More than 7,700 active cases in the Outaouais

More than 7,700 active cases in the Outaouais

Regional health authority CISSSO held a press conference last Thursday (January 6) on the rising case counts due to the Omicron variant. The region has reported at least 7,701 active cases, however officials have said that the actual numbers are higher, since not all cases are recorded.

Dr. Brigitte Pinard, the head of Public Health for the CISSS, said that close to 2% of the population is currently positive with COVID. She said that it is “a level of community transmission that we’ve never seen before.”

A platform will be set up in the near future for citizens to self-report positive cases from rapid tests. Authorities also expressed concern over the number of hospitalizations in the region, which hit 60 on January 7, with three of those in intensive care.

When asked by CHIP 101.9 about the situation in the Pontiac specifically, Dr. Pinard said that it was comparable to the rest of the region. As of January 7, the RLS Pontiac, which includes MRC Pontiac and the Municipality of Pontiac, had 233 confirmed active cases.

The full recording of the January 6 press conference is available here.