Quebec reported 3,425 active COVID-19 hospitalizations on Wednesday and 88 more deaths attributed to the virus.
The total death toll since the start of the pandemic is now 12,541.
Hospitalizations increased by eight with 359 new patients admitted and 351 discharged. Of those in hospital, 285 are in intensive care, for a decrease of four over the previous day.
Another 6,123 infections were recorded in the last 24 hours bringing the total caseload to 812,419. The number of cases does not accurately reflect the situation due to limited screening, according to the province.
While health officials said Tuesday the rise in hospitalizations driven by the Omicron variant seems to be slowing, Quebec announced a contingency plan to allow for overburdened hospitals to continue operating.
Rather than focusing on keeping COVID-19 out of their facilities, hospitals would adopt a “harm-reduction approach” to the spread of the virus.
Some of the plan involves allowing workers infected with or exposed to the virus to continue working rather than isolating, and having family members of patients provide basic care to their loved one so medical staff can provide clinical care.
Dr. François Loubert, part of the Montreal regional department of General Medicine, agreed the health-care system is under great pressure and could be facing a tipping point.
“At this time I don’t think we’re at a point where there’s a decreased quality of care,” he said but admitted it’s a concern.
With that in mind, Loubert is urging people to seek care when and where appropriate.
“We don’t want to be in a situation where we have to reduce the quality of care to provide care to a lot of people,’ he said.
Loubert recommended people contact their pharmacist or the info-Santé line at 811 if they are unsure about whether they need to consult a doctor or not.
“If you have chest pain, if you’re out of breath, of course it’s appropriate to seek medical advice. But if your condition is not urgent, now is the time to wait and also to use the proper settings,” he said.
The idea is to avoid clogging up emergency settings with non-urgent matters to free up resources for those who need emergency care.
The province also announced that it would begin to distribute Pfizer’s COVID-19 antiviral pill Paxlovid to the population in a bid to eventually prevent further hospitalizations.
Health officials however warn the pill will be reserved for people who are more vulnerable, at least in the next few months, due to limited supply.
While the pill offers hope, health experts are still stressing the need for people to be vaccinated.
In the last 24 hours, Quebec administered 110,035 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine. To date, more than 16.6 million shots have been administered, including more than 2.8 million booster shots.
In the province, 85.2 per cent of the population has received at least on dose, while 89.8 of Quebecers aged 12 and over are considered adequately vaccinated.
— With files from Global News’ Kalina Laframboise, Gloria Henriquez and The Canadian Press’ Jacob Serebrin
© 2022 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
Quebec reports 88 more COVID-19 deaths as hospitalizations top 3,425 - Globalnews.ca
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