COVID-19 live updates: Quebec hopes to soon move more regions to orange level, allowing restaurants to reopen – Legault

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Updated throughout the day on Tuesday, May 4. Questions/comments: ariga@postmedia.com

Top updates

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3:45 p.m.

Quebec changes pandemic measures in some zones

3:10 p.m.

Videos: Arruda on herd immunity; Dubé on AstraZeneca vaccine

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3:10 p.m.

La Ronde reopens May 22, with pandemic restrictions in place

La Ronde is set to reopen on Saturday, May 22, Six Flags Entertainment Corporation has announced.

The Montreal amusement park “will operate at reduced attendance levels, in accordance with Quebec public health’s reopening guidelines for theme parks, utilizing a reservation system and other extensive safety measures already in use at Six Flags parks throughout the system,’ the company said in a statement.

Six Flags says it will have health and safety protocols in place:

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At today’s pandemic briefing, Horacio Arruda, Quebec’s director of public health, was asked about red-zone restauranteurs who have complained that La Ronde can reopen, yet restaurants can only offer take-out and delivery.

In response, Arruda said that even in red zones outdoor amusement parks can be open. He said amusement parks cannot serve food indoors.

2:30 p.m.

Updated chart: Quebec vaccinations and appointments, by age group

2:05 p.m.

Canada needs more help with COVID-19, prominent U.S. vaccine expert urges White House

A prominent Texas doctor says the United States has a moral obligation to help get more Canadians vaccinated against COVID-19.

Dr. Peter Hotez, a vaccine expert and a familiar face to cable news viewers in both countries, says the U.S. has more than enough capacity to expand its largely successful vaccination efforts beyond its borders, including in Canada.

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Read our full story.

2 p.m.

Quebec hopes to soon move more regions to orange level, allowing restaurants to reopen – Legault

Premier François Legault is raising expectations that some red regions will soon move to the orange alert level, allowing restaurants to reopen.

“We hope in the coming weeks to be able to switch as many areas as possible to orange in order to be able to reopen the restaurants,” Legault told a press conference in Quebec City.

Montreal is among the regions currently on red alert.

Horacio Arruda, Quebec’s director of public health, was asked when terrasses will be allowed to open.

Arruda did not answer directly. He said it will depend on various factors, including vaccination rates and the spread of variants.

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For now, with the situation improving in much of the province, Quebec is loosening restrictions in several regions, he announced.

In the Quebec City region, including Lévis, Bellechasse and Montmagny-L’Islet, as of Monday, May 10:

Also on Monday:

The situation is not stable everywhere, however.

That’s why the government must impose new restrictions in some areas, Legault said.

For example, as of midnight, non-essential businesses must close in the Granit regional municipality in the Eastern Townships, an area that encompasses Lac-Mégantic. The curfew in that area will begin at 8 p.m., and high school students will move to remote learning.

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Legault did not announce any changes to restrictions in Montreal, where the curfew was pushed back to 9:30 p.m. yesterday.

The premier said he has spoken to public health officials about eventually allowing fans to take in Montreal Canadiens games in person at the Bell Centre. He did not say when that change might take place.

Health Minister Christian Dubé said the vaccination campaign is ramping up.

A month ago, Quebec expected to receive 1 million vaccine doses in May. Now, it expects double that number.

“The more we increase vaccinations, the more we can (ease) restrictions,” Dubé said. “It’s a balancing act.”

Dubé said Quebec has “a little more than” 30,000 AstraZeneca doses left.

Arruda said the vaccine remains “an excellent tool,” despite a risk of blood clots.

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“The benefit of the vaccines is much higher than the risk of complications,” Arruda added.

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12:10 p.m.

Moderna vaccine shipment will arrive a week early, Trudeau says

Canada is receiving a shipment of Moderna vaccine a week earlier than expected.

At a briefing today, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Canada is picking up its next shipment of Moderna vaccine tonight in Europe.

By tomorrow morning, one million Moderna doses will be on the ground in Canada.

Trudeau also said that this week, just like every week in May, Canada is receiving two million doses from Pfizer-BioNTech alone.

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11:30 a.m.

