considered a red zone. This means that non-essential businesses are permitted to open with limited capacity, and that the curfew will now begin at 9:30 p.m., from 8 p.m. before. It also means that secondary schools can reopen on alternating days, while places of worship can extend their maximum capacity to 25 from 10.

As of May 17, the Pontiac service area (RLS) had 11 active cases out of a cumulative total of 335 (since the pandemic began). This is a decrease of 21 active cases from last Monday, while the cumulative total rose by just five cases.

The Outaouais had 248 active cases (11,857 total, 11,401 recovered) as of May 17, which is 64 less than there were on May 10. There were 36 hospitalizations at the designated COVID-19 centre in Hull, a decrease of 17 from last week, with six of those people in intensive care. Meanwhile the regional death toll rose by three, and it stood at 208 cumulatively as of Monday.

Litchfield became the 13th municipality within the MRC Pontiac to appear on the CISSSO’s COVID case database, and it had five or less (minimum one case) cases as of May 17.

Within the Pontiac RLS, the CISSSO listed the following numbers as of May 17:

Municipality of Pontiac: 123 (+1 from last week)

Mansfield et Pontefract: 87 (+2 from last week)

Fort Coulonge: 38 (no increase)

Shawville: 33 (no increase)

Campbell’s Bay: 11 (no increase)

Waltham: 7 (no increase)

Otter Lake: 6 (no increase)

Bristol, Bryson, L’Île du Grand Calumet, L’Isle aux Allumettes, Litchfield, Portage du Fort, Sheenboro and Thorne: five or less (minimum one case)

Vaccinations continue to roll along steadily, as the regional health authority reported 56.4 per cent of all Pontiac residents aged 18 and older have received at least one dose of a vaccine, as of May 13.

According to CISSSO media relations agent Camille Brochu-Lafrance, the age groups that have been vaccinated are as follows:

55 to 59 years old: 72.7 %

60 to 54 years old: 87 %

65 to 69 years old: 90.3 %

70 to 74 years old: 90.8 %

75 to 79 years old: 88 %

80 years and older: 79.6 %

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