The Gaspé Peninsula Public Health Board is conducting investigations of two probable cases of covid-19. The two cases are considered “probable” until there is confirmation by the Winnipeg laboratory where all the initial analyses are sent. An investigation means that health officials are attempting to retrace the whereabouts (retracing their movements so as to ensure all others that may have come into contact with them were properly informed) of the two.
Dr. Iv Bonnier-Viger, Director of Public Health in the region, points out that if someone has not been contacted yet by the authorities, chances are that he or she has not been in contact with either of the cases.
In both cases, it is believed that they returned from a trip before instructions were put in place for those returning from abroad. The two people in question are in their respective homes and their symptoms are considered mild. They have not been hospitalized.
They are in a restricted area of their house, and their family members are in quarantine in that house.
Although one of the two people has confirmed on facebook of being infected by the coronavirus, Dr. Bonnier-Viger will not release additional information about that case, or the other case, for ethical reasons.
Chantal Duguay, director of the Regional Health and Social Service Centre (CISSS) encourages people coming back from a trip to start their quarantine right at the airport.
She urges people to stay calm, polite and respectful, especially on social media. There will an “after pandemic” and people will have to live together again.