32 patients confirmed or suspected to have COVID-19 variants in Montreal: health authorities

Montreal confirms dozens of variant cases While Montreal’s COVID-19 cases have plateaued, officials say they have found variants on the island.

MONTREAL — Montreal director of public health Mylene Drouin reported Wednesday that there are nine confirmed variant cases currently in Montreal, with most of them linked to the British (B.1.1.7) variant.

Another 23 presumptive cases are under investigation, but Montreal health authorities are acting as if they're confirmed in order to be on the safe side.

"Our strategy right now is really to do everything that we can in doing contact tracing in the cases, so that they don't become the predominant cases in the community," said Drouin.

"We're treating them as if they are confirmed cases."

However, on top of that total of 32 cases either confirmed and under investigation, Montreal public health expects to see more. Drouin added that there are a further 12 cases that have been epidemiologically linked to other cases of the variant.

Public health is continuing to surveil the cases to track where they came from and hopefully to delay the variants' presence in the general population.

One school was closed for two weeks where a variant was detected, and all staff and students were screened.

In addition, vaccinations will increase to guard against the variants, Drouin said.

Drouin said that overall, however, COVID-19 numbers have plateaued or dropped recently. The Island of Montreal reported 499 new cases Wednesday, which is below the seven-day average for the past week, which currently stands at 482.

"When we look at age groups, we've seen a decrease pretty much everywhere," said Drouin.

There are currently 271 health-care workers who have tested positive for the virus. South-Central CIUSSS director Sonia Belanger, who joined Drouin in the press conference, added that around 500 health-care workers are off due to either a positive case or isolation due to contact.

Drouin said there are currently 375 outbreaks, including 125 in the work environment and 91 in health-care environments. Both numbers represent decreases from recent weeks.

There is an increase, however, in schools, with 82 outbreaks in school settings and 56 in daycares.

"And we do have outbreaks that are more significant," said Drouin, who said public health has closed four schools.

There are 94 active COVID-19 outbreaks in public and private long-term seniors' residences on the Island of Montreal.

For hospitalizations, Belanger said it's important to note that the total number of hospitalizations is going down, but that there is still a lot of pressure on health-care systems.

"Our establishments remain very fragile and our carers, more than ever, need Montrealers to show solidarity with them," said Belanger.

Belanger said over 72,000 vaccine doses have been administered on the island including over 51,000 to hospital staff working in COVID-19 zones, 10,000 CHSLD residents, and 5,000 in private care homes for seniors.

She added that vaccinations among health-care workers and the homeless population in Montreal are continuing and that general vaccinations will become available soon.

There have been a total of 99,268 positive novel coronavirus cases in Montreal since the start of the pandemic, and 4,406 people in the city have died due to the disease.

DEATH OF YOUTH WORKERS

Montreal's public health officials began Wednesday's news briefing by speaking about the two youth workers who died this week.

La Presse reported that two young women had been working for youth protection for a short time, and that it's unknown whether they knew each other.

"We are totally devastated by this news, which sent shockwaves through our teams and throughout our organization," said Belanger.

The two would not comment further, as a police investigation is underway.

Belanger also says the South-Central CIUSSS is offering psychological support to the women’s colleagues.

Help is also being offered to the families of the two women.