As he does every day, the Premier of Quebec, François Legault, reports on the most recent assessment of the COVID-19 pandemic in the province. He is once again accompanied by the Minister of Health and Social Services, Danielle McCann, and the National Director of Public Health, Horacio Arruda. As of today there have been 109 more deaths bringing the total to 1243 in Quebec. There are 21,836 confirmed cases of COVID-19. 1,411 people are in the hospital, including 207 who are in intensive care.
For many people’s concerns Legault clarified, nothing is going to open next week.
He reiterated that they will table a plan for next week to gradually reopen schools and businesses, because the risk we have if we keep everyone confined for another few months and then deconfine everyone in the fall can cause a second wave of contamination.
Legault said there will probably be no vaccine for the next year or two, so Legault explained natural immunity. He says if we all stay home then we will never become immune to COVID-19. The rate of immunization required in the population to achieve group immunity to COVID-19 is 60% to 80%, said Dr. Horacio Arruda, Director of Public Health.
François Legault asked the nursing staff who have been absent from the health network, for fear of contracting the coronavirus, to come back as quickly as possible. The network cannot function well with all these absences, he said, even if the federal government confirmed Thursday that it would send 1,000 soldiers as reinforcements to the CHSLDs .