'Most' Quebec COVID-19 Rules Will End 2 Days Earlier Than Planned
Quebec is suddenly super eager to end health measures.
Masked people presenting their vaccine passport at La Grande Roue de Montréal.
The government is moving up the plan to end "most" Quebec COVID-19 rules. Measures previously scheduled to end on March 14, including the vaccine passport and a ban on dancing and karaoke, are now set to finish as of Saturday, March 12.
In a statement, the Ministry of Health said the accelerated reopening got the approval of public health officials and is "made possible by the evolution of the epidemiological and hospital situation."
The news follows new projections from the Institut national de santé public (INSPQ) suggesting cases would "stabilize or continue to diminish" in Montreal so long as social contacts resumed at a slow pace. The institute said the region would see another surge in COVID-19 cases if contacts increased quickly, but that the surge would be lesser than that at the peak of the Omicron wave.
The other changes coming March 12 include the end of capacity limits in all public places, the end of capacity limits in rented venues, normal hours for restaurants and bars, the end of limits on table party sizes, and the end of visitor logs in private seniors' residences.
Quebec also presented its timeline for the end of mandatory mask-wearing in public. By mid-April, it said, masks will no longer be required in public spaces, including colleges and universities, except for public transit.
Transit riders will have to keep wearing a mask until at least May.
The government will continue to recommend the practice, however, especially for people with COVID-19 symptoms, for people coming out of isolation, and in the presence of people with compromised immune systems.