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Third person infected with Covid-19 on the Gaspé
Monday, March 23 – A third Covid-19 case has been reported in the Gaspé Peninsula, two days after confirmation of the first two regional cases by the Public Health Board.
The Public Health Board does not provide information about the place where that third infected person lives, which complies with the Quebec-wide rules.
“There is effectively a third case. It is not linked to the two others. The three (infected persons) came back from trips and are quarantined in their homes,” points out Clémence Beaulieu-Gendron, spokesperson for the Regional Integrated Health and Social Services Centre (CISSS).
The CISSS and the Public Health Board will soon start providing daily updates about the regional situation, possibly starting tomorrow. Time is required “to adapt the computer systems of the new laboratories,” adds Ms. Beaulieu-Gendron.
The number of laboratories certified to detect the coronavirus has increased in Quebec over the last week and a delay is needed to include all the aspects pertaining to that increase.
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Update regarding cases of Covid-19 on the Gaspé Peninsula
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.