped below 2,000, with another net decrease of 57 people getting hospital care. There are now a total of 1,995 hospitalizations in the province for the virus.

Many people are still being admitted to hospital -- 130 in the last day -- but a greater number are being discharged, with 187 leaving the hospital since yesterday.

There was a decrease of three in the total number of ICU patients, which is currently at 129. In the last day, 13 people were newly admitted to ICUs and 16 left.

Official testing numbers show 2,328 new infections, but those numbers don't reflect the true total since PCR tests are limited to a small group of Quebecers with high vulnerability. 

Quebecers also reported 518 new infections after at-home tests yesterday, though those voluntary reports also don't reflect the true total.

The unvaccinated still make up a disproportionate number of those hospitalized for COVID-19 in Quebec -- about a third of those newly hospitalized are people with no vaccine or just one dose, whereas this group makes up only about 11 per cent of the broader public.

The difference is even starker in the ICU, where people with less than two doses have accounted for more than half of intensive care patients in the last 28 days.

In the last day, 15 children under five have been newly admitted to hospital with COVID-19, two of whom are in the ICU. This group is not eligible to be vaccinated.

PALAIS DES CONGRES VACCINE SITE CLOSING, BERRI-UQAM SITE OPENING

There were a total of 25,055 vaccine doses given out in the last 24 hours, about half of which were boosters. Nearly half, 49 per cent, of Quebec's population now has a booster.

The least-vaccinated age group, children five to 11, have crept up about two percentage points in the last month, with 64 per cent of that group now having at least a first dose. Only 37 per cent of that group have two doses.

Because the pace of vaccination has slowed recently, Quebec is shutting down the Palais des Congrès vaccination mega-site, it announced Wednesday. It will stay open only until Feb. 24.

"At this stage of the vaccination campaign, when 84 per cent of Montrealers are adequately vaccinated, we intend to rely on local [sites] in order to facilitate access to vaccination and reach people who have still not decided to act," wrote Montreal health authorities in a news release Wednesday.

They are, however, opening a new, drop-in vaccination clinic fairly close to the Palais des Congrès as of March 1. It'll be at 955 de Maisonneuve Blvd. East, near Berri-UQAM, the busiest station in the metro network.

"The new Berri Centre-Sud vaccination site will have a daily vaccination capacity of 500 doses," they wrote. "Vaccination will be offered with and without an appointment, seven days a week, from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m."

 

COVID-19 CASES IN QUEBEC
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