“There is one [virus], there it is, and not nearly! declared the national director of public health, Luc Boileau, during a press conference on Thursday afternoon.
In addition to confirming the start of vaccination for children aged six months to four years, he provided an update on the state of the seventh wave of COVID-19 in Quebec. “We are on the way to a plateau,” he argued, citing the most recent projections from the National Institute of Excellence in Health and Social Services (INESSS). These predict “that there will be some stability” in the number of cases, he added. “That doesn’t mean it’s going down,” he clarified, however. This means that it remains high, but it is not increasing again in terms of hospitalizations. »
He claimed that the current wave “has been rising faster” and will stagnate at a “more elongated” plateau before descending.
To (re)watch Dr. Boileau’s press conference
The Dr Boileau took the opportunity to remind the public to remain vigilant during this festival period. “It is not the time, with a COVID, to go to festivals, he warned. It’s very good, the Festival d’été de Québec, but it’s an event that obviously generated cases, and we saw it at the level of the employees of the health network. »
Last week, the University Hospital Center (CHU) of Quebec sounded the alarm, when 416 of its employees were infected with the virus. In order to be able to maintain its service offer, the hospital had to allow infected caregivers to return to work after only five days of isolation instead of ten days.
Nevertheless, the Dr Boileau does not plan to impose new mandatory health measures on the population. Asked about this, he mentioned “that we are able to work with recommendations and identify the best practices for ourselves, which concern us”.
“If people make the effort to properly calibrate what the risk management is for themselves and for the people around them, it’s going to be a valuable asset, and we should get away with it. [sans réinstaurer des mesures obligatoires] “, he maintained.
No eighth wave on the horizon
Asked about the arrival of a possible eighth wave of the virus, the Dr Boileau was reassuring. “An eighth wave would come with a drop in herd immunity or a new variant,” he said. According to him, the current wave will not cause another “immediately”.
“There is no new variant that currently worries us, but we are closely monitoring [la situation], he pointed out. Experience tells us that it wouldn’t be surprising if there were a new variant. »