Legault Says Christmas Should Be At Most One Celebration But You Can Still Have 10 People

Despite a great deal of speculation ahead of Premier François Legault's Wednesday evening press conference, there will be no changes to gathering limits over the holidays. However, the Quebec government is asking that you only have one Christmas celebration this year — and even postpone celebrating if it's possible.

"Saturday we are letting people who absolutely want to meet and gather in a group of 10 to do so," said Premier Legault.

"However, I invite all Quebecers who are able to postpone celebrations to do so and also once again we're asking to have only one celebration either the 24th or the 25th of December, for example, but not both nights."

Legault stressed that Quebecers aged 60 and up should be particularly cautious when it comes to holiday gatherings since 70% of hospitalizations are people in that age range, mainly those who haven't yet gotten the third dose of a COVID-19 vaccine.

"People who are 60 and over, perhaps ideally you stay home," said Legault. "If you stay home there is no risk. If you must absolutely go to a family gathering or friendly gathering, you must know that there is a risk."

Legault suggested four ways of minimizing this risk: reducing the number of people, wearing a mask, keeping a distance of 2 metres with other people and opening at least one window in the house to ventilate the area.

You can have 10 people in your home until Christmas. However, Legault announced that starting Sunday, private gathering limits will be reduced to six people or two household bubbles. This will also apply to tables at restaurants.

On December 22, the province recorded 6,361 new COVID-19 cases, 445 total hospitalizations with 88 of those patients in intensive care. There have been 501,698 cases officially reported in Quebec since the beginning of the pandemic.

This article's left-hand cover image was used for illustrative purposes only.