Quebec Public Health Called A Press Conference & A Mask Rules End Date Is A Likely Topic
Could mask mandates end next month as planned?
Person wearing a mask and sunglasses on a Montreal bus.
A Quebec public health press conference could bring news about the end of the mask mandate. Interim National Public Health Director Dr. Luc Boileau is scheduled to give an update on the province's COVID-19 situation at 2 p.m. Thursday.
The conference comes two weeks ahead of the projected end to face-covering requirements in most enclosed public spaces. Boileau has already twice pushed that deadline, first from mid-April to the beginning of May and then to mid-May.
The director previously committed to monitoring the need for mask mandates and expressed hope that officials would be able to end them even earlier.
Radio-Canada's Sébastien Bovet reports Boileau will use Thursday's conference to confirm the end of mask rules as of May 14.
It's unclear if that date will also mark the end of mandatory masking on public transit. Initially, public health officials planned to keep the face-covering requirement on trains and buses and in stations for at least a month longer than all other public spaces.