Quebec has removed all COVID-19 restrictions, excluding the mask mandate, which is set to end in the near future. Despite the feeling that the pandemic is over as the province begins to open up, this is far from reality, as hospitalizations have been rising and there have been 1,614 cases detected in Quebec in the last 24 hours.

But without PCR testing, we can’t be sure of the accuracy of case counts. So how can we properly assess rates without PCR tests and how can Quebecers stay safe? 

A senior health advisor said Quebec was “absolutely overwhelmed by the Omicron wave."

Unless someone is in a vulnerable group, a place with an environmental risk or active outbreak they cannot access PCR tests since early January 2022. 

The government's decision to limit public access to PCR tests boiled down to a limitation in staff and lack of resources. Quebec can administer a maximum of 30,000 PCR tests per day. However, the province reached 60,000 daily tests during the Omicron wave.

Wastewater testing was taking place in Montreal, Quebec City and 63 other locations across Canada – a 6 month pilot project that ended in December 2021. The city has decided to resurrect the project to track COVID-19 cases in lieu of limited PCR testing.

On March 11th, the province observed a minute of silence to commemorate ​​10,518 Quebecers who have died of COVID-19. The tally has increased to 14,213 since then.

2 years since the World Health Organization deemed COVID-19 a pandemic, how did Quebec get itself into such a dire situation?

The province has failed to invest in long term care homes, also known as CHSLDs. During the pandemic’s first wave, Quebec reported 4,836 deaths in elder care and long term care homes, accounting for 64 per cent of the overall death toll. The virus still looms in CHSLDs, with 20% of cases occurring in these homes.

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