January is not over, but with 1,144 COVID-19 deaths reported this month in Quebec, it is already the fifth deadliest month of the COVID-19 pandemic in the province.
Two health experts say the high death toll is due, in part, to Quebec’s slow campaign to provide booster doses to people 70 and older living outside of institutional care.
“I feel like there is a huge number of deaths and hospitalizations that could have been avoided if we had given our third dose sooner,” said Dr. Quoc Dinh Nguyen, a gerontologist at the Center Hospitalier de the University of Montreal during an interview on Tuesday.
As of January 21, approximately 87% of COVID-19-related deaths in the previous 28 days were people aged 70 and over.
And unlike previous waves, most of those who died were living at home rather than in long-term care homes or private seniors’ residences.
More seniors outside residences
Additionally, of those 70 and older who died in the current wave, 22% were unvaccinated and 34.7% had received a third dose of vaccine more than seven days before their death. The Ministry of Health indicates that 76% of Quebecers aged 60 and over have received three doses of a vaccine against COVID-19 and that 94% have received at least two.
Dr. Donald Vinh, an infectious disease specialist at the McGill University Health Center, agrees with Dr. Nguyen. He said this month’s statistics — a lower number of deaths in long-term care facilities, but a higher number in the community — are the result of the delay in administering the third dose in Quebec. .
“Vaccination teams have visited these establishments,” noted Dr. Vinh in an interview on Tuesday, referring to private seniors’ residences and CHSLDs.
“So that was great — unless you weren’t a senior in an institution,” he said. “If you lived in the community, that’s where the gap was. »
Quebec began administering third doses in long-term care centers in mid-October. The government did not offer the booster doses to people aged 80 and over living in the community until a month later, when the campaign to give residents of long-term care facilities and private residences a third dose for elders was coming to an end. Appointments for a booster dose did not open to people 70 and older until late November.
Elderly people living at home may not have known they needed a third dose, or they may have had trouble making an appointment, Dr Vinh said.
“Avoidable”
According to data from the Institut de santé publique du Québec, 66.4% of people who died of COVID-19 this month lived in the community, compared to 33.6% in January 2021. In April and May 2020, In the deadliest two months of the pandemic, less than 10% of COVID-19 victims lived at home and the majority of reported deaths were among people who lived in long-term care facilities.
Another reason why January saw an increase in deaths has to do with the explosion in cases in late December, when authorities reported more than 50,000 new cases over several days, Dr Vinh said. This number did not include positive results from rapid tests performed outside of official testing centres.
“What the pandemic has shown us is that the increase in community cases precedes the increase in deaths,” Dr. Vinh said, adding that the province should have done more to slow the spread of the disease late. December.
“This spike in deaths is not surprising, given that it follows the spike in cases, but it is disappointing, as it was preventable. »
Also elsewhere in Canada
Quebec has reported more COVID-19-related deaths than any other province, both since the start of the pandemic and in the past two weeks, according to federal government data.
The province, which represents less than 23 per cent of Canada’s population, has reported 45.5 per cent of all deaths attributed to COVID-19 reported across the country in the past two weeks.
Tara Moriarty, a University of Toronto professor who wrote a report for the Royal Society of Canada on pandemic-related mortality, said Quebec has a better — and faster — death reporting system than the other provinces. The province is also screening more people for COVID-19 after death than almost any other province, she added.
In some parts of the country, she pointed out, death statistics from the first wave are still being reported and she expects the death toll in other parts of the country to continue to rise.
“I think it’s really crucial right now that across the country everyone understands that what they see in Quebec is most likely happening or will happen soon in their own province,” she said. said in a recent interview.
“I think people have to look at Quebec and understand that’s probably the reality of what’s happening. »