Mayor wants Montrealers to start wearing face masks
As reopening the economy approaches, Plante says it’s safer if people cover faces
Face masks will become an indispensable summer accessory under new public health guidelines outlined Tuesday by Mayor Valérie Plante and the regional public health department.
“Whether you’re going for a walk or a bike ride, or you’re going to the grocery (store) or to the pharmacy or taking public transport, I definitely invite you to wear a face covering as one of the ways to protect yourself and also protect others,” Plