CARLETON – The Réné-Lévesque school board put the Bon-Pasteur school in Sainte-Thérèse-de-Gaspé in quarantine on Wednesday, May 20. One pupil from that school tested positive for COVID-19.
The school is now closed for at least 14 days. The quarantine currently applies to teachers and students who were in contact with the infected child, along with those students’ parents. An epidemiological inquiry is underway by the Public Health Board in order to trace all the people who were recently in contact with the infected child.
The mayor of Sainte-Thérèse-de-Gaspé, Roberto Blondin, had a very busy Wednesday. “I talked to the people at the Public Health Board, then I went to reassure the teachers. I also took a step back. Those kids have parents and those parents work. I consequently talked to the employers of Sainte-Thérèse,” says the mayor.
Between 800 and 1,000 people work in the commercial fisheries sector in Sainte-Thérèse-de-Gaspé. Those people come from several neighbouring communities. Many of the employers reached out to their staff requesting that they quarantine themselves, if they have a child or children attending the Bon-Pasteur school.
“The school has an enrolment of 50 students but only 10 to 15 of them resumed school when it reopened,” points out Roberto Blondin.
Meanwhile, the Public Health Board is reporting one new COVID-19, but it is not the child from Sainte-Thérèse-de-Gaspé. That case will be reported in tomorrow’s numbers.
Eight people have died of COVID-19 since the beginning of the pandemic. The total number of individuals who have contracted COVID-19 is 175. There are 149 (85%) individuals who have recovered from the virus. One person from the region is currently hospitalized and is in intensive care.
The breakdown of the 175 cases by health region (containing a hospital) is as follows:
- Bay of Chaleur sector – 131 (stable)
- Rocher-Percé sector – 27 (stable)
- Magdalen Islands – 9 (stable)
- Côte-de-Gaspé – 6 (an increase of 1)
- Haute-Gaspésie – 2 (stable)
The totals for the province are as follows:
- 3718 – deaths (an increase of 71)
- 44,775 – positive cases (an increase of 578)
- 1516 – total hospitalizations (a decrease of 268*)
- 183 – people in intensive care (an increase of 3)
*As of May 19, the number of cured patients who are still hospitalized because they are waiting to be transferred will be excluded from the total number of hospitalizations. With the withdrawal of these patients, there is a significant decrease in the number of regular hospitalizations, but no decrease in the number of intensive care hospitalizations.