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Regional Update: First COVID-19 fatality on the Gaspé Peninsula
MARIA: – The Gaspé Peninsula and Magdalen Islands has reported its first death due to the COVID19 pandemic.
A 79-year-old resident of the Manoir du Havre in Maria died on the night of April 4 at the Maria hospital, six days after being admitted. A significant COVID-19 outbreak was reported at that private residence for seniors on March 31.
The family of Gustave Joseph, the deceased patient, talks publicly about the case. Marcel Joseph, his nephew, points out that his uncle was suffering from heart and lung problems before his March 29 admission at the Maria hospital. “He was already very sick. He was in contact with it (the virus) and caught it. My sister works in a Montreal hospital and she had told me that would he catch it, he wouldn’t survive. He was admitted to the hospital on Sunday. He was very, very weak. He died alone. I had not seen him in a month because he couldn’t have any visitors. It was too dangerous for him,” explains Marcel Joseph, who lives in Paspebiac.
The Manoir du Havre has so far, generated 39 of the region’s 54 cases of COVID-19. The infection was unknowingly transmitted by an employee after she spent three days in Quebec City. She infected 10 residents and many others who she was in contact with, after her return from the trip and before her March 27 hospitalization.
Despite the numerous harsh comments, especially on social media, the Joseph family stays very calm and refuses to blame anybody. “It is not anybody’s fault. My uncle was very well treated at the Manoir du Havre and he received very good care from the hospital staff,” assures Marcel Joseph.
He adds that his uncle was an important part of his life. “I come from a family of 12 kids and my father died when I was one. He was one family member who helped us. That is why we are a closely-knit family.”
Marcel Joseph and his daughter Kim Arsenault Joseph are asking people to “respect Mr. Legault’s rules,” referring to the premier of Quebec, who insists on social distancing and the importance of basic sanitary rules. “Everyone who dies of COVID-19 dies alone. Nobody should die in those conditions,” she states.
Meanwhile, 11 new cases of COVID-19 were added to the region’s total on April 5. “They are all related to the Manoir du Havre outbreak,” says Dr. Iv Bonnier-Viger, Director general of the Gaspé Peninsula and Magdalen Islands Public Health Board. Those new cases do not involve any residents though.
In Sainte-Thérèse-de-Gaspé, the management of the E. Gagnon et Fils snow crab processing plant has decided to close the facility until April 7 inclusively, as precaution because an employee was confirmed to have COVID-19. A list of all the employees that could have been in contact with that staff member was created and an epidemiological investigation is underway.
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Regional update: COVID-19 total climbs to 43
CARLETON: – The number of people infected with the coronavirus in the Gaspé Peninsula and the Magdalen Islands increased by two between April 3 and April 4, bringing the total for the region to 43.
An epidemiological investigation is underway to determine how many other individuals were in contact with the two new cases. “The two cases are linked to people we know (already diagnosed). We don’t have new cases coming from outside (the region),” says Dr. Iv Bonnier-Viger, Regional director of the Public Health Board.
Contrary to what National director of Public Health Dr. Horacio Arruda and Quebec Deputy Premier Geneviève Guilbeault said during today’s daily COVID-19 press conference held in Quebec City, there aren’t cases of community transmission in every region of Quebec, points out Dr. Bonnier-Viger. According to him there are not any community transmission cases in the Gaspé Peninsula and Magdalen Islands region.
“It was an oversight (on their part) but in reality, there is not one single case of community transmission in the eight regions that were closed last week,” points out Dr. Bonnier-Viger, who expects such cases eventually.
The two new cases are not related to Maria’s Manoir du Havre outbreak.
That outbreak has generated 28 of the 43 cases identified in the region so far. The 28 cases include the “index case”, the Manoir du Havre employee who unknowingly exposed the seniors’ residence to COVID-19 after a mid-March trip to Quebec City. That woman is still hospitalized in Quebec City and seven others in Maria.
Meanwhile, the check points in Sainte-Florence and Les Méchins to restrict entrance to the Gaspé Peninsula are not only manned by police officers but also by employees of the Health and Social Services Department. They are tasked with gathering information about the people that are allowed entrance. That information will be relayed to the municipal administration of the communities where those people are going. The municipal authorities will have to verify if those people respect the quarantine measures and if they have someone available to deliver their groceries for the ensuing 14 days.