“Too many students and staff have been [déclarés] positive for COVID-19. The administration of Charles-Lemoyne school, on the South Shore in the Montreal region, sends all its students on Christmas vacation two days before the scheduled date. This latest case of rapid closure joins others who have decided to bring the holiday break up for their students.
Elementary and high school students in Charles-Lemoyne will not have a school Monday and Tuesday due to dozens of cases or contact cases of COVID-19 among students and teachers. “These days will not be able to take place, whether in presence or in virtual mode”, specifies the direction in a message sent to the parents. These days canceled for “force majeure” will however be repeated during the school year, it is indicated.
The Ministry of Health lists 37 schools closed or partially closed because of too many contaminations.
These complete closures are especially the lot of private schools, because they have “the latitude” to act in this way, explains the president of the Autonomous Federation of Education, Sylvain Mallette. “The government has not given permission for school service centers to move ahead and skip the school calendar. “
In Estrie, the Quatre-Vents school and the Notre-Dame-de-Liesse school nevertheless confirmed on Sunday that they were added to the list of public schools that have moved ahead of the Christmas holidays. Each of these establishments had dozens of cases for a few hundred students.
Masks become mandatory again Monday for all students in Quebec, but, despite this, the promiscuity in the premises may cause new outbreaks by the end of classes, according to Mr. Mallette. “As a teacher, we scratch our heads. I have 28 students in my class. It is poorly ventilated. It’s poorly ventilated. They are loaded one on top of the other, ”he explains.
The Ministry of Health recorded last Friday 1453 schools with at least one positive case out of the 3000 or so in Quebec.
“The keystone in the fight against the spread of the virus is the issue of aeration and ventilation,” proclaims the president of the Federation, which represents 44,000 teachers. There are four times fewer outbreaks in the Ontario school system compared to Quebec, while Ontario has millions more in its population. “
The Omicron wave is being felt across Quebec. Public Health has identified 3,846 new cases for the day of Saturday, a new high for the province.
The regions of Estrie and Chaudière-Appalaches are particularly affected, with respectively 363 and 359 active cases per 100,000 inhabitants, according to the National Institute of Public Health of Quebec.
The situation also continues to worsen in hospitals, where the number of patients has increased from 347 to 376. There are 79 people in intensive care, 5 more than the day before. Screening tests are reaching a plateau. A total of 45,493 analyzes were performed on December 17. The positivity rate jumped a percentage point to 9.9.
Vaccine protest
Mistrust of health measures resumed with a vengeance a few days after the Prime Minister’s new turn of the screw. Nearly a thousand people beat the streets of downtown Montreal on Sunday to oppose the COVID-19 booster dose, which organizers call “the other booster “. Against the “segregation” of the vaccine passport, the supposed swelling of statistics or the danger of vaccines: protesters of all stripes had made an appointment.
“There are so many inconsistencies that we can no longer trust anyone,” said Pierre Gareau, encountered in the crowd. They had said 20 people at a time, but now it’s down to 10, and I wouldn’t be surprised to have containment again. “
“We know that they want to release other variants in the near future. They want to release other doses, a third, a fourth dose, ”fears another protester, Nicolas Van de Belbe.
The demonstration took place calmly and the Montreal Police Department did not report any incidents.