It may be the most depressing 1 p.m. press conference in recent memory. And the most disturbing.
The cases are increasing. Without warning, little by little, we are now flirting with the 2000 daily cases. Hospitalizations are also increasing: 25 more on Tuesday. And the Omicron variant, said Minister Christian Dubé, would be underestimated in Quebec. The horizon is cloudy.
The minister said we were going to see an increase in cases soon. “And the hospitalization scenarios predict a rise after the holidays. ”
Hence the decision to accelerate the administration of the third doses, to expand the eligible populations. And the call to recruit 500 more vaccinators.
Hence the request made to employers to prioritize the return to teleworking.
Hence the announcement that free rapid tests are being made available to the Quebec population, up to five tests per 30-day period, through the pharmacy network.
A few observations on this …
One, the miracle in the current context is that vaccines protect us well against the virus and very well against complications leading to hospitalizations.
Without vaccines, our hospitals would be fields of ruins today.
Two, on the rapid tests: it’s about time. Since the appearance of these self-administered tests, Quebec has always been reluctant to generalize their use. I don’t know who has a problem with rapid tests in the government. But it was time for them to be dubbed by Quebec.
Three, on rapid tests, again: the person in charge of vaccination, Daniel Paré, rang the federal bells on Tuesday, urging Ottawa to send him tests quickly. Note, however, that Quebec could have made provisions by purchasing these rapid tests and using them a long time ago. He did not do it.
The federal government has many faults, but it has an immense quality for Quebec: it is a very practical scapegoat.
Fourth observation, on Christmas gatherings, from December 23. Quebec has already indicated that we could gather up to a maximum of 20 people to celebrate. Tuesday, the national director of public health confirmed that Quebec is staying the course: maximum of 20 people, vaccinated, to eat turkey and play rigodons.
Is it a good idea ?
Federal Public Health said it with a lot of diplomacy at the beginning of the week: it’s not the idea of the century1.
Personally, when we see the rise in cases of infection, when we measure the vagueness of the scale of the Omicron threat, when I reread my notes from Mr. Dubé’s press conference on Tuesday: no, it is not a good idea.
Tuesday, the Minister of Health had the right tone to announce the clouds that are accumulating in our pandemic horizons: firm, but lucid.
Very good.
Except that there is a contradiction as big as the CHUM in asking people to be careful, to prepare them for an increase in hospitalizations, to seek 500 more vaccinators, to ask employers to promote teleworking …
And to maintain the bar of the number of guests for parties Private Holidays at 20.
Because yes, the government is staying the course: we will be able to find means parties, between vaccinated, from December 23. Despite the disturbing news announced on Tuesday.
Maybe the government will back down. Maybe not.
If the past guarantees the future, the government will back down. But as the two-year pandemic mark approaches – in three months – I think we must also govern ourselves, as individuals, as citizens.
Translation: At 10 days of Christmas, the situation being what it is, I personally don’t need the state to tell me how many people I can or cannot host at home. The answer is simple: as little as possible.
Not zero. But as little as possible.
We open the windows, we ventilate, we make two little ones parties rather than a medium-large; three rather than two. In short, you flatten the risk curve yourself, notwithstanding government directives.
Even if Horacio Arruda assured me that we “can” receive 25 or 30 people, I don’t care: it will be much less. There is no scenario where, on this December 15, 2021, I think I will find myself in a party to 20 people soon.
It’s just big, common sense.