COVID-19 cases continue to climb in the Lower Saint Lawrence region

Public health officials in the Lower Saint Lawrence say recent house parties are to blame for dozens of new cases of COVID-19 in the region.

About 100 post-secondary students attended a house party inLa Pocatireon Aug. 30. More than 20 positive cases were linked to theparty as well as new cases ofcommunity spread brought on when party attendees then went tolocal barsand visited their families.

The rise in cases has forced changes at some schools and medical facilities in the region.

Public health hadthe spread of the viruslargely under control throughout the summer, but the parties at the start of the school term have caused the number of new cases to spike.

During the first week of September, the region saw a bump of 59 cases over a three-day period.

Regional public health director Sylvain Leduc says his department has been working with post-secondary institutions since before the start of the school year, butstomping out private events is a challenge.

"It's difficult to dissuade private initiatives, unfortunately," he said.

Some schools forced online

Several post-secondary institutions have moved to online classes for the next couple weeks, as a result of the outbreaks.

Leduc said infected studentsat Cgep de la Pocatire and Institut de technologie agro-alimentaire have led to secondary infections and community spread.

The director of the Cgep de la Pocatire, Marie Claude Deschnes, told Radio-Canada there are strict prevention measures in place on campus, and said she's disappointed students chose to host a private party, which is impacting the region.

Classes at the Agri-food Institute and Cgep de la Pocatire will be online for the next two weeks as a result, and classes at Cgepde Rimouski andCgep deRivire-du-Loup will beonline until Sept. 21 as a preventative measure.

Following the increase in cases, the regional health authority has suspended non-urgent surgeries scheduled forMonday atNotre-Dame-de-Fatima de La Pocatire hospital.

This is being done in order to coordinate a large-scale testing operation as well as devoting resources to contact tracing.

More than 225 people in the Lower Saint Lawrence have called and 150 have left messages to make an appointment to get tested.