Here's When & Where Quebec Will Let You Take Off Your Mask In The Office

A day after the government outlined its timeline for the retreat of mandatory mask-wearing from public life, the Quebec workplace safety regulator released its own calendar for the gradual end of mask-wearing in the office.

While since February 28 the Commission des normes, de l'équité, de la santé et de la sécurité du travail has allowed workers outside the care network to take off their masks if they maintain two metres of physical distancing, only one-metre distancing will be required as of March 7.

Workers can also remove their face-coverings if they're between physical barriers. Masks are still mandatory when and where people are transiting (including elevators) and in common areas except when people are eating.

But that could change by mid-April, when the CNESST expects to remove the mask rule almost entirely from non-health care workplaces. It warns, however, that there will still be "some exceptions" and that face-coverings will still be mandatory when workers are travelling by bus or plane.

In May, "at the earliest," the commission anticipates eliminating mask rules altogether.

That timeline aligns with the government's calendar for masking in public spaces. If everything goes according to plan, face-coverings will only be required on public transit by the end of April.

"The adjustments announced today are good news for Quebec workplaces," CNESST President and Director Manuelle Oudar said in a statement. "However, we must continue to apply the various preventive measures in order to have ever healthier and safer workplaces."

Quebec will continue to recommend the use of masks, especially for people with COVID-19 symptoms, people coming out of isolation and around people with compromised immune systems, even after legal requirements to wear them end.