Quebec Cinemas & Concert Halls Are Reopening In February

The light at the end of the tunnel is finally visible! Premier François Legault announced during a Tuesday press conference that in addition to dining rooms reopening on Monday, January 31, performance venues and cinemas throughout Quebec will also be opening their doors as of Monday, February 7.

In what Legault referred to as a "second phase," concert halls and theatres will be able to operate at a 50% capacity with a maximum of 500 people.

Places of worship will similarly be able to open their doors on February 7 at 50% capacity for a maximum of 250 people with vaccine passports. Funerals and funeral parlours will be able to accommodate 50 people without the need for a vaccine passport.

Legault said reopenings would roll out gradually in light of high hospital occupancy. He once again urged the public to get vaccinated.

"If you want to help the health care staff, the best thing you can do is get your first, second and third dose. This greatly reduces your chance of ending up in the hospital," he said.

Quebec reported 272 hospital admissions and 293 releases on January 25, for a net drop of 21 and a total of 3,278 hospital beds occupied by COVID-19 patients.

Since the January 20 COVID-19 report, the number of hospitalizations in the province has slowly fallen after a record-breaking climb in the first half of January.

The latest projections from the Institut national d'excellence en santé et en services sociaux (INESSS), released on January 20, suggest that daily hospital intakes could drop to around 200 by the end of the first week in February while the number of total hospitalizations falls to around 3,000.