Trudeau says he is glad he got AstraZeneca, vaccines are only way out of pandemic

From The Canadian Press:

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says the only way Canada brings the pandemic to a close is for everyone to get vaccinated as soon as possible, amid a flurry of fear and frustration over new advice from the National Advisory Committee on Immunization.

“On a personal level, I am extremely pleased that I got the AstraZeneca vaccine a number of weeks ago,” he said.

“It was extremely important to me to be able to protect my loved ones, to protect my family and to do my part, to ensure that all Canadians get through this as quickly as possible. And that’s the reality. We all want to get through this pandemic as quickly as possible. And that means all of us getting vaccinated as quickly as possible.”

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Chief Public Health Officer Dr. Theresa Tam said she understands that people may be frustrated or angry about changing advice but she said things change as science changes. She said there are different risk-benefit conclusions based on individual and community situations.

“But again, I’ll reiterate from our chief medical officers that the AstraZeneca vaccine deployed in the middle of a third wave has saved lives and prevented serious illnesses,” she said.

Some of the debate may not matter much. Canada is supposed to get up to 36 million doses of the mRNA vaccines in the next two months —24.2 million Pfizer and between 10 million and 12 million from Moderna.

Comparatively, Procurement Minister Anita Anand said Tuesday there are only deliveries of about 1.6 million doses of AstraZeneca expected, though negotiations to get additional doses from a U.S. supply of that vaccine are ongoing.

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There are no shipments of J&J even tentatively scheduled.

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11:25 a.m.

Canadian pharmacists ‘disappointed,’ worried NACI advice will stoke vaccine hesitancy

The Canadian Pharmacists Association says advice from a national panel on vaccines is unhelpful and likely to make it harder to get enough people in the country vaccinated to end the pandemic, The Canadian Press reports.

The National Advisory Committee on Immunization set off a firestorm of fear and anger Monday after saying mRNA vaccines from Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna are “preferred” because viral-vector vaccines from Oxford-AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson carry a remote risk of blood clots.

NACI, a panel of physicians and other vaccine experts, provided non-binding advice to provinces that the viral-vector vaccines should only be used on people over the age of 30, who are at higher risk of getting COVID-19.

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Phil Emberley, a veteran pharmacist and acting director of professional affairs for the national pharmacists’ group, says he is “disappointed” with NACI’s statements and is worried the advice will make more Canadians hesitate to get vaccinated.

He says when you weigh the risks that come with COVID-19 against the risks of any of the vaccines Canada has authorized, preventing the virus is always the better choice.

Emberley says he got the AstraZeneca vaccine himself three weeks ago and has no regrets or concerns that he should have held out for a different vaccine.

11:10 a.m.

Updated charts: Quebec cases, deaths

11:10 a.m.

Update on Quebec’s vaccination campaign

11:05 a.m.

Quebec reports 797 new cases, 16 deaths as hospitalizations rise

Quebec has recorded 797 new cases of COVID-19, helping lower the province’s seven-day rolling average to its lowest level since March.

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Montreal reported 190 new cases – the fewest since late October.

For the third consecutive day, the net number of people in the hospital increased.

In addition, 16 new deaths were reported, including three over the previous 24 hours.

Among the other deaths, 12 occurred between April 27 and May 2, and 1 occurred before April 27.

One death previously attributed to the pandemic has been removed from the death toll after further tests revealed it was not related to COVID-19.

Some other key statistics from Quebec’s latest COVID-19 update, published this morning:

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Since the beginning of the pandemic, Quebec has reported 353,475 cases and 10,959 deaths linked to COVID-19. A total of 333,624 people who have contracted the disease have since recovered.

10:50 a.m.

Gaspé bans camping, cars from beaches after last year’s pandemic pandemonium

A year after Gaspé was swamped with tourists who ignored local regulations aimed at protecting the environment, the municipality has banned campers and cars from its beaches this summer.

Last year, the COVID-19 pandemic saw the small and picturesque municipality invaded by tourists whose numbers exceeded the capacity of local campgrounds and hotels. Many of them dumped their garbage outdoors and parked their cars on beaches or in fragile environmental areas where vegetation protects the area from erosion.

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Read our full story.

10:20 a.m.

10,000 vaccination appointments remain for people age 55-59, Dubé says

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10 a.m.

Video: ‘Relieved’ Montrealers enjoy extra 90 minutes outside as curfew moves back to 9:30 p.m.

