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Gauthier: ‘I am despaired by what is going on’

Written by on 10 April 2020

Kateri Memorial Hospital Center Dr. Annick Gauthier wasn’t mincing words in her daily update to Kahnawakero’non. 

“Today I want to show you my frustration,” said Gauthier at the Kahnawake 911 task force daily briefing on Friday. “I am despaired by what is going on.”

The comments come after numbers released yesterday by the Monteregie health authority indicated just 12 positive cases in Kahnawake—numbers which have caused some members of the community to question the need for strict distancing measures. 

Gauthier says a more accurate measure of the pandemic is to look at the  number of hospitalizations and deaths, instead of the number of cases. She is urging the community to continue following protocols into the long weekend.

In a best-case scenario, more than twelve hundred people in Quebec will die from COVID-19 by the end of this month, according to modelling released by the province’s public health agency earlier this week. To date, 241 people have died in the province. A worst-case scenario puts that number closer to nine thousand. 

Commissioner of Public Safety, Lloyd Phillips said he wants to see that number at zero for Kahnawake. 

“The next two weeks will be critical,” said Phillips.  “I know it’s frustrating, I know a lot of people are mentioning things on Facebook and asking ‘when is this going to end?’ but we’re at crunch time now.”