Quebecers against Omicron | Press

There was a certain impression of helplessness on the part of the Legault government during Tuesday’s press briefing on the evolution of the pandemic.

The third dose to improve protection against the Omicron variant? The government would like to speed it up, but it already has its hands full with the vaccination of children and there is a shortage of vaccinators. To find some, he implores those who can to visit the I contribute platform. The pace will undoubtedly increase… after Christmas.

With all those who want to be tested before the holidays, the lines are stretching out in front of the testing centers. But here again, there is a lack of workers to carry out the PCR tests.

Rapid tests? Parents are finally starting to see the color. As for the others… We will begin to distribute the self-tests free of charge in pharmacies from next Monday, five days before Christmas. It’s very late, and it’s not clear that there will be something for everyone.

On Tuesday, the authorities were not even able to offer a complete portrait of the presence of the Omicron variant in Quebec. A screening operation is underway and the results will soon be known.

It would be unfair to blame the government, which could not foresee that Omicron would come to New Year’s Eve. The fact remains that in the case of rapid tests, both the provincial and the federal authorities should have seen things coming and made sure to make them available much sooner.

For the rest, it’s more complex. The third dose could certainly have been offered earlier. But Quebec was following the recommendations of its committee on immunization, which did not note a significant drop in immunity.

As for vaccinators and health workers, Quebec cannot invent them ten days before Christmas.

The result is that with the approach of a holiday season which promises to be critical, Quebec comes to say a little to us: “Do not ask yourself what your government can do against Delta and Omicron. Ask yourself what you can do about these variants. ”

An impression reinforced by the fact that the Legault government has obviously given up playing the New Year’s Eve police and imposing strict limits on gatherings.

This means that the ball is largely in the citizens’ court.

The first thing to do is undoubtedly to lose the lightness generated by a fairly quiet autumn. We would all like to celebrate the holidays by forgetting the damn COVID-19. And we really deserve it. But in the current context, that would be irresponsible.

The threat is twofold. On the one hand, the wave of the Delta variant is swelling. For a week, cases are up 38% and hospitalizations, 25%. School cases are breaking all-time records.

On the other, we see the Omicron variant arriving like a tsunami. About three times more contagious than the Delta, it is sweeping Ontario. It’s only a matter of time before he does the same here.

Yes, it seems less virulent and you will have to get used to seeing the cases rise without too much panic. But modelers are in no trouble to predict its effects on our hospital system.

Taking it lightly could turn out to be a big mistake. Especially since the Delta and Omicron waves are likely to meet in the middle of the period of the year when the populations mix happily.

What to do ? At ten days of Christmas, those who can receive their third dose would do well to go for it. The same goes for the vaccination of children. Yes, there are a limited number of vaccinators, but they are not even working at full capacity now.

And now we all know enough about this virus to know how to minimize risk this holiday season.

It is the exhausted health care workers that we have to think about. Patients who could have their surgery postponed if hospital capacity is exceeded in January. For students who want to return to class at this time. To the vigor of city centers, too, if teleworking continues as recommended on Tuesday.

The good news: Christmas will still be happier than last year. It is already a victory to be celebrated (carefully).