COVID-19 in Quebec: What you need to know Thursday

• On Thursday, Quebec reported 1,953 people in hospital (an increase of 203 from the previous day), including 207 in intensive care (an increase of 16). 
• The province reported 15,874 new cases of COVID-19 and 26 new deaths.
• Since the start of the pandemic, there have been 696,182 confirmed cases and 11,846 people have died.
• On Thursday, the province also reported a total of 15,399,427 doses of COVID-19 vaccines administered, including 95,350 in the last 24 hours.
• 89 per cent of the eligible population in the province (ages five and up) has received one dose of vaccine, 82 per cent have received two doses, and 20 per cent have received three doses.

The new cases represent those reported to the Quebec government only. They are believed to be an underrepresentation of the virus's spread, given the limited availability of PCR tests and use of home testing kits.

Quebec is expanding its mandatory vaccination passport system so Quebecers will evenutally need three doses of a COVID-19 vaccine to get certain services.

Health Minister Christian Dubé confirmed Thursday the vaccination passport will be mandatory to enter the Société des alcools du Québec (SAQ) and the Société québécoise du cannabis (SQDC) as of Jan. 18. It will also be required for certain non-essential services in the coming weeks.

Dubé said he would consult affected industries before announcing when the measures would come into effect for other stores. 

"This is very difficult right now but we are doing all the measures to make sure that we're minimizing the impact on our personnel, on our system, and we're going to go through this all together," he said. 

Hospitalization projections

According to the province's health-care research institute, there could be more than 3,400 Quebecers in hospital with COVID-19 in two weeks.

The institute, known by its French acronym, INESSS, released its latest projections on Thursday.

At least 3,000 of those projected hospitalizations would be for regular beds, INESSS said in a statement, and at least 400 would be patients in the intensive care unit.

According to the latest government update, there were 1,953 Quebecers with COVID-19 occupying both regular hospital beds and those in the ICU as of Wednesday.

Eastern Townships hospitals stretched to the limit

The two Sherbrooke hospitals dedicated to COVID-19 patients in the Eastern Townships have hit full capacity and an overflow unit was set up at the Granby hospital on Thursday. An operating block was converted to free up six beds for anyone from the Brome-Missisquoi and Memphremagog regions who has to be hospitalized because of the virus.

Sophie Séguin, president of the Eastern Townships health-care professionals' union (SPSCE-FIQ), says around Christmas the region moved to Level 4 triage, the highest alert level for hospitals, and has had to cancel more and more surgeries to free up staff.

Seguin says there are 1,300 health workers in the region who can't come to work because of COVID-19 and another 300 staff members are awaiting COVID-19 test results.

Rapid tests delivery

Quebecers can expect to be able to pick up COVID rapid tests at their local pharmacies by early next week.

Ottawa confirmed it would deliver 31.5 million tests to Quebec by the end of January. About three million rapid tests arrived in the province Wednesday. 

The province is currently reserving PCR tests for those in high-risk settings such as hospitals, long-term care homes, detention centres and homeless shelters.

Reopening schools

Quebec will distribute seven million rapid tests to preschools and elementary school students and staff, and says it's sticking to its plan of reopening schools by Jan. 17. 

Education Minister Jean-François Roberge said he wants schools open as soon as possible because of the consequences keeping schools closed can have on children and their development.

The province has also promised to provide students with LTE sticks to plug into their computers if they don't have access to internet at home, and said it will also ramp up the number of carbon dioxide detectors distributed to schools.

About 30 to 40 per cent of COVID hospitalizations are actually people who sought care for another reason and were found to be positive to COVID once at the hospital, Quebec Public Health Director Dr. Horacio Arruda said.

Isolation for double vaccinated cut to five days

Quebecers with at least two doses of a COVID-19 vaccine who test positive will only have to isolate for five days.

The Quebec government made the announcement at a technical briefing Tuesday. Previously, all those who tested positive had to remain in isolation for 10 days after symptoms began.

The person must also have spent 24 hours without a fever before coming out of isolation. For the following five days, the person must wear a mask and keep a distance of two metres from others.

If these conditions cannot be met, the 10-day isolation remains in effect.

The first day of isolation should begin following the onset of symptoms, the province says. For those who are asymptomatic, the first day of isolation begins once a positive test result is obtained. 

Those with COVID-19 symptoms who can't obtain a test, whether it's a PCR or rapid test, should presume they may be carrying the virus and still isolate as a precaution. 

Children under 12 will also be able to take advantage of the five-day isolation period.

Other provinces have also moved to reduce the period to five days, including British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario and New Brunswick. The United States also only requires a five-day isolation.

Health-care workers in the province will also have their isolation period reduced, but only to seven days. In some cases, COVID-positive health care staff may still be called into work.

New rules for long-term care homes, residences

Quebec is tightening its measures around seniors residences and long-term care homes, or CHSLDs, in an effort to limit the spread of the virus.

Only those considered caregivers will be allowed to enter the facilities. In CHSLDs and intermediary services, it is limited to one person per resident per day. In private seniors residences, only one caregiver can go at a time, for a maximum of two people per resident per day.

The homes will be tasked with asking each resident to identify a maximum of four people to be considered caregivers in order to limit the amount of people who have access to the home. A vaccine passport will be required, regardless of whether it is a private or public facility.

The Quebec government said the measures are to address a rise in care homes reporting outbreaks of 10 cases or more.

As of Jan. 2, there were 2,640 cases in long-term care, representing 521 homes, according to the health ministry.

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