Monday marks a day of partial reopening for restaurants across the province and the return of organized sports for people under the age of 18.
As announced on Jan. 25, restaurants will now be allowed to open at half capacity with no more than four people or two family bubbles at each table, and private indoor gatherings will be allowed again with the same numbers.
Youth sports, meanwhile will be permitted for groups of up to 25 at a time, but competitions remain banned for the time being.
The government limits on visitors to long term care homes and private seniors’ residences will also be modified, although the management of those limits continues to fall upon individual establishments.
The next set of changes to the public health measures in place is expected on Monday, Feb.7, and will include partial reopening for performance venues and places of worship.
The Province of Quebec reported 2,895 people hospitalized with COVID-19 on Sunday, 1300 of whom were in hospital specifically because of the virus. This marked a decrease of 258 from the last report in The Record.
The number of people in intensive care also decreased slightly, going from 235 to 233, 193 of whom were so-called “primary” patients.
The province also reported another 125 new Covid-related deaths from Friday through Sunday. There have been 13,113 deaths linked to the COVID-19 virus in the province since March of 2020.
Local numbers were not updated over the weekend, but as of Friday there were 159 people in hospital with Covid in the Eastern Townships, 16 of whom were in intensive care. The region also reported one more death after Thursday’s update, bringing the total since the start of the pandemic to 497
Friday’s update on the COVID-19 vaccination campaign in the townships showed mixed progress. First doses for those aged 5-11 years have hit a plateau at 57.7 per cent of the population (with rates in la Pommeraie, Sherbrooke, and the Haute Yamaska sitting slightly higher than that average, and rates in other parts of the region falling below,) but second doses in the same age range rose to 14.1 per cent from the previous report of 11.8 per cent in just two days. Similarly, the percentage of so-called “adequately vaccinated” people in the region who had received a booster shot increased from 46.3 to 49.1 over the same stretch of time.
The Eastern Townships is slightly above average on third does coverage, which sat at 44 per cent province wide as of Sunday, but behind the first dose and second dose rates for Quebec, which were 62 per cent and 18 per cent, respectively.
