Montreal public health warns of possible omicron exposure at 2 different locations
CBC
Montreal public health is calling on anybody who visited two locations, including a West Island gym, on specific days in early December to get tested because the sites were visited by two people linked to the omicron COVID-19 variant.
The gym is Buzzfit Kirkland, located at 3240 Jean-Yves Street:
The second location is Centre culturel et communautaire Henri-Lemieux, a community centre in LaSalle located at 7644 Édouard Street.
"Even if you are adequately vaccinated and have no symptoms, we recommend that you get tested for COVID-19," said the public health agency in a news release Friday.
The news release does not estimate how many people may have been exposed in these two cases.
Those who may have been exposed should get tested at either the Jewish General Hospital or the CLSC Parc-Extension because these are the only two centres with laboratories equipped to detect the omicron variant, the release says.
Both testing centres have walk-in hours, but public health is asking those who may have been exposed at these two locations to make an appointment through the provincial website so as to provide information related to the exposure.
People can also make an appointment by calling: 514-644-4545.
If it is not possible to visit one of these two clinics, people should mentioned they may have been exposed to the variant when getting tested.
The variant of concern B.1.1.529, known as omicron was first detected in November in South Africa and Botswana.
"This variant is now present in several countries. More data on this variant is needed to rule on its transmissibility, virulence or vaccine efficacy," public health says.
"However, early data indicates that it is possibly two to 3.5 times more transmissible than the delta variant and that there is an increased risk of re-infection."
Because of these concerns, Montreal public health says it is "adopting an approach aimed at suppressing all transmission of the omicron variant in its territory."
As of Thursday, 14 cases of the omicron variant had been detected in Montreal, the release says.
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