Saint-Leonard, RDP among Montreal neighbourhoods with lagging vaccination rates: public health
Montreal's pockets of relatively low vaccination are becoming especially obvious as the fourth wave picks up, city health officials said Wednesday.
In many cases, that's certain neighbourhoods. In others, it's age groups. The city is working on both problems, in different ways.
"Unfortunately, unvaccinated people are the ones who risk overloading the health network over the next few weeks," said Centre-Sud CIUSSS director Sonia Belanger.
That's increasingly clear, she said -- in the last few weeks, 87 per cent of people hospitalized for COVID-19 in Montreal didn't have both vaccine doses, while 71 per cent of those who ended up in the ICU hadn't gotten any doses at all.
The vaccine won't stop people from contracting nor passing along the virus, Belanger and city public health director Dr. Mylene Drouin reminded people in a press conference.
However, it does protect well against severe illness and keeps strain off local hospitals, whose ERs are currently at an average capacity of 110 per cent.
SEVEN NEIGHBOURHOODS WITH LOW VACCINATION
Another thing that's becoming clear is that certain parts of the city are lagging.
Overall, Montreal's vaccination rate is quite high at 84 per cent of the eligible population, stressed Belanger and Drouin.
But it's lower in some areas, said Drouin, including Riviere-des-Prairies, Montreal North, Bordeaux-Cartierville, Saint-Leonard, Mercier East, Saint-Michel and Parc-Extension.
That's leading to a higher COVID-19 positivity rate right now, she said -- on average, in Montreal, 4 per cent of COVID-19 tests come back positive, but some neighbourhoods are driving up that average.
"There are certain regions for which there's a higher rate, and there's really a direct correlations between these neighbourhoods and a lower vaccination rate for the population," she said, naming the seven neighbourhoods.
There are also still differences in vaccination when it comes to age, she said.
"The group that we still have a lot of progress to do is the teenagers, age 12 to 17, with 62 per cent of them vaccinated, and we're adding mobile clinics in different high schools," Drouin said.
Last weekend, the city also held a special vaccination clinic for young video-game fans at the Palais des Congrès that involved well-known gamers, Drouin said.
Between all the efforts, the overall rate is slowly going up. Public health teams are still giving about 6,000 vaccine doses per day in Montreal, Drouin said.
CASES RISING MOST AMONG CHILDREN, THE ELDERLY
The virus is clearly circulating within Montreal in a new wave, Drouin said. More than a third of cases this summer were imported by travellers, but "right now we're in more of a sustained community transmission," she said.
The most vulnerable groups are children and the very elderly. In the last few weeks, there's been an increase in cases among all age groups, Drouin said, but an especially significant increase among kids under 12 -- who cannot yet get vaccinated -- and people over 85.
There are currently more than 136 outbreaks on the island, including 61 at workplaces, 28 at schools, 24 at daycares and 14 in health-care facilities.
However, while the rate is going up, it's not spiralling exponentially, she noted, which is a good sign.
"I think it's encouraging to see that the progression is not exponential," Drouin said.
She asked people to remember that if they're vaccinated, they can still be infected but they'll be much more likely to show very mild symptoms -- so mild that they may be tempted to ignore them.
That's a mistake, she said, since even a mild infection can still be passed along to someone else who might be hit much harder.
"If you have any symptoms," she said, "even light symptoms... do not go to work, do not send your children to school, do not visit grandma and grandpa, and of course, get tested as soon as possible."
CITY WILL ADD MORE TESTING SPOTS
Drouin faced questions over the multi-hour lineups that many Montrealers have been facing in the last few days as they try to do the responsible thing and get a COVID-19 test when needed.
"We saw that we have delays, but we're working on it," said Drouin.
Testing options have narrowed over the summer, with some of the more popular walk-in clinics having closed. That's led to families, in particular, waiting on the sidewalk outside of the few remaining options with their kids in tow.
Drouin said the city's looking at a mix of options, including adding back more walk-in sites, increasing capacity for testing at CLSCs and adding more rapid tests into the mix.
At the same time, it's not just clinic availability, she said -- it's often the same teams of health workers qualified to do the tests that are currently occupied doing targeted vaccination, whether roving or stationary, and there's also lab capacity, though Montreal hasn't yet reached its limit yet on that.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
'They needed people inside Air Canada:' Police announce arrests in Pearson gold heist
Police say one former and one current employee of Air Canada are among the nine suspects that are facing charges in connection with the gold heist at Pearson International Airport last year.
Why drivers in Eastern Canada could see big gas price spikes, and other Canadians won't
Drivers in Eastern Canada face a big increase in gas prices because of various factors, especially the higher cost of the summer blend, industry analysts say.
BREAKING Toronto Raptors player Jontay Porter banned from NBA
Toronto Raptors player Jontay Porter has been handed a lifetime ban from The National Basketball Association (NBA) following an investigation which found he disclosed confidential information to sports bettors, the league says.
WATCH LIVE As GC Strategies partner is admonished by MPs, RCMP confirms search warrant executed
The RCMP confirmed Wednesday it had executed a search warrant at an address registered to GC Strategies. This development comes as MPs are enacting an extraordinary, rarely used parliamentary power, summoning one of its contractors to appear before the House of Commons to be admonished publicly for failing to answer questions related to the ArriveCan app.
Disappointment widespread over budget's proposed $200-month disability benefit funding
Advocacy groups across Canada are expressing widespread disappointment about the amount of funding earmarked in the 2024 federal budget for the long-awaited Canada Disability Benefit.
Earthquake jolts southern Japan
An earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 6.4 hit southern Japan late on Wednesday, said the Japan Meteorological Agency, without issuing a tsunami warning.
opinion Don Martin: Gusher of Liberal spending won't put out the fire in this dumpster
A Hail Mary rehash of the greatest hits from the Trudeau government’s three-week travelling pony-show, the 2024 federal budget takes aim at reversing the party’s popularity plunge in the under-40 set, writes political columnist Don Martin. But will it work before the next election?
Woman who pressured boyfriend to kill his ex in 2000s granted absences from prison
A woman who pressured her boyfriend into killing his teenage ex more than a decade ago will be allowed to leave prison for weeks at a time.
Former Sask. massage therapist who sexually assaulted clients has day parole revoked
A former massage therapist who pleaded guilty to a string of sexual assaults has had his day parole revoked.