1) Quebec has so far given the first of two #COVID19 vaccine shots (spaced three weeks apart) to 1,613 people. Meanwhile, the number of outbreaks on Wednesday jumped by 70 to 1,501 across the province, the biggest daily increase and biggest total to date in the #pandemic.

2) I’m drawing this comparison between the inoculations and the outbreaks to make the point that the vaccination effort will take months to complete, and now is not the time to be lulled into a false sense of security. The second wave has never been as perilous as it is now.

3) Montreal’s seven-day rolling average rose to 29.67 #COVID19 cases per 100,000 residents, the sixth daily increase in a row. Harvard University’s public health experts recommend a more intensive lockdown than the one announced by the Premier Tuesday when the rate crosses 25.

4) At the neighborhood level, community transmission of the #coronavirus is ratcheting up in the east end of Montreal, as you can glimpse from the chart below. But cases are also surging in the north end and the West Island.

5) As I made clear in my story in the @mtlgazette tonight, the chiefs of two Montreal hospital intensive-care units are worried about ICU overcapacity because of the rapidly rising number of hospitalizations. https://montrealgazette.com/news/local-news/montreal-icus-could-reach-overcapacity-soon-hospital-chiefs-warn

6) And the province set another record total in #COVID19 hospitalizations during the second wave Wednesday: 975. ICU stays were up by three to 128. Montreal hospitalizations soared by more than 100 in a week amid growing absences by health-care workers — with no let-up in sight.

7) As of tomorrow, elementary and high school students will stay at home until Jan. 11. This measure should have been imposed much sooner. The Education Ministry reported Wednesday that 1,638 classrooms are shuttered due to #COVID19 exposure, another grim record in the #pandemic.

8) In total, there are 17,392 active #COVID19 cases, up by 581 since only Tuesday — suggesting Quebec might be at an exponential inflection point in the second wave. Montreal’s director public health predicted cases will continue to rise in the metropolis into January.

9) The province declared 43 more #COVID19 fatalities Wednesday, raising the death toll in Quebec to 7,613 — the highest by far in Canada. However, the death tolls in some other countries have climbed far higher. Still, this should not be taken as a consolation of any kind.

10) The government was slow to impose the latest lockdown, given experts urged it to do so more than a week ago. Quebec will still not install portable air purifiers in classrooms. And the #pandemic will still be here this winter despite the welcome news of vaccinations. The End.