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1) Ouebec reported 28 more #COVID19 outbreaks in schools on Saturday, by far the highest single-day increase of any setting in the province. Clearly, the existing public-health protections in schools are failing. In this thread, I will show how schools are posing a growing risk.
2) Just a little over a week ago, on Nov. 5, #COVID19 clusters in schools represented 26.6% of all active outbreaks in Quebec. By Saturday, that percentage climbed to 29. During the same period, the workplace's share of all outbreaks in the province declined from 49.6% to 48.5%.
3) In fact, the province reported a drop of 15 #COVID19 active outbreaks in the workplace Saturday, for a total of 744. By comparison, the number of outbreaks in schools rose by 28 to 445. The only other setting to note an increase was health-care institutions: up by five to 205.
4) This trend in schools is pronounced, swift and was foreseen, as it was first observed in Montreal weeks ago. Although most schoolchildren infected with the #coronavirus don't develop severe symptoms, ample research shows they can transmit it to parents, siblings and relatives.
5) Quebec is considering extending the holiday break in schools next month. Would the government have to consider this option had it heeded the advice of apolitical experts last summer to install air purifiers in poorly ventilated classrooms before the start of the academic year?
6) Meanwhile, at the other end of the age spectrum, #COVID19’s impact is increasingly lethal in the province’s long-term care homes and seniors’ residences. The number of Quebecers who’ve died from the #pandemic illness in these facilities in the second wave has risen to 371.
7) There are currently 23 #COVID19 outbreaks in eldercare centres deemed critical. In the worst instance, 33 people have died at the CHSLD Ste Croix in Marieville. Another 26 are infected at that CHSLD. I’ve asked this question before: why is this happening in the second wave?
8) Outbreaks are also occurring in long-term care centres in Montreal, but to a much lesser extent, demonstrating that authorities in the city have learned lessons from the first wave. On Saturday, the city posted 341 new #COVID19 cases, as the chart below indicates.
9) At the neighborhood level, the ever-shifting #coronavirus made its presence known the most in the east-end health district of Rivières-des-Prairies, Anjou and Montreal East, with 43 #COVID19 cases identified on Saturday. But there were also plenty of cases on the West Island.
