The rise in hospitalizations related to COVID-19 continues in Quebec as the province reports five new deaths. And as the cold season approaches, vaccination continues to stagnate.
Posted at 11:34 a.m.
Quebec reports Thursday an increase of 30 hospitalizations. The 1,810 people currently hospitalized represent an increase of 9% over one week. In intensive care, the 35 patients represent an increase of 3% over one week.
The number of people in hospital is expected to continue to rise over the next few days, with the number of admissions outpacing discharges. On average, there are 21 more patients every day.
Conflicting indicators on the spread
The indicators on the spread are contradictory. On the one hand, Quebec reports Thursday 1035 new cases by PCR tests, which brings the daily average to 876. The trend is thus up slightly by 4% over one week. These numbers likely reflect only a portion of total infections, due to limited access to PCR testing. Moreover, the proportion of PCR screening tests proving positive for COVID-19 remains high, at 9.7%.
But in addition to the cases detected by PCR tests, 441 people have also reported in recent days having tested positive on a rapid test. Self-reported cases, which are not included in daily reported cases, have risen sharply by 24% over the past week.
On the other hand, the number of workers absent due to the pandemic has increased slightly over the past week, by 2%. They were 3954 Thursday to have to isolate themselves.
Finally, the five new deaths reported on Thursday bring the daily average calculated over seven days to seven. The trend is thus stable over one week.
Vaccination slows down
The pace of the vaccination campaign is slowing down. Quebec administers an average of 18,000 doses per day, which is 10% less than last week.
The rhythm of the campaign does not make it possible to increase the vaccination coverage. Taking into account the fact that Public Health recommends getting vaccinated after five months, only 20.2% of Quebecers have their vaccination up to date.
