The regional health board overseeing Laval, north of Montreal, re-introduced masking across its facilities Friday in response to an increase in cases of COVID-19 among employees and the city’s population as a whole.
In an internal memo sent to staff and viewed by CBC News, the CISSS de Laval called on workers to wear a procedural mask when in direct contact with patients.
The COVID-19 positivity rate in Laval increased from 2.9 per cent in mid-April and to 27 per cent in mid-August.
The rest of Quebec is also experiencing a spike in COVID-19 outbreaks — with hospitalizations doubling between mid-June and mid-August, according to data from the Institut national de santé publique (INSPQ).
Hospitalizations are at their highest level since last winter, with more than 1,200 people with COVID-19 in Quebec hospitals. In recent weeks, more than 30 people have died from the virus every week.
In an email to CBC News, the Quebec Health Ministry said it is “the prerogative of establishments to put in place the measures necessary and relevant to the situation in the field.”
“Facilities can now determine which situations require masks to be worn,” it said.
Dr. Donald Vinh, an infectious diseases specialist from the McGill University Health Centre, lauded the Laval health board’s decision to make masking when in contact with patients mandatory.
“When a patient seeks medical attention, they go with a specific medical problem, and what they do not want is to pick up an additional problem,” he said, adding that masking also protects health-care professionals.
“We’re already short-staffed for a variety of reasons in most health-care settings.”
The INSPQ says there are 110 outbreaks in long-term care facilities and 54 health-care centres.
Over 21 per cent of tests for COVID-19 in the province are positive, the highest rate since last December.
Experts say the virus has not yet adopted the same seasonal pattern as cold and flu viruses, both of which are more prevalent in winter.
“COVID doesn’t have any seasonality,” Vinh said. “It’s not the same variant that persists throughout the year. Because it can continue to propagate throughout the year, you get the development of new variants.”
Vaccination encouraged
In late July, Quebec’s immunisation committee released recommendations on administering vaccines this fall.
People aged 60 and over and immunocompromised people are encouraged to get a booster dose before fall.
“It’s important that they get maximum protection as quickly as possible,” said Dr. Cécile Tremblay, a microbiologist and infectious diseases specialist at the CHUM hospital in Montreal.
With the circulation of new variants, the committee recommends that people under 60 wait for the next version of the vaccine as the mRNA vaccine is no longer favoured.
“If it’s less urgent, it’s more interesting to have a vaccine that matches the strains currently circulating in Quebec,” said Dr. Tremblay.