Meet The New Anime Character That Santé Montreal Hopes Will Get You To Care About COVID-19

He's aimed at Montrealers aged 18 to 34.
Reporter

Those keeping up with COVID-19 updates, have their eyes peeled for news from Quebec's key public figures like Horacio Arruda and Christian Dubé. 

Santé Montreal recently introduced a new public health figurehead to the mix — a fictional anime character named Kenji Santé who's available on social media 12 hours a day to answer young people's questions about COVID-19. 

Kenji, whose name means 'healing' in Japanese, has a profile on Facebook and publishes statuses in an effort to "demystify" Santé Montreal's messaging on COVID-19. 

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Kenji Santé on Facebook

Kenji's regular updates contain explanations on what exactly an epidemiological investigation entails. 

Young Montrealers can send him private messages aka DMs with any questions. Since he's not a bot despite having that appearance, you will get real responses from a real person in the regional public health department.

He also notifies young people of the resources available to them for counselling services for their pandemic-related woes.

Kenji is part of a social media campaign by Montreal's regional public health department dubbed 'Don't ignore this call.'

Aimed at Montrealers aged 18 to 34, whose age group makes up the highest proportion of coronavirus cases in Quebec, it urges them to pick up the phone if local contact tracers call. 

Regional public health director Mylène Drouin said in a press conference on September 30 that the city is "missing" COVID-19 tests among its young population. 

Kenji doesn't do Instagram stories or TikTok dances — not yet, anyway — so for now you can find him exclusively on Facebook.

  • Lea Sabbah
  • Lea Sabbah was a Staff Writer for MTL Blog. Previously, Lea was a radio host on CJLO 1690 AM and her work has been published by Global News, the Toronto Star, Le Devoir and the National Observer. In 2019, she was part of the investigative team that uncovered lead in Montreal's drinking water — a story which won Quebec's Grand Prix Judith-Jasmin. She's a graduate of the journalism program at Concordia University.

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