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Quebec again has the dubious distinction of being home to the highest number of COVID-19 cases in the country as Canada stumbles into the second wave of the dreaded pandemic.
Since September 18, the province has been recording positive cases numbering more than 400 with a high of 586 on September 20, as the virus rampages through communities causing both provincial and federal governments to start contemplating another complete shutdown.
On September 23, as Canada topped more than 1,000 for the seventh day in a row, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau went on national television to advice Canadians against gathering for the upcoming Thanksgiving celebrations.
It’s a desperate effort to shutdown the transmission of the virus.
“It’s all too likely we won’t be gathering for Thanksgiving, but we still have a shot at Christmas.”
As of September 24, the country recorded a total 148,000 cases with over 9,240 deaths.
Trudeau said as bad as it was in the spring when the rapid spread of the virus triggered a pandemic designation by the WHO and a complete shut down of the Canadian economy, things can get worse, if we allow transmissions to spiral out of control.
But, he says Canadians have the power to stop it.
“ I know we can do it, because we’ve already done it once before. In the spring, we all did our part by staying home. And this fall, we have even more tools in the toolbox,” he said.
The formula for control remains the same: limit social gatherings, wear masks in public spaces or as much as possible and observe personal hygiene— meaning wash hands as much as possible.
In Quebec where we have been experiencing a surge in the number of positive cases for going on two weeks, the Health minister, Christian Dubé echoed the prime minister, asking Quebecers to cancel plans to gather with friends and family over the next few weeks.
Adding also that a cancellation of Thanksgiving might offer Quebecers an opportunity for a nice Christmas.
More than 5,800 people have died so far in this province from the close to 70,000 who have been infected.
In Montreal, there have been close to 32,000 positive cases and more than half the fatalities of the province.
Several regions across Quebec, including the Montreal area, are in the Orange -Alert category, the second highest of the designations that can trigger a complete shut down.
