Quebec reports four new COVID-19 deaths, 142 new cases as hospitalizations drop

By Canadian Press

MONTREAL — As Quebec reported four new deaths attributed to COVID-19 and 142 new cases of the disease Wednesday, a Montreal public health doctor encouraged people to remain vigilant and get tested if they think they’re sick with the virus.

Dr. David Kaiser told a news conference it was a good idea for Montreal public health authorities on July 11 to request everyone who visited or worked in a bar since the beginning of the month to get tested.

“After our call to screening 10 days ago, we’ve seen a massive uptake of screening, especially in young people and a significant increase in cases, especially among young people,” Kaiser said.

“It’s not done yet and I think the message for the next weeks is the level of screening and the reflex to get screened should remain because we’re seeing a significant number of cases coming in.”

The July 11th call resulted in a huge spike of people seeking a test — especially asymptomatic young people who allowed authorities to get a sense of the level of community transmission among their age group.

The province, which has reported a total of 5,662 COVID-19-related deaths and 57,938 confirmed cases since the pandemic began, has seen a slight uptick in positive cases in recent days. Kaiser said it suggests there’s a level of community transmission, albeit a small one for now.

“We are in fairly low community transmission — but steady community transmission,” Kaiser said, adding the virus isn’t concentrated in a single group of people or specific part of the city.

As infections have climbed slightly, hospitalizations continued to drop.

The province reported 235 people in hospital Wednesday, which is 12 fewer than the prior day. Of those, 16 people are in intensive care, an increase of one. Health authorities conducted 12,217 COVID-19 tests Monday, the last day for which data is available.

The key for now, Kaiser said, is vigilance.

“The reason we went for a call to screening was because we knew there was transmission was out there,” Kaiser said, adding, “the objective is in a couple of weeks from now we’ll have been able to control it and it’ll be a wavelet instead of a wave.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 22, 2020.

Sidhartha Banerjee, The Canadian Press

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