COVID live updates: Quebec reports 15 new deaths as hospitalizations fall below 1,200

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Updated throughout the day on Thursday, March 10. Questions/comments: [email protected]

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11:05 a.m.

Quebec reports 15 new deaths as hospitalizations fall below 1,200

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(This item is being updated)

Quebec has recorded 1,267 new cases of COVID-19, the provincial government announced this morning.

The case tally only includes people who received PCR tests at government screening clinics. It does not accurately reflect the number of cases since it does not include the results of home rapid tests.

In addition, 15 new deaths were reported, bringing the cumulative total to 14,141.

Some other key statistics from Quebec’s latest COVID-19 update:

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10:55 a.m.

Quebec eases self-isolation rules for people in contact with positive cases

As Quebec prepares to lift almost all pandemic restrictions on Saturday, the epidemiological situation “allows us to be optimistic,” Dr. Luc Boileau says.

“Better days are approaching for us,” the province’s interim public health officer told reporters in Montreal this morning.

I have noted the situation in hospitals is improving, with fewer than 1,200 COVID-positive patients in Quebec hospitals.

“That remains enormous,” Boileau added. However, more than half of them are not in hospitals due to COVID. They were found to have the disease after being admitted for other reasons, Boileau said.

Thanks to high vaccination rates and the fact that many Quebecers have some immunity after contracting the virus, Quebec is easing isolation rules, Boileau announced.

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He said as of Saturday, people who have been in contact with a COVID-positive person no longer have to self-isolate at home for five days.

However, if they have no symptoms, they must wear masks and avoid going to places where they have to remove their masks – bars and restaurants, for example.

This applies to people who do not have symptoms.

Boileau said Quebecers still have a responsibility to help protect the most vulnerable, including people who are immunocompromised, have chronic illnesses or are older.

That means people should continue to wash their hands, wear masks where required and monitor for symptoms, he said.

“The pandemic is not over,” Boileau said, noting that the Omicron variant of COVID-19 that is currently circulating is highly contagious.

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“The virus is still there and it’s doing damage every day, particularly to the most vulnerable.”

Officials also provided updates on these issues:

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10 a.m.

Live: Business leaders call for ending COVID-19 travel restrictions

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9:40 a.m.

Health workers prescribe radical changes to health care to treat pandemic burnout

From The Canadian Press:

Canada’s ailing health systems need some drastic intervention from federal and provincial governments if there is any hope of reviving them post-pandemic, an emergency summit of nearly 40 health-worker organizations concluded at an emergency meeting Wednesday.

Health workers have now endured two difficult years of pandemic conditions, leading to serious burnout across nearly all sectors of the health-care system.

“The real shared experience across health-care workers and professionals is that the level of burnout is to a point now where it’s really starting to threaten the sustainability of the system,” said Canadian Medical Association president Dr. Katharine Smart.

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The summit, hosted by the Canadian Medical Association and the Canadian Nurses Association, was struck to chart a new course for health care in the face of widespread attrition.

Personal service workers and nurses have coped with professionals leaving their jobs in droves or retiring early, while the CMA says doctors report that they plan to work fewer hours to deal with the fatigue.

As the rest of the country starts to talk about the possibility of post-pandemic recovery, health workers say for them there is no end in sight. Now that cases of COVID-19 have dropped, they still have to tackle the serious backlogs that grew while non-emergent care was put on hold during the peaks of the pandemic waves.

The CMA says that hospitals are still over capacity, even as fewer COVID-19 patients need hospital care. That’s because beds are filling up with people who couldn’t get care during the pandemic, she said.

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Provincial governments have recognized the problem and called for more money from the federal government to keep pace with the rising demands on their systems.

While health organizations seem to agree more long-term funding is needed, they also say money alone can only bandage the problem.

“You’re just endlessly funding a system that’s broken,” Smart said in an interview after the meeting Wednesday.

Smart said the system is now so depleted, there needs to be greater unity between provincial systems to keep things running.

That’s why the health-worker associations say they have called for radical change and for the federal government to take on a greater role.

While health falls under provincial jurisdiction, the summit agreed on the need for a national strategy to get a handle on what kind of professionals are missing from Canada’s health systems and how many are needed.

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The associations have also made calls for national licensing of health professionals so that they can move from province to province to where they are most needed.

As for fixing the problem long-term, Smart said governments need to rethink the way care is delivered. For example, access to primary care might be improved by allowing physicians to work in integrated teams with specialists, she said. That way, whose needs are increasingly more complex would be better served and the job would be more appealing to physicians.

9:30 a.m.

Opinion: Will West Islanders embrace telecommuting once pandemic protocols end?

“As many West Island students are still donning masks in their classrooms despite Quebec no longer making them mandatory, there’s a good chance many workers who were forced to telecommute since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic are hoping to not go back to the office , at least full time.”

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Read Albert Kramberger’s latest column.

9:30 a.m.

GiveSendGo not in breach of freezing order for refunding convoy donations, judge says

Lawyers for a proposed class-action lawsuit against the convoy protest in Ottawa argued in court Wednesday that GiveSendGo may be in breach of a freezing order on funds raised for the convoy on the website.

Read our full story.

9:30 a.m.

Lifting mask mandates getting mixed reviews in Ontario

Ontario yesterday announced a timeline for lifting pandemic restrictions, with face-covering requirements ending in schools, restaurants, gyms and other public buildings on March 21.

That’s about a month before Quebec, which has said it will remove mask rules everywhere but public transit by mid-April.

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Here’s some reaction to Ontario’s move:

9:15 a.m.

Quebec COVID guide: Vaccinations, vaccine passports, testing, restrictions

vaccinations

Vaccine passport

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testing

Pandemic restrictions

8:30 a.m.

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