MONTREAL -- As hospitalizations reach worrying levels, five COVID-19 vaccination sites on the island of Montreal are set to open, public health officials confirmed on Wednesday.
Administration of the vaccine will begin in the coming days at the five sites, which are set up throughout the island.
Each will receive 975 initial doses:
- Marie-Rollet long-term care home
- Notre-Dame-de-la-Merci long-term care home
- Maimonides long-term care home (where vaccinations are already underway)
- Ste-Anne’s Veteran’s Hospital
- St-Henri long-term care home
Preparations are already underway at those sites, which were determined based on the number of vulnerable people living at them, their size and accessibility, authorities said.
Vaccines will not be moved once they arrive at a site due to technical parameters required to maintain the doses at a low temperature.
Priority will begin with residents in the long-term care homes, followed by health-care workers in those care homes and then other health-care workers in the region.
The vaccines represent a “light at the end of the tunnel” said Montreal Mayor Valerie Plante, despite a concerning rise in hospitalizations and outbreaks throughout the city.
There were more than 4,000 new cases in Montreal last week – and on the weekend, the city saw a single-day increase of 745 cases, a troubling new record.
Hospitalizations have been rising since November, said Sonia Belanger, director of the CIUSSS du Centre-Sud in Montreal.
“We are closely monitoring hospitalizations, which are starting to go up again,” she said.
There are currently 384 COVID-19 patients in Montreal hospitals, 52 of whom are in intensive care. There are more than 30 outbreaks in hospital centres, a situation Belanger called “very concerning.”
With hospitalizations increasing every day, public health is urgently trying to free up 1,000 beds for the likelihood of more COVID-19 patients, said Belanger.
Workers are also affected: 400 Montreal health-care workers were infected with COVID-19 last week, forcing them to stay home, which further strains the system.
Montreal has a growing number of community outbreaks as well, including 130 in schools, 41 in daycares and 172 in businesses, said Montreal public health director Mylene Drouin.
Drouin said a team of 900 contact tracers are reaching out via phone and email to anyone who may have been exposed.
“I want everyone to remember we have to reduce our contacts, work remotely for most of us for the next couple of weeks,” she said. “Be vigilant if you are indoors with someone who is not from your household.”
Drouin said some people in workplace settings are becoming more lax during break periods, for example, and that’s furthering the spread of the disease.
Anyone with symptoms is urged to get testing and stay home while they await results – and anyone else in their household who is able to stay home should do the same, said Drouin.
While the holiday period is a time to relax and spend time with loved ones, this year, the holidays will need to be reimagined and spent without gatherings, said Plante.
She reminded people that simply staying home is a way to support health-care workers.
“Over the next few weeks over the holidays – there is a hint of hope, a vaccine exists – next year we’ll be able to have great holidays, but this year we have to think about people who are on the front lines,” said Plante.
“When we say we support them, the best way to support them is to follow the rules.”
The mayor encouraged people to take part in outdoor winter activities over the holidays but to consider spending time in parks close to their homes.
“We don’t all have to go to Mont-Royal Park,” she said.
Dr. Mitch talks about looking to the great outdoors to deal with COVID-19 in a segment on CJAD 800 radio. Listen here:
