STEPHEN RICCIO
PONTIAC Dec. 2, 2020
Premier François Legault used a press conference on Nov. 24 to revise the conditions to the “moral contract” that he had asked Quebecers to agree to. People can now join in up to two gatherings of up to 10 people between Dec. 24-27.
Legault had previously said people should self-isolate the week before that four-day period and the week after but hadn’t been specific on how many gatherings were allowed.
The Pontiac service area (RLS) had five or less active COVID-19 cases (minimum one) as of Nov. 30 and 42 cases in total since the beginning of the pandemic.
The RLS includes the Municipality of Pontiac (MoP), which remains . . .
a red zone, and the MRC Pontiac, which is still an orange zone. The MoP has had 29 total cases. Within the MRC, the municipalities of Campbell’s Bay, Fort Coulonge, L’Île du Grand Calumet, Mansfield et Pontefract and Shawville each have had five or less cases since the beginning.
During the Nov. 25 MRC Pontiac council meeting media scrum, Warden Jane Toller said she had learned in her meetings with the CISSSO that the case data by municipality is being updated by the local health authority on Thursdays only.
“I think they feel it’s good enough to be specific, once a week … they’re just overwhelmed with [many new cases] in the Outaouais,” she said. “So I’m pretty understanding about it. I was very frustrated with it in the beginning and I made a few mistakes in my reporting.”
Toller said she wasn’t sure why the CISSSO went from providing the specific number of active cases within the RLS to listing it as five or less. She added that she understands that they are facing many challenges and that if a significant outbreak were to occur in the Pontiac, she would be notified quickly.
The Outaouais had 309 active cases (3,565 total, 3,176 recovered) as of Nov. 30, which is down 70 from last week. There are 24 hospitalizations, down 13 from last week, with two people in intensive care.
The regional death toll increased by nine from last week and there have now been 80 deaths since the pandemic began. November amounted to being a deadly month for the virus with 35 recorded deaths in the Outaouais.
The region also continues to deal with active outbreaks at 14 health care facilities: Résidence Cité Jardin, Résidence Château de l’Île, Résidence de L’ile, Résidence La Gappe, RPA Chartwell Domaine Notre Dame, RPA Chartwell Monastère d’Aylmer, Château Symmes, CHSLD La Pietà, CHSLD Lionel Émond, CLSC et CHSLD de la Petite-Nation, CHSLD La Renaissance, Hôpital de Gatineau, Hôpital de Hull and Hôpital et CHSLD de Papineau.
