(Quebec) In addition to a series of reliefs, Quebec should announce Tuesday the end of wearing masks in class for high school students, in particular because of the high vaccination coverage of 12 to 17 year olds. The mask will remain compulsory in common areas and during school transport, was able to confirm Press.
Quebec must proceed Tuesday with the announcement of new relaxations to the sanitary instructions, in particular for winter sports and outdoor gatherings. Press was able to confirm the information first revealed by the Journal of Montreal on ending the wearing of masks in class in high schools across the province.
For the time being, wearing a mask in class was compulsory in regions deemed more at risk by Public Health. It is in particular in Montreal, in Lanaudière, the Laurentians, Laval, Mauricie-et-Center-du-Québec, in Montérégie, in Outaouais and in certain sub-regions of Chaudière-Appalaches and Bas-Saint-Laurent (La Matapedia).
Some 94.7% of young people aged 12 to 17 received a first dose of the vaccine.
Wearing a mask is also compulsory in class in these same regions for elementary school students. The announcement would not affect this group since they are not yet eligible for vaccination. According to forecasts, a first dose of vaccine could be offered to young people aged 5 to 11 before Christmas, if Health Canada gives the green light soon.
Details of the new relaxations will be unveiled at a press conference with the National Director of Public Health, Dr.r Horacio Arruda, and the director general of the executive and operational management of the pandemic, Daniel Paré – also responsible for the vaccination campaign in Quebec.
As reported on Tuesday, flexibility is also expected in winter sports and outdoor gatherings. For the time being, outdoor amateur sports and leisure activities, including lessons, guided training, organized games, leagues, competitions and amateur tournaments, are permitted outdoors provided they are carried out. in groups “of a maximum of 50 people”. The vaccination passport is required outside.
As for outdoor gatherings, it is currently possible to bring together a maximum of 20 people from different addresses “or the occupants of three residences” on private land or a balcony.
Eight week interval
With the slowdown in the circulation of the virus and the publication of new studies, the Committee on Immunization of Quebec (CIQ) on Friday revised its opinion on the interval between the administration of the first and the second dose of mRNA vaccine. . The recommendation is to go back to an eight-week deadline, as in June.
“Vaccine efficacy increases by 4 to 10% with an interval of eight weeks or more between the two doses,” said the CIQ.
The four-week interval remains “acceptable in certain exceptional circumstances”, such as when the “circulation of the virus is very high in a given territory”, specifies the CIQ.
The Department of Health and Social Services responded to it on Monday when an eight-week interval between the two doses will now be applied. Still, a person who would like to receive his second dose of vaccine within four weeks will be able to do so, specifies the MSSS.
“This is a recommendation,” the MSSS said by email. “An interval of four weeks could be applied if a citizen requests it, when the latter has given informed consent. ”
It should be remembered that Quebec had precisely reduced the timeframe from eight to four weeks last July in an effort to rapidly increase vaccination coverage in the face of the arrival of the Delta variant and the fourth wave of the pandemic.
The authorities also assure that “people who have received their two doses with an interval of four weeks are well protected.” These people do not have to go to a vaccination center to get an additional dose. This new recommendation also has no impact on the administration of a booster dose in CHSLDs and retirement homes.
Dubé is committed to constructive collaboration
The Minister of Health, Christian Dubé, was the guest of the College of Physicians on Monday to discuss the post-pandemic. In his opening speech, the Minister pledged that the Legault government “offer constructive collaboration with physicians, both [omnipraticiens] than specialists ”.
“If the government is open to collaboration, we can only appreciate that”, reacted the director of communications of the Federation of general practitioners of Quebec (FMOQ), Jean-Pierre Dion. “We are open to discussing and we are open to several things,” he added, reacting to Mr. Dubé’s comments.
Mr. Dubé’s lecture to members of the College of Physicians was not open to the media. A transcript of the minister’s address was posted on his Facebook page on Monday afternoon.
Relations between the FMOQ and the Legault government are strained as Prime Minister François Legault says he will not hesitate to impose an end to negotiations with family doctors if the parties do not agree.
Last week, he mentioned a blacklist of doctors who do not take care of at least 1,000 patients, which provoked the ire of the FMOQ, which questioned the legality of the process.