Bas-Saint-Laurent recorded 22 new cases of COVID-19 on Monday, as the virus made its way into regions that had been rather spared to date.
The new cases are listed throughout the territory, including five in Kamouraska, nine in Rivière-du-Loup, four in Témiscouata, two in La Mitis, one in La Matanie and another in Matapedia.
Last week, the region recorded 225 infections, most of them in the western part of the territory.
Since the start of the pandemic, 2,369 Bas-Laurentiens have contracted the virus. 2,055 of them have now recovered, while 35 people have succumbed to the disease. There are now 280 active cases.
Nine people are currently hospitalized in connection with the coronavirus in the COVID unit of the Rimouski hospital.
The region of La Mitis has seen a sharp rise in infections since last week. Thirty-six people in the region have contracted the virus in the past seven days, while the region has seen a total of 89 infections alone since the start of the pandemic.
The outbreak at the Continuous Assistance Residence (RAC) Jumelé Mitis in Mont-Joli now has 17 cases, i.e. 10 workers and seven users.
Five schools in the region are also struggling with cases of COVID-19. The Alizés school has one positive student, but no class is in isolation since the student did not attend the school during his period of contagion.
Same thing at Bois-et-Marées school, where a student also tested positive, but was not in class when he was contagious. At the Portage-de la Rivière school, it is a staff member who contracted the disease and one class is in isolation. A class is also in isolation at the Norjoli school because of a positive student, and three groups are in isolation at the Mistral school since two students have also tested positive for COVID-19.
The management of the Mistral school decided to suspend classes on Monday to allow public health to complete its epidemiological investigations.
The mayor of Mont-Joli, Martin Soucy, believes that no region is immune due to the rapid spread of the new variants. “Barely a few weeks ago, La Mitis was spared, we did not have many cases and today, we have several cases declared,” he said in an interview with TVA Nouvelles.
“This is a sign that the variant, it is currently circulating, it is virulent, it strikes quickly and it strikes especially regardless of age,” added Mr. Soucy.
Bas-Saint-Laurent is catching up on vaccination
Last week, the region lagged behind in terms of vaccination compared to the provincial average, but the mass inoculation over the past few days made up for this delay.
A number of 3,290 people took advantage of the walk-in clinics that were organized on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, namely 1,770 in Rimouski and 1,520 in Rimouski. To date, 23.17% of the population of Bas-Saint-Laurent has been vaccinated against COVID-19, or 45,663 people. The provincial average is 22.8%.
The integrated health and social services center (CISSS) of Bas-Saint-Laurent has confirmed that just over 1,000 appointment slots are still available for people aged 55 to 79 who wish to receive the AstraZeneca vaccine this week.
In addition, 1,100 beaches are still available in May, for those aged 60 and over, and new beaches will be added as soon as new vaccine arrivals are confirmed.
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