Readers’ letters | Take it easy on rapid tests

The news makes you react. Quebec’s issues stimulate your thinking. Periodically, the chief editorialist of The Press answers questions submitted to him by readers.

Have the swabs that scrape the back of your nostril become a thing of the past? Maybe…

Rapid tests were a useful alternative when Quebec, on the verge of running out of stock, had to give up large-scale PCR tests in January 2022. But today, the usefulness of the rapid tests that we do at the house is no longer so big.

In addition to COVID-19, many other viruses are now circulating that can cause respiratory problems. Identifying the “bug” that puts us on the spot is not essential, as the behavior to adopt remains the same anyway.

It’s very simple: if you have a cough or fever, it is better to stay at home to avoid contagion. And if you absolutely have to go out, wear a mask.

Obviously, it is easier for employees who can easily accomplish their work remotely than for those who have to be on site. In Quebec, labor standards give the right to a minimum of two days of paid sick leave per year, which is still very little.

In this context, we understand the government for having stopped providing free tests to everyone. That’s a lot of money! Money is not elastic and the added value of testing is not that great. Better to inject the sums saved elsewhere in the health network.

Those who want a box of tests therefore find themselves paying $44 entirely out of their own pocket, like Sarah Maude Larose, since the costs are not insured by the Quebec drug insurance plan.

“Do you really think young people and low-income people are going to spend $44 to get tested? They will simply contaminate the rest of the population without regard to the consequences,” fears M^me The Rose.

But it is important to emphasize that some patients can still obtain tests for free at most pharmacies.

This is the case for people whose medical condition requires treatment against COVID-19 as soon as the disease appears (e.g. with Paxlovid). This is also the case for young people aged 14 to 17, full-time students aged 18 to 25 as well as people who benefit from completely free drug insurance with the RAMQ drug insurance plan. Additionally, schools and daycares have tests they can distribute to parents.

But be careful: these tests are not always effective, which can give a false sense of security if you get a negative result even though you have the disease.

Instead, rely on your symptoms… and your common sense. Better to give up on one party than to contaminate those around you. Especially since we don’t always know if the people we meet have a health problem that makes them more vulnerable (e.g.: immunosuppressed, transplant recipients, etc.).

The good health habits acquired during the health crisis should remain in force even if the shadow of the pandemic has faded.

Don’t look for Medicine Hat in Scandinavia

Ah, these Scandinavians! These northern European countries! So do they have the recipe to resolve all social issues?

It is true that their approaches are often cited all over the world. For example, Finland’s Housing First model has significantly reduced homelessness, as highlighted in a recent editorial.

But readers of The Press have doubts when we brandish “a Scandinavian solution for Quebec problems”, because it involves “two mentalities and two very different contexts”, they say.

This observation is correct.

But the “Housing First” approach also exists in Canada. It was pushed by the Conservative government of Stephen Harper. And here, the champions of this approach are… in Medicine Hat, a small town in southern Alberta.

“It’s all the more interesting because these are not the usual social democrats like the Finns, but very conservative Albertans,” points out Denise Turcotte, who would like to know more about what is being done there. -down.

Basically, here’s the lowdown…

In 2015, Medicine Hat captured global attention when it announced that it had overcome homelessness. How did the city of 63,000 inhabitants get there? By setting up, in 2009, a program focused on “housing first”.

This approach consists of providing housing to people experiencing homelessness, while offering them the support they need to resolve the problems that led them to homelessness: drug or alcohol dependence, problem of mental health, financial issues, etc. The idea is that they will be more likely to overcome their problems if they can at least count on a stable home.

In Medicine Hat, one of the keys to this program was the establishment of a centralized list to triage and ensure that each person obtains housing and services based on their particular situation. A leader in the fight against homelessness, the Medicine Hat Community Housing Society has housed 1,583 people, including 344 children, since the program’s launch in 2009.

Despite everything, challenges persist. A count carried out in September 2022 made it possible to identify 120 people experiencing homelessness. Most were in shelters or other forms of temporary accommodation. But some were on the street.

With the cost of living rising and housing prices rising, we need to redouble our efforts to combat homelessness.

A funicular on Mount Royal?

Like many other walkers no doubt, Pierre Dion observed the remains of the old funicular, during his walks on Mount Royal.

This funicular was put into service in 1885, in order to respond to Montrealers’ enthusiasm for the mountains. When it opened, you had to pay five cents to go up and three to go down, we can read in The Press of the time. Built along the axis of Duluth Avenue, the inclined railway was finally dismantled in 1920, because the safety of the installations had suffered from lack of maintenance.

“Why not reinstall one?” », asks Mr. Dion.

This idea has often resurfaced.

At the end of the 1980s, the Doré administration wanted to install a funicular on the former location of the ski slope near the University of Montreal. The Montreal Consultation Office said no.

In the mid-2010s, the idea emerged of a cable car connecting the belvedere at the top of Mount Royal to the roof of a downtown building. And, why not, at the Old Port, at Parc Jean-Drapeau and even at the Longueuil metro station!

The idea was dreamed up by Michel Archambault, then holder of the Chair of Tourism at UQAM and member of the Board of Tourisme Montréal. In his eyes, this spectacular urban mobility project would be useful for both residents and tourists, while giving a completely new signature to Montreal.

But the price? How can we justify such an expense when we can’t even maintain the metro properly? Mr. Archambault assures that Doppelmayr, an Austrian company established in Saint-Jérôme, could have financed and operated the project.

But the character of Mount Royal, which is a heritage site? The professor emeritus argues that other cities have succeeded in integrating cable cars into their landscape, notably La Paz in Bolivia, Haifa in Israel and Koblenz in Germany, where a cable car connects the city center to a historic fortress located on the other side of the Rhine.

But the idea that posed all kinds of other challenges fell flat on its face.