Quebec officials continue to urge caution as 7th COVID-19 wave plateaus
This summer-season wave is higher than Quebec public health officials anticipated but it is stabilizing, Dr. Luc Boileau said Friday.
The province's public health director held a news conference Friday afternoon to provide an update on COVID-19, where he continued to urge caution.
"Living with the virus does not mean living as if there is no virus. It means resuming some of the activities of normal life, while protecting yourself and others," said Boileau. "The pandemic is not over."
Boileau reminded the public to wear a mask when you can't keep a distance or are in a crowded space, take a rapid test if you feel sick, isolate if you test positive and keep vaccinations up to date.
Quebec reported 1,460 new COVID-19 infections Friday and 16 additional deaths related to the coronavirus.
Hospitalizations are on the decline, with 2,176 total, including 738 due to COVID-19 -- for a decrease of 46 compared to the previous day. There were 180 new entries and 226 new discharges.
Sixty-eight people are in intensive care, including 31 due to COVID-19, a decrease of one.
In addition, a total of 6,334 health-care workers are off the job right now for reasons related to COVID-19.
The seventh wave will reach a plateau in the next few days before slowly declining, Boileau said.
That cases are stabilizing is a good sign, said Dr. Matthew Oughton, infectious diseases specialist at the MUHC.
"That is still double where we were five weeks ago, but it hasn't really progressed from that point," he said. "Some small indicators that things aren't getting worse. To me, include the fact that the number of health-care workers who are off because of quarantine or COVID-19 symptoms are at least a little better now."
Another 9,229 doses of the vaccine have been administered in the last 24 hours, for a cumulative total of 20,317,537 doses given to Quebecers.
Boileau recommended anyone who received their last dose at least five months ago is eligible to get their next booster shot -- though anyone who contracted COVID-19 should wait three months until after the infection to get a booster.
As of Monday, parents of children aged six months to four years old can book an appointment to have their child vaccinated against COVID-19.
"Of course there are benefits to be vaccinated, but we haven't had a lot of hospitalizations of kids," said Boileau.
HESITATION AMONG PARENTS OF YOUNG CHILDREN
Health Canada recently approved Moderna's Spikevax vaccine for young children and Quebec received its first shipment of over 70,000 doses this week.
The six-month to four-year age group represents approximately 400,000 Quebec children.
However, a July 8 to 20 survey released by the Institut national de santé publique du Québec (INSPQ) on Tuesday indicates only 41 per cent of parents of children aged four years or younger intend to have them inoculated.
Of the respondents, 40 per cent of parents said they did not plan to vaccinate and 19 per cent reported that their decision had not yet been made up.
The main reason parents gave was, at 23 per cent, that they did not see the need for it because they consider the health risks of COVID-19 to be low for their child.
Of the remainder, 20 per cent said they were concerned about possible side effects and 17 per cent said they did not believe the coronavirus vaccines were effective.
-- with files from The Canadian Press
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
More than 115 cases of eye damage reported in Ontario after solar eclipse
More than 115 people who viewed the solar eclipse in Ontario earlier this month experienced eye damage after the event, according to eye doctors in the province.
Last letters of pioneering climber who died on Everest reveal dark side of mountaineering
George Mallory is renowned for being one of the first British mountaineers to attempt to scale the dizzying heights of Mount Everest during the 1920s. Nearly a century later, newly digitized letters shed light on Mallory’s hopes and fears about ascending Everest.
Toxic testing standoff: Family leaves house over air quality
A Sherwood Park family says their new house is uninhabitable. The McNaughton's say they were forced to leave the house after living there for only a week because contaminants inside made it difficult to breathe.
Decoy bear used to catch man who illegally killed a grizzly, B.C. conservation officers say
A man has been handed a lengthy hunting ban and fined thousands of dollars for illegally killing a grizzly bear, B.C. conservation officers say.
Sophie Gregoire Trudeau on navigating post-political life, co-parenting and freedom
Sophie Gregoire Trudeau says there is 'still so much love' between her and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, as they navigate their post-separation relationship co-parenting their three children.
An emergency slide falls off a Delta Air Lines plane, forcing pilots to return to JFK in New York
An emergency slide fell off a Delta Air Lines jetliner shortly after takeoff Friday from New York, and pilots who felt a vibration in the plane circled back to land safely at JFK Airport.
B.C. seeks ban on public drug use, dialing back decriminalization
The B.C. NDP has asked the federal government to recriminalize public drug use, marking a major shift in the province's approach to addressing the deadly overdose crisis.
'I was scared': Ontario man's car repossessed after missing two repair loan payments
An Ontario man who took out a loan to pay for auto repairs said his car was repossessed after he missed two payments.
First court appearance for boy and girl charged in death of Halifax 16-year-old
A girl and a boy, both 14 years old, made their first appearance today in a Halifax courtroom, where they each face a second-degree murder charge in the stabbing death of a 16-year-old high school student.