Please complete your profile to unlock commenting and other important features.

Please select your date of birth for special perks on your birthday. Your username will be your unique profile link and will be publicly used in comments.
MTL Blog Pro

This is a Pro feature.

Time to level up your local game with MTL Blog Pro.

Pro

$5/month

$40/year

  • Everything in the Free plan
  • Ad-free reading and browsing
  • Unlimited access to all content including AI summaries
  • Directly support our local and national reporting and become a Patron
  • Cancel anytime.

quebec reopening

The Quebec mask mandate will last longer than initially planned. While officials had said that face-covering rules would end in most places in mid-April, Interim National Public Health Director Dr. Luc Boileau confirmed on Tuesday that public health has officially recommended that the government maintain the mandate through April.

That means Quebecers will have to continue masking up in enclosed public spaces. Boileau said officials would continue to evaluate the necessity of the measure.

Keep readingShow less

You may have been looking forward to packing away all your masks until the next pandemic, but they might be useful for a little longer. While officials had planned on ending the Quebec mask mandate for most public spaces in mid-April, it's looking like that deadline will be postponed.

"We're considering whether it would be appropriate to push back that date," interim National Public Health Director Dr. Luc Boileau said on Radio-Canada on April 3. "It's certainly conceivable that recommendations will go in that direction."

Keep readingShow less

Following a brief lull in cases after the Omicron variant swept through the province (worst. Christmas. ever), COVID-19 cases in Quebec have begun to increase yet again. Officials at the public health institute have officially declared a sixth wave.

On Thursday, Quebec reported 3,319 new cases and 1,238 total hospitalizations.

Keep readingShow less

Ontario may have largely ditched mandatory mask-wearing but Quebecers will likely have to keep their face-coverings handy for at least a few more weeks. Despite hopes that Quebec mask mandates might end earlier than originally projected, Interim National Public Health Director Dr. Luc Boileau said Wednesday the province will stick to its mid-April target.

Officials anticipate mask rules will persist beyond that date for public transit. In its original timeline, the government said mandatory masking in transit would end in May "at the earliest," but Boileau didn't provide a date on Wednesday.

Keep readingShow less

This very well may have been the longest two years of our lives. Remember when the thought of socially distancing for two weeks had everybody in a tizzy? There's no way we could have imagined that this particular moment in history would be as intense as it has been.

Now, as we enter a new spring, restrictions are lifting, and everything is slowly returning to "normal" (whatever that even means in a post-COVID context), many Quebecers are reluctant to give up the habits made during the pandemic.

Keep readingShow less

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.

Keep readingShow less

After almost two years of mandatory face-coverings, Quebec mask rules will gradually come to an end — mostly. By mid-April, the government plans to end the requirement in all public spaces, including colleges and universities, except for public transit.

Public transit riders will have to keep wearing masks until "at least" May 2022. In a press release, the Ministry of Health said it would give 10 days' notice before the measure ends.

Keep readingShow less

With the Omicron variant on its way out, Quebec has been seeing a further relaxation of safety measures every Monday. Notably, office workers can remove their masks while working under some conditions, and children will no longer need to wear masks in class starting on March 7. But amid all these changes, could there be another surge in Montreal COVID-19 cases?

The Institut national de santé publique du Québec (INSPQ) teamed up with the Research Group in Mathematical Modeling and Health Economics of Infectious Disease at Laval University to run the numbers and make predictions. The INSPQ worked under the assumption that around one in three Montrealers were infected with COVID-19 since December 1, 2021.

Keep readingShow less

Mondays have slowly started to have a whole new meaning in Quebec. Instead of the day we dread right after the weekend, it's now become the day where certain Quebec COVID-19 rules get loosened.

And starting on Monday, February 28, there is a slew of different restrictions being lifted in the province, so here's a little glimpse at what's changing.

Keep readingShow less

The Quebec mask mandate could be approaching its end. But don't expect to throw your face coverings away tomorrow.

At a press conference on Wednesday, February 23, Public Health Senior Strategic Medical Advisor Marie-France Raynault (whose title sounds like something out of a hopelessly bureaucratic communist regime) said officials are "working on a plan" to gradually lift the measure across the province.

Keep readingShow less

Marie-Pier Labelle says she's willing to risk thousands of dollars in fines to see her customers smile again. The owner of L'Assomption juice and smoothie bar Nutrition Xtreme announced on February 15 that she's making masks optional inside the store despite the Quebec mask mandate, which makes face-coverings mandatory in indoor or enclosed spaces.

Nutrition Xtreme employees will keep wearing their masks, Labelle said.

Keep readingShow less

On February 15, Health Minister Christian Dubé and interim National Public Health Director Dr. Luc Boileau held a press conference to announce the end of Quebec's vaccine passport. However, the passport is still here to stay under certain criteria.

The vaccine passport first came into effect throughout Quebec on September 1, 2021, and will officially be suspended for big stores, the SAQ and SQDC as of February 16.

Keep readingShow less