COVID-19 in Quebec: What you need to know Wednesday

• Quebec reported 478new cases ofCOVID-19 on Wednesday and four new deaths.
• Since the start of the pandemic, there have been 423,813confirmed casesand11,485people have died.
• There are 257people in hospital (a decrease of two),including 66 in intensive care (no change).
• The province has administered 13,195,339doses of theCOVID-19 vaccine, including 10,021in the past 24 hours.
• 90 per cent of the eligible population in the province (age 12 and up) hasreceived one dose of vaccine, and 86per cent hasreceived two doses.

Note:Quebec'sHealth Ministry does not publish the number of vaccines administered on weekends and public holidays.

With the spread of COVID-19 in Quebec seemingly under control, the province has decided to not impose a vaccination mandate for school staff.

In a statement released on Wednesday, the province's Health Ministry said it strongly recommends staff get vaccinated, but it does not believe it is necessary to make it mandatory.

According to the ministry, the decision is based on the province'simproving epidemiological situation, the limited number of outbreaks in schoolsand the fact thatschool-age children seem to experienceless severeconsequences aftercontracting COVID-19.

The ministry also says the COVID-19 vaccination rate is high in schools, with 90 per cent of staff in the public and private sectorsconsidered adequately vaccinated.

Forged vaccine passports

Police are on the lookout for anyone who bought fake vaccine passports after they arresteda man from Gatineaufor allegedly producing certificates inQuebec and Ontario.

The 27-year-old man is facing nine charges, including forgery and laundering proceeds of a crime.

Ottawa police say he was allegedly charging $1,400 for the paperwork.

Det. Shaun Wahbeh said the Ottawa Police Service does not know how the man allegedly made the false documents, or how many people ultimately bought them.

The investigation began last month when police got word that a man was making and selling the fake certificates.

Paid COVID tests for unvaccinated health-care workers

Some regional health boards in Montrealhave spenthundreds of thousands of dollars on COVID-19 tests for unvaccinated employees, according to Radio-Canada.

Since the beginning of April, a ministerial order has forced unvaccinated health-care workers to undergo three COVID-19 screening tests per week.

However, when testing isn't possible at their workplace, the employees are paid for their time as they travel to and from testing sites before or after work.

The CIUSSSde l'Est-de-l'le-de-Montralspent almost $900,000 on remuneratingunvaccinated workers for their testing time between April and October, Radio-Canada reports.

The CIUSSS du Centre-Sud-de-l'le-de-Montral paid approximately $242,000 to unvaccinated employees during the same period.

Meanwhile, theCIUSSSCentre-Ouest-de-l'le-de-Montraltold Radio-Canada that employee tests were performed at workplaces during work hours, so no additional time was paid out.

TheCIUSSS du Nord-de-l'le-de-Montraldeclined to provide numbers on what it paid.

As of Oct.16, the governmentput an end to this practice.

"We have cut the COVID premiums that health-care workers have been entitled to so far for the unvaccinated, and halted the reimbursement of weekly testing costs," said Marjaurie Ct-Boileau, a spokesperson for the Health Ministry.

As of now, "an unvaccinated employee has to get tested outside of their working day and will not be paid for it," she said.

Deadline may be pushed back again

Premier Franois Legault says he's open to once again pushing back the deadline for mandatory vaccinationamong health-care workers.

The Quebec government initially gave health-care staff until Oct. 15 to get adequately vaccinated or else they would be suspended without pay.

That deadline hasbeen pushed back to Nov. 15 becausethe province feared a staffing crisis. At the time,about 22,000 workers would have no longer been allowed to work.

On Monday,Legault, who was interviewed by several French media outlets, told 98.5 FM there could be a patchwork application of the province's vaccination mandate, with the rule applying to certain sectors or certain regions.

The premier also said it will partly depend on how successful the province is in recruiting nurses.

Mandatory procedural masks in Matapdiaschools

Quebec is making wearing procedural masksmandatory in schools and private seniors'homes in theMatapdiaregion of the Gasp Peninsula as the county battlesrising COVID-19 cases, primarily in schools and at a local wood mill.

The new measures apply to students in elementary and secondary schools, excluding kindergarten. Pupilswill have to wear procedural masks at all times when indoors, as well as in school buses and while attending after-school daycare services.

Two schools in the region, coleSainte-Ursule and coleCaron, are cancelling in-person classes due tooutbreaks.As of Monday, Sainte-Ursule had 27active cases and Caronhad 18. In-person attendance will resume next week.

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