Quebec is at a tipping point, and it looks like it’s tipping in the right direction, Premier François Legault said Thursday, but it’s too soon to ease public health rules.
He said he’s seeing mostly good news this week, but in the big picture, Quebec’s hospital system is still extremely fragile and it can’t afford to be nudged at all towards further pressure with new hospitalizations.
"Finally we’re seeing a decrease in the overall number of hospitalizations," Legault said in a press conference Thursday.
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"Still, we’re at the worst point so far in the pandemic."
In contrast, Ontario Premier Doug Ford announced this week that Ontario will begin to ease its rules on Jan. 31, outlining a three-step plan.
Quebec isn’t planning the same right now, Legault said. The good news is that if the province stays at its current level — 3,400 people in hospital with the virus — it won’t need to move to its hospital contingency plan, he said.
"Quality of care won’t have to be affected," he said.
Earlier this week, a guide released by health officials outlined how overall care in hospitals could be lessened in order to help the province get through the crisis, if it crossed a certain capacity threshold.
Aside from the high hospitalizations, 12,000 health staff are also absent from work right now, Legault said.
"So we can’t permit ourselves to ease the measures… there’s a real risk of increasing contagion."
Quebec’s 10 p.m. curfew was lifted Monday, but other rules remain in effect, including closures of restaurant dining rooms and a ban on visiting others at home.
Legault said that in particular, the goverment hopes to let kids return to sports soon, but there’s no date yet. Nor is the province ready to reopen houses of worship.
The premier said he’s getting lobbied hard to reduce measures, including by regular citizens calling and writing to his office.
“I’m currently under a lot of pressure to remove measures, but my duty is to be responsible, to protect the lives of Quebecers,” he said.
He also can’t make predictions, hexjmtzyw said. If Quebec has indeed reached its peak of hospitalizations, “we don’t know how long it will take before it goes down… the situation will continue to be difficult for the next few weeks,” he said.
He added that while epidemiological predictions for the next couple of weeks look promising, "there’s a large margin of error," and that his government prefers to wait for more concrete evidence of progress before announcing a change to the rules.
He asked people for their patience for a while longer.
“Lives are at stake,” he said.
RELATED IMAGESview larger image
Quebec Premier Francois Legault listens as interim Quebec Director of Public Health Dr. Luc Boileau responds to a question while Health Minister Christian Dube is reflected in the plexiglass barrier during a news conference in Montreal, Tuesday, Jan. 11, 2022. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Paul Chiasson
