Quebec won’t commemorate Covid dead
Quebec has no plans for a ceremony of commemoration for those who have died of Covid on Friday, as the world marks two years since pandemic was declared. Some flags will be flown half‑mast.
As restrictions are lifted, CBC notes that Quebec has lost an official tally of 2,317 people to Covid in 2022 alone. This is mentioned almost in passing in a profile of a woman who died in February. But the official numbers have felt like a fudge for awhile. The total number of dead in Montreal (see block on right, if you’re reading the blog on a desktop) is 5,330 and has not moved for several days now, which seems unlikely, as the Quebec total (14,141) keeps growing. (Up to 14,154 Friday. The Montreal number has not been changed for several days.)
When Montreal’s total was getting close to 5000 I emailed the mayor and asked if there were any plans for a group commemoration. So many people had died when it was impossible to hold a conventional funeral or memorial, and I thought it might be cathartic to have a public gesture. An assistant got back to me and said they were intending to mark the second anniversary of the WHO declaration of pandemic – March 11, 2020. But there’s nothing special mentioned in the media for Friday or the weekend.
Sud-Ouest borough is planning a physical memorial to be placed near a CHSLD where 73 died in the first wave, but that can’t materialize overnight.
Kevin 11:05 on 2022-03-11 Permalink
My personally tally for this year is 2,368 as of Thursday March 10. My count hit 2,318 on March 7.
1,499 for January.
2,209 as of February 28.
The Delta/Omicron wave was the 2nd deadliest of the pandemic.. but with elections in Ontario and Quebec, nobody here is interested in counting anymore.