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Quebec is far behind in screening, contact tracing, and isolating people with COVID-19. The Department of Health is rushing to shorten the time between the onset of symptoms of infection in a person and the announcement of the screening result by nearly half – from 132 to 72 hours. If it does, the restrictive measures could be relaxed, experts say.
Public health learns the identity of a person who tested positive for COVID-19 an average of 132 hours (five and a half days) after they felt a fever and had initial breathing difficulties, for example. However, in an “ideal” situation, it would be notified within 72 hours (three days), indicates the strategic medical advisor to the Directorate-General for Public Health, Richard Massé.
“We know that this goal is almost unattainable [de 72 heures]. We haven’t been able to do this from the start, “says the community health specialist in an interview with The duty. ” [Cela dit], this is ideal because it would have a very big influence. This would make it possible to reduce demographic measures. […] If we had a perfect system – this is not possible – we would probably have constraints in terms of demographic measures – restaurants, gyms, etc. – which could be reduced, ”he continues, pointing to the most recent report. model of the evolution of COVID-19 in Quebec produced by the team of the Université Laval Professor Marc Brisson.
His “model predicts a decrease in the epidemic in November” if the “screening-tracing-isolation” process is accelerated so that public health learns the identity of a person with COVID-19 at most 72 to 96 hours (three to four days) after symptoms appear in you. You could then start looking for people on whom the declared positive person fell during his or her contagion period.
One thing is certain, “improved screening, research and isolation could allow us to reduce the number of hospitalizations and deaths,” Brisson points out in an exchange with The duty Thursday.
Race against time
The Ministry of Health has put the rubber to improve the “chain” of screening, research, isolation. “Along the whole trajectory, there is no small economy”, says Deputy Minister Marie-Ève Bédard, fully committed to the “seek and contain” strategy (seek and contain).
Today, do I think we have the best practices in the world? The answer is no. Can we improve? The answer is yes.
Time is running out: A person with COVID-19 can be contagious a dozen days, from two days before symptoms appear to 10 days after.
After being tested in two screening centers, in Montreal and Quebec City, the platform of the giant Deloitte will be distributed on Sunday in about forty facilities and soon in another hundred.
The government awarded Deloitte a $ 23 million contract, including options, to develop a “solution” that would “optimize citizen’s appointment making” while facilitating the work of professionals. distributed in screening centers and public health offices.
People who need a test can complete the Symptom Self-Assessment Questionnaire and, if necessary, make an appointment at one of the designated screening clinics near their home, after reading the time taken. waiting in each of them and provided a variety of information.
“We save time on site at the screening clinic. Since these are potentially positive people, it will definitely be an advantage to see them there for less time. But it will also allow us to see a little better the volumes of patients who should be screened “, explains Marie-Ève Bédard, before adding:” Ultimately, we want our public health departments to be able to do this. . access to start the epidemiological investigation. More information will have to find quickly super speakers [supercontaminateurs] or [d’autres] positive cases with the information entered at the time of screening, the faster and more agile they will be. “
They wanted experienced investigators
The ministry continues its efforts to recruit people with “probing skills” through the “I Contribute!” Platform. And that, nearly three months after setting aside $ 106 million to fill public health workers.
The staff dedicated to contact tracing and instructions for isolation, which increased from 800 to 1600 during the summer, in addition to those provided by the Confederation, is not sufficient for the assignment determined by the Renaissance Astuccio.
Public health is juggling these days with about 1,535 active outbreaks in Quebec, of which 759 in the workplace (49.4%) and 417 in schools (27.2%).
In the data | To know everything about COVID-19
Be warned, COVID-19 is more of a problem in schools than in the workplace, notes Richard Massé. Public health identifies eight to nine people infected with an epidemic in a school on average compared with four to five people infected with a workplace epidemic, he says. “We have many outbreaks in the workplace, but the measures that are put into them have some effect in reducing the transmission of infections. […] It is more difficult to intervene in a school environment, ”says Dr Massé, recalling in passing the presence of people who are more symptomatic in adults than in children. And, in a school, it “circulates”.
The improvement continues “
“Today, do I think we have the best practices in the world? The answer is no,” said Health Minister Christian Dubé at the Must. “Can we improve? The answer is yes.”
A developed system is not necessarily a guarantee of success. The “contribution” of people who show flu symptoms and those contacted by the public health service is essential to slow down the transmission of COVID-19. “People have to say, ‘When I have symptoms, I don’t wait three days. And when I went to consult, well I isolated myself, ”says Dr Masses.
Public health officials still encounter voicemail boxes today. Quebec nationals no longer answer their calls even though the “Public Health” identifier – and no longer “Unknown” or “Hidden Number” – now appears on the phone screen. This is an “important” and “worrying” “phenomenon”, according to Dr Mass. “We still have some resistance from some people in the population towards this. They will answer the first call, but later, when they see who it is, there is nothing else “, he indicates, distinguishing a” certain fatigue “within the population eight months after the onset of the health emergency.
With Marie-Eve Cousineau
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