As of February, Quebec knew that residential homes for the elderly were at risk if COVID-19 spread in a community manner in Quebec.
“It was in the scenarios that it was going to strike in CHSLD”, said the Dr Arruda who was passing through Monday morning for a second day in front of coroner Géhane Kamel, who heads the public inquiry into the deaths that occurred in the spring of 2020 in CHSLDs in Quebec.
“In the community transmission scenarios that you are considering in January and February, is it correct that you are considering that if there was community transmission in Quebec, the CHSLDs would also go through it?” », Asked lawyer Patrick Martin-Ménard, who represents families of patients who died in CHSLDs.
” Yes it’s sure. But even before intense community transmission, any entry into CHSLDs was going to be a significant risk element for us. That’s why from March 12, […] we asked that there be no more visits to CHSLDs ”. For the Dr Arruda, the ban on visits was precisely to “protect” living environments for seniors.
Coroner Kamel said she was surprised to know that CHSLDs were expected to be affected as early as February. “In fact, the hospitals in mid-March, they are more than ready to receive people. Equipment is available. The teams were mobilized. […] It’s not at all that in a CHSLD… The preparation is zero and one bar. […] This is one of the first times that I realize that these discussions took place before March 13. It’s a bit disturbing… ”
The Dr Arruda explained that given what was happening in Italy, there was a “focus on reorganizing acute care systems”.
Coroner Kamel expressed her “unease”, while acknowledging that it was all beyond the sole Dr Arruda. However, she asked that the scenarios considered in February by the government and the National Institute of Public Health of Quebec (INSPQ) be introduced into evidence. “It is clear that this raises several questions about the organizational model,” said Dr Arruda. The latter recalled that the pandemic was global and caused several problems, in particular supply.
Me Martin-Ménard asked the Dr Arruda if the CHSLDs had been in the government’s “blind spot” in preparing for the pandemic. “It depends on what you mean by blind spot. We knew that the risk was going to be there, ”replied the D.r Arruda, who reiterated that visits were banned from mid-March.
The Dr Arruda trusted the experts
Asked about the fact that Quebec has been slow to recommend the wearing of a mask in healthcare settings and has long limited the wearing of the N-95 mask to procedures generating aerosols, Dr Arruda said: “We make our recommendations based on what our scientists recommend in Quebec.” The Dr Arruda mentioned that there is “no scientific consensus yet”, particularly on the superior effectiveness of the N-95 mask over the procedural mask in healthcare settings.
Last week the Dr Arruda had also explained that the availability of the material had been considered in his decisions.