Fourth dose eligibility expanding to 60+

By Gordon Lambie
Fourth dose eligibility expanding to 60+

As of Monday, April 11, people aged 60 and up who wish to will be able to go and get a fourth dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, provided that it has been at least three months since they received a third or contracted the virus.

The province recorded 36,564 additional doses administered as of Friday, 1,156 of which were either first or second doses, and 4,540 of which were third doses.

On Friday the provincial public health department updated its recommendations regarding the use of at-home rapid tests. The health authority now suggests swabbing the inside of both cheeks prior to doing the regular nasal swab as a way of improving the accuracy of the test. The recommendation came in the context of an update from Interim Provincial Public Health Director Dr. Luc Boileau, during which he said that the current wave of the virus is expected to last only about another two weeks in Quebec. Those projections in hand, Boileau said that it seems likely that the province will be able to remove indoor mask requirements at the end of the month.

There were 1,637 people in hospital with COVID-19as of Friday’s report, an increase of 55 compared to the previous day. Of that total, 684 were admitted because of the virus itself. Meanwhile there were 62 people with Covid in the province’s intensive care units, 44 of whom were there directly because of the virus.

The province recorded 30 new Covid-related deaths, for a total of 14,512 since the start of the pandemic.

The report from the Eastern Townships on Friday included 119 hospitalizations, an increase of 12 from Thursday’s update, with three people in intensive care. The number of deaths linked to the virus in the region also increased by three, to 554.
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