A total of eight people were reported to have died at the CHSLD Sainte-Dorothée of the COVID-19 virus up to Monday, according to CIUSSS de Laval officials. The number of confirmed cases of infection at the 174-resident long-term care facility on Samson Blvd. in Sainte-Dorothée stood at 105, including staff. According to media reports, there is an acute shortage of facial masks and other protective gear at the residence and union officials have filed Workers Health and Safety Board grievances.
The CISSS de Laval confirms that there had been 21 deaths from COVID-19 up to the early afternoon of April 6.
As well, 712 infection cases have been confirmed, along with 33 hospitalizations, of which seven cases are in intensive care, and 87 CISSS de Laval workers are among those who are infected.
The greatest number of infections is in Chomedey, where there are 131 such cases. This is followed by Duvernay/Saint-François/Saint-Vincent-de-Paul (111), Pont-Viau/Renaud/Laval-des-Rapides (99), Vimont/Auteuil (95), Sainte-Dorothée/Laval-Ouest/Îles-de-Laval/Fabreville-Ouest (94) and Fabreville-Est/Sainte-Rose (85).
In order to respect protocols set up by the provincial government to deal with potential infection from COVID-19, the City of Laval has announced that it will be conducting its annual spring cleanup according to a modified plan.
The city has compiled a list of priority cleanup tasks to carried out in April, in accordance with the plan. They include sewer and waterworks maintenance, pothole repairs, cleanup of trash and waste from public places, and tree pruning.
“Taking the pandemic into account, we are focusing our efforts on activities that are essential and priority,” said Laval executive-committee member Ray Khalil, who is responsible for public works dossiers.
Following the Quebec government’s decree that agriculture is an essential service during the COVID-19 crisis, the City of Laval is inviting residents to think of buying local this summer when making their fruit and vegetable purchases.
The government’s decree means that the vast majority of greenhouses and market garden stalls in Laval will remain open this summer should the COVID-19 situation continue longer than predicted.
“We are inviting the population to encourage Laval’s agricultural businesses and to buy local,” says city councillor for Sainte-Dorothée Ray Khalil, who is responsible for agriculture dossiers on the executive-committee.
| Regions | Confirmed: April 6, 1 p.m. |
| 01 – Bas-Saint-Laurent | 29 |
| 02 – Saguenay – Lac-Saint-Jean | 93 |
| 03 – Capitale-Nationale | 357 |
| 04 – Mauricie-et-Centre-du-Québec | 549 |
| 05 – Estrie | 548 |
| 06 – Montréal | 3 977 |
| 07 – Outaouais | 117 |
| 08 – Abitibi-Témiscamingue | 101 |
| 09 – Côte-Nord | 68 |
| 10 – Nord-du-Québec | 2 |
| 11 – Gaspésie-Îles-de-la-Madeleine | 62 |
| 12 – Chaudière-Appalaches | 158 |
| 13 – Laval | 712 |
| 14 – Lanaudière | 491 |
| 15 – Laurentides | 413 |
| 16 – Montérégie | 894 |
| 17 – Nunavik | 5 |
| 18 – Terres-Cries-de-la-Baie-James | 4 |
| Total | 8 580 |
*: The significant increase in confirmed cases is explained by the fact that since March 22, 2020, cases tested positive by hospital laboratories are now considered confirmed. They no longer need validation by the Laboratoire de santé publique du Québec (LSPQ).
(Source: Québec’s public health departments, compilation by INSPQ, April 5, 2020, 6 p.m.)
The significant increase in confirmed cases is explained by the fact that since March 22, 2020, cases tested positive by hospital laboratories are now considered confirmed. They no longer need validation by the Laboratoire de santé publique du Québec (LSPQ). (Source: Québec’s public health departments, compilation by INSPQ, April 5, 2020, 6 p.m.)
In Canada, COVID-19 is a serious health threat, and the situation is evolving daily. The risk will vary between and within communities, but given the increasing number of cases in Canada, the risk to Canadians is considered high. You can find information about the outbreak in the Current situation section on the Government of Canada’s site.
Despite incessant warnings and now tickets and fines being handed out by the police, there are still people in Laval and other areas who aren’t getting the message about social distancing during the COVID-19 pandemic.
In one of the latest developments, the Laval Police intervened on the evening of Saturday April 4 to break up a small gathering of young adults who were playing basketball in a local park, in defiance of the rules now in place.
They were warned by the police that fines, ranging from $1,000 to $6,000, can now be imposed by the police on those who violate the regulations.
UPDATED: Monday April 6, 2020. (Pictures by anonymous reader)
With their plates already full while monitoring for outbreaks of COVID-19, Laval city officials have another challenge to deal with: spring flooding in Laval-Ouest and other areas of the region.
In Laval-Ouest, residents living near the edge of the Rivière des Mille Îles have been pressuring the city to install an inflatable water barrier as a preventive measure to stop flooding should there be a recurrence of it this year.
On Saturday April 4, rising waters from the river were beginning to edge over the low-lying Berge aux Quatre-Vents park on Riviera St., although the situation could hardly be considered alarming compared to recent past years.
Federal and provincial public safety and environmental officials don’t see the flooding situation as getting out of hand this year. In the meantime, the City of Laval is making sandbags available to residents who feel they might need them.
A man believed to be in his 30s disappeared beneath the waters of the Rivière des Prairies just off Île Paton in Chomedey during the late afternoon of Friday April 3 after he waded in while trying to pull his dog from the partly frozen river.
According to the Laval Police, the dog fell in and the man then entered the water to try and rescue it. Although no one saw the man re-emerge from the river, the dog made it back to shore.
The Laval Fire Department, which is well-equipped to deal with accidents on the rivers surrounding Laval, was on the scene conducting a search Friday evening, although there was no word by Saturday morning that they had found anything.
Quality Suites is reporting on the web that its Laval hotel just off Autoroute 15 is “closed temporarily” while an overflow of mental health and palliative patients from the Cité de la Santé hospital are housed there after being displaced because of the COVID-19 situation.
The move was initiated by officials at the CISSS de Laval who had an overflow of 133 patients resulting from an increasing number of COVID-19 patients.
One floor at the Quality Suites has been designated exclusively for palliative patients, while another is for those with mental illness.
The facility is currently closed to the public, with the exception of CISSS workers, patients and their families.
Laval-Les Îles Liberal MP Fayçal El-Khoury, whose wife Dr. Georgette Elias has a dental practice in Montreal, was able to deliver some protective facial masks, vinyl gloves and other supplies to the CHSLD Sainte-Dorothée on April 2.
He and his wife both agreed the crucial items were much more needed at the long-term care facility where staff and residents are coping with the COVID-19 outbreak.
