As residents of Park-Extension ready themselves for the holiday season, health authorities remind us that partially overshadowed by respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) and influenza, COVID has not said its last word. Coronavirus cases are on the rise again in the province, less than three weeks from Christmas.
“The rise in cases has already started for two weeks. There are new variants. We saw them arrive in the international space. Almost all countries are struggling with the new BQ variants, namely BQ.1 and BQ.1.1”, specifies the national director of public health, Luc Boileau.
“They are more contagious. They escape immunity. They spread even faster, and they come looking for people who have never had COVID or even people who have had COVID in reinfections,” he warns.
Dr. Boileau reminds us that the best way to protect yourself against the coronavirus is to get vaccinated, not to wait more than “five or six months since your last vaccination to get another dose of vaccine”. He also advises wearing a mask if you have symptoms, regardless of the virus you are suffering from, and covering your face in busy public places.
“We are not expecting a situation like the one we experienced last December or January 2022 with a very strong rise. However, there is an upswing. There are more cases, more hospitalizations. It will not help in the portrait of the hospital load during the month of December,” said the national director of public health.
