The Montreal area has at least 69 COVID-19 cases in 64 different schools since they reopened nearly two weeks ago.
Drouin said that in all but two of those cases, the infection was acquired outside the school. One of the cases with secondary transmission within a school was from teacher to student.
Long lineups were reported in west-end Montreal over the weekend with worried parents looking to get their children tested.
“What we’ve seen with the reopening of school is that when there was one case in one school, the parents were preoccupied and went for a screening test when it wasn’t indicated,” Drouin said.
She assured that when there’s a case in a school, parents of children identified as moderate contacts will be advised to self-isolate and get a test during that period.
“I know parents are worried … but if your kids haven’t been in contact with positive cases, testing isn’t necessary,” Drouin said.
Quebec introduced a four-level, colour-coded COVID-19 alert system Tuesday — green for vigilance, yellow for an early warning, orange for moderate alert and red for maximum alert.
Drouin said Montreal is listed at the green level, but could find itself at yellow in the next week if the situation doesn’t improve.
Quebec health officials reported 180 new cases of COVID-19 provincewide on Wednesday.
The province also announced three additional deaths linked to the disease from earlier in the month and withdrew two other deaths after investigations determined they weren’t caused by COVID-19.
The province has now reported 64,056 confirmed cases and 5,771 deaths.
No deaths were reported in the past 24 hours, but the number of hospitalizations increased by eight to 113, while intensive care cases decreased by one to 14.
Meanwhile, three Quebec cabinet ministers who began self-isolating Tuesday after being in the presence of a local mayor who contracted the disease said they’d all tested negative.
Transport Minister Francois Bonnardel, Justice Minister Simon Jolin-Barrette and junior transport minister Chantal Rouleau announced the news on their social media accounts.
Bonnardel and Rouleau said they will remain in preventive isolation for another week.
This story by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 9, 2020.
By Sidhartha Banerjee, The Canadian Press
