No End in Sight to Quebec's Virus Catastrophe

Quebec's Covid-19 catastrophe has gone from bad to worse to nightmarish proportions, with no end in sight as the killer virus rips through nursing homes and senior residences with the speed and deadly effect of an out-of-control runaway steamroller.

The calm, confident and measured daily briefings by Quebec Premier Francois Legault have degenerated into a panic-filled pleas for help from any and all, including the Canadian army which represents a humiliating last choice for a nationalist government hitherto vaunting Quebec's autonomous and independent nation-like status.

How bad is it all?

Well, I don't think I'm exaggerating in saying that Quebec is living a dark moment in its history, second only to the Spanish Flu pandemic which swept through Canada in 1918-19 leaving 14,000 Quebecers dead.

The premier at the time, Liberal Lomer Gouin, replied: “Nothing was overlooked in this painful circumstance. The province is doing everything it can to fight the Spanish flu.
“The population must be grateful, they must rejoice when they see the results. This was possible mainly thanks to the cooperation of doctors, especially doctors and nurses, who showed the greatest dedication and the most admirable zeal to fight the epidemic,” he continued.

Sound familiar?
It seems nothing has changed in a hundred years.


How bad are things now? I'm not sure it can get worse.
The virus has spread into 300 senior residences and even though the Premier has told us that it's not that bad considering the other 2,300 senior residences don't have any cases of the virus, it is of cold comfort to the families of those living in these hellholes.

It's easy to get lost in the statistics so I'll just describe the situation of the last six days where about 500 seniors living in residences were killed by the virus or virus-related causes.

 During those six days, new cases in senior residences rose from 3,500 to 4,800. If you include those who died over these six days and who have been removed from the stats, it means that there were actually 2,100 new cases or about 350 new cases each day. With a mortality rate of about 20%, it means that over these last six days 500 new residents who contracted the virus are doomed to die. Those presumed deaths cannot be avoided or mitigated. They will happen.

What is more distressing is that the situation is deteriorating, not improving. 10,000 health care workers have left their jobs, mostly in these senior residences.
While 4,000 of them are themselves out with the virus, the other 6,000 have abandoned the job, fearful of catching the virus.
They should not be condemned too harshly, they are underpaid and poorly equipped with personal protective equipment. With a family to support on $15 an hour, would you risk working in these conditions?

And so, many seniors are dying of neglect because there are not enough workers to offer even the basest level of service, with no food, water or sanitation provided over days.
The Jewish General Hospital of Montreal reports that some patients they received from the nursing homes suffer from starvation or dehydration, and not the virus.
How's that for our modern, autonomous and capable Quebec?

Now the senior homes that did lockdown are not out of the woods. Family and friends are barred from visiting, which means that many who come on an ongoing basis to provide their loved one with baths, exercise and other services can no longer do so, further straining the already burdened system.

I get the feeling that we are watching our family home ablaze, totally engulfed in flames with firefighters trying to stem the damage to the adjacent homes because ours is a lost cause.
The fire will burn until there's nothing left to consume.

With plenty of still healthy residents literally trapped in senior homes ablaze with Covid and without a viable way out, the die is cast.

What puzzles me is Quebec's media's desperate attempt to downplay Quebec's dire situation.
On every newscast, Quebec's situation is minimized by displays of America's stricken and dead.
The numbers tower over Quebec, but if the proper math is applied Quebec's situation is 95% as bad as that in the USA and that difference is narrowing each day where soon we'll be worse off.
 
At any rate, Quebec's Covid catastrophe will play itself out and the only thing that is sure is that the body count will rise dramatically and that when it is over, the government will pat itself on the back and tell us what a wonderful job they've done.

That part, I guarantee.