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9:50 a.m.

Montreal’s first drive-through vaccination site to open at Trudeau airport

Quebec’s first drive-through COVID-19 vaccination site will soon open in the parking lot of Montreal’s Trudeau airport.

Read our full story, by Jesse Feith.

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9:45 a.m.

Opinion: Forget ID — what if you needed a vaccine passport to get into a bar?

“With mass vaccination of the general population finally under way in Quebec, it seems increasingly apparent our brave new post-pandemic world will come with a fresh set of rules and social norms. This includes the possibility of having to show proof of immunity to COVID-19 — either from having recovered from the virus or having been vaccinated.”

Read the latest column by Allison Hanes.

9:45 a.m.

Will Montreal ever achieve herd immunity in the pandemic?

There is a growing realization among experts that countries around the world may not secure herd immunity in the short term, and that people may have to live with COVID-19 for years to come.

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Read our full story, by Aaron Derfel.

9:30 a.m.

NACI advice on ‘preferred vaccines’ for COVID-19 sparks confusion, anger

From The Canadian Press:

The National Advisory Committee on Immunization is coming under fire after contradicting the advice Canadians have been receiving for weeks to take the first vaccine against COVID-19 that they’re offered.

NACI said Monday that the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines are “preferred” and that Canadians should weigh the risks of waiting for one of them before deciding whether to take a more immediate jab of either of the other two approved for use in Canada.

The Johnson & Johnson and AstraZeneca vaccines have been linked to a new and extremely rare blood-clotting syndrome.

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Because of that, Dr. Shelly Deeks, vice-chair of the committee, said someone working from home in a province where there is not much disease might want to wait for a shot of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines.

But she said it would be a very different risk-benefit analysis for someone working in a manufacturing plant without personal protective equipment in a province where COVID-19 is spreading like wildfire.

NACI’s advice appears to contradict Health Canada’s long-standing recommendation that the best vaccine is the first one available.

Some doctors took to social media to denounce NACI’s latest advice, warning that the committee is sowing confusion and exacerbating vaccine hesitancy.

“It pains me to say this but it’s past time to take NACI’s recommendations with a grain of salt,” emergency physician Dr. Brian Goldman said on Twitter.

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“For the good of your health, DO NOT be choosy when it comes to #covidvaccines. Take the first one you’re offered.”

People who got inoculated with AstraZeneca also took to social media to express anger that they’d been hoodwinked into getting a second-rate vaccine while others questioned whether they should cancel planned first jabs of that vaccine or refuse a second dose of it.

One Twitter user noted acidly that NACI’s advice boils down to “people who are most at risk should settle for a vaccine with the most risk because they are most at risk.”

NACI chair, Dr. Caroline Quach-Thanh, only made matters worse in trying to explain the committee’s advice during an interview Monday on CTV’s Power Play.

“If for instance my sister got the AstraZeneca vaccine and died of a thrombosis when I know it could have been prevented and that she is not in a high risk area, I’m not sure I could live with it,” she said.

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9:15 a.m.

Canadians should wait for Pfizer or Moderna vaccine if they can, federal advisory committee says

The federal government’s vaccine advisory committee is recommending people who can wait for an mRNA vaccine, like Pfizer or Moderna, hold out for it, once again contradicting the long-standing advice to Canadians to get the first shot they’re offered.

Read our full story.

9:15 a.m.

Everything you need to know about getting COVID-19 vaccinations in Quebec

Local health authorities have set up mass vaccination sites across Montreal.

You can book appointments via the Clic Santé website or by phone at 1-877-644-4545.

Here are the nuts and bolts of getting vaccinated, by Katherine Wilton. Her guide includes the age groups targeted, how to book appointments, and addresses of vaccination centres.

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Wondering if the vaccines are safe? Once vaccinated, can you disregard public health measures? Is vaccination mandatory? Read our FAQ, by Jason Magder.

9:15 a.m.

Here’s where Montrealers can get tested today

Montrealers can be screened at test centres across the island.

You can check screening clinic wait times here.

8:45 a.m.

The situation across Canada

Here’s the rate of case growth per 100,000 people over the past seven days, via the federal government’s latest epidemiology update.

8:30 a.m.

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ariga@postmedia.com

Read my previous live blogs here.