Active cases drop below 8,000 in Quebec

Although the areas will remain under special emergency measures to help control the spread of COVID-19, Premier Francois Legault announced on Tuesday afternoon that high schools in the Beauce and Granit sectors will be reopening. While emphasizing that people in those hard-hit areas need to “be more careful,” the premier spoke with pride about reopening the schools, and the degree to which schools in the province have remained open in general during the pandemic.
Legault said that the situation in certain parts of the Bas Saint Laurent, Chaudiere Appalaches, and Estrie regions all remain areas of concern, although he added that as of next Monday the Outaouais region will be downgraded from the emergency measures and that several regions closer to Montreal may be moving to orange shortly.
Looking ahead to summer, the premier said that the situation looks better than last year with 10 times fewer deaths per week and half the hospitalizations as this time last year.
On the subject of whether the enthusiastic adoption of vaccination by each age group as it opens means that second dose appointments might be moved up, Health Minister Christian Dubé said that he wants to make sure that there is a solid plan in place to vaccinate the roughly 500,000 people aged 12-17 in the province first. This age group, added to the plan last week, is supposed to be receiving a first dose before the end of the school year in June.
The province of Quebec reported 660 new cases of COVID-19 on Tuesday, bringing the total number of people infected to 359,456. As a result, the number of active cases in the province dropped to 7,817.
There were nine new deaths recorded, for a total of 11,002, alongside 540 hospitalizations and
128 people in intensive care.
In the Eastern Townships there were 58 new cases reported on Tuesday, increasing the number of active cases in the region to 524.
With another death in the community, the number of people who have died for reasons linked to COVID-19 since the start of the pandemic increased to 336.
The number of people hospitalized because of the virus remained stable at 35, but the number of people in intensive care increased by three, to eight.
The local public health department clarified on Tuesday morning that although it is listed as a restriction under red zone conditions, the decision has not yet been made to switch students in secondary three, four, and five to a hybrid in-class/online model.
Vaccination coverage in the province continued its upward climb to 43.2 per cent for a first dose and 2.2 per cent for a second. A total of 3,884,493 doses had been administered as of Tuesday morning out of 4,532,449 received in total so far. According to Dubé 4.6 million appointments up to the first week of June out of a minimum 5.8 million people that the province hopes to reach through the campaign. He added that he was “pleasantly surprised,” that 50 per cent of the appointment target for 30 to 35-year-olds was reached within 36 hours of that age group opening, and encouraged the groups yet to come to follow suit.
Vaccination appointments open today for Quebecers aged 25-29.