By Gordon Lambie
With a report of 716 new cases of COVID-19 versus 911 judged to be recovered, the total number of active cases in Quebec continued its decline on Sunday, settling in at 7,312. Although the total number of people infected increased to 363,296, of those, 344,950 people have recovered.
There were 17 new deaths reported over the weekend for a total of 11,034 since the beginning of the pandemic, but hospitalizations decreased to 508 and the number of people in intensive care also dipped slightly to 119.
The number of active cases in the Eastern Townships also decreased slightly over the weekend, although at 521 on Sunday, the figure remained high compared to where it was just a few weeks ago. The distribution of those cases remained concentrated in the Granit region (180 cases) and in Sherbrooke (165 cases), with smaller concentrations in the other sub-regions of the Val Saint-François (45 cases), Memphrémagog (38 cases), Haute-Yamaska (24 cases), Coaticook (22 cases), Haut-Saint-François (19 cases), Pommeraie (15 cases), and Des Sources (12 cases).
Looked at in relation to each area’s population, the situation in Granit continues to be significantly more severe than in the rest of the Townships, with a rate of 844.6 cases per 100,000 people. For comparison, the highest rate of active cases outside of Granit is in the Val Saint-François, which was at 142.3 cases per 100,000 people as of Sunday.
There were two new deaths in the Townships, bringing that total to 342, and 29 people in hospital for reasons linked to the virus, seven of whom were in intensive care.
After going back and forth on the decision last week in light of the relatively small amount of the school year left, the regional public health authority made the decision that all secondary three, four, and five students in the region will alternate between in-person and online learning, as is called for under red-zone restrictions.
Vaccination:
The total number of vaccine doses administered across the province increased to 4,323,040 over the weekend accounting for a first dose in 48.2 per cent of Quebecers, or just under one in two people in the province. The numbers in the Eastern Townships match that percentage reasonably well, with 248,146 doses administered in a target population of 505,105 people.
