The first Christmas without health restrictions in three years is approaching, and Public Health is concerned to the point of recommending the cancellation of certain meetings. The variants of the virus COVID-19 circulating in Quebec are “more contagious”, warned the national director of public health, Dr.r Luc Boileau, at a press briefing.
The situation in hospitals “is very difficult”, and there is no indication that the pressure will let up. “We are not launched towards something that will go for the best”, argued the Dr Boileau. “It will go up, there is almost no doubt for us. »
The number of “new hospital COVID cases” stabilized around 1,000 in Quebec last week, qualified earlier in the day the National Institute of Excellence in Health and Social Services (INESSS). “Projections point to a stabilization of new hospitalizations over the next two weeks,” it said in a report. “It should be noted, however, that the models used cannot take into account the expected increase in contacts in the coming weeks. »
To prevent this acceleration of the contagion, the Dr Boileau went there with a simple piece of advice: “You have symptoms, you don’t go to your family celebrations. It’s not a good time. »
An infected person is contagious for ten days. So, a person who falls ill today or in the next few days should draw a line under Christmas Eve. “It’s flat, but that’s how it is”, dropped the Dr Boileau. It is a “civic duty”.
Even mild symptoms in one diner could threaten the health of another, he insisted. ” Attention ! It is the same virus that, in another person, can wreak havoc. »
A dozen people die on average these days due to COVID-19.
There is no question, however, of imposing health measures, such as “small parties to “three households”. “We studied it well, but we don’t need that,” he said. “A lot of people have suffered, have been impacted by the two Christmases we have just had. »
The BQ.1 and BQ.1.1 subvariants, which dominate in Quebec, are not “significantly more dramatic” than the previous mutations of the virus responsible for COVID-19. They are however “more contagious”.
A large majority of Quebecers have already been infected, and reinfections remain “in general” less serious. However, “about 60% [des Québécois de plus de 60 ans] have never had COVID-19, ”revealed the national director of public health. This vulnerability in the most fragile thus leaves a lot of room for infections with disastrous consequences.
“That’s actually the problem. There are young people who are on their second or third COVID-19. They say it’s no big deal if I go to a party. But the virus has not changed. It’s just more contagious. »
About 35% of Quebecers have only “vaccinal immunity”, that is to say they are vaccinated, but have never been infected, according to the INSPQ.
Most people who die of the disease today are, as they have been from the beginning, people with prior chronic conditions, such as diabetes, obesity or lung disease.
Two other viruses turn yellow lights on health authorities’ radar: influenza A virus and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV). Not only are they considered less serious than the COVID-19 virus, but they are also circulating less and less in Quebec, we are reassured.
1.4 million Canadians
As many as 1.4 million people — or about 14.8% of adults who have contracted COVID-19 — suffer from “ COVID longue duration”, also called “post-COVID syndrome” (PCS).
This complication, which leaves patients with impaired breathing, heart, brain or cognition more than three months after a COVID-19 infection, has been the subject ofa report, filed Wednesday noon.
Half (47.3%) of these patients with long-term COVID-19 have symptoms for more than a year.
“We don’t fully understand what causes CPS or what leads to different manifestations. We don’t know why women contract CPS twice as often as men,” lamented Canada’s Chief Science Advisor, Mona Nemer, during the presentation of this report.
This condition has “irreversible consequences on health”, she stressed. ” Most [de ces patients] have lost their jobs”, while “the treatments currently offered are limited mainly to rehabilitation”.
This number of long-term patients will continue to increase, because the virus is still circulating.
Canada is not the only country to see its population suffer from this still mysterious disease. “Globally, data from different countries consistently show that 10 to 20 percent of those infected have PCS,” according to the federal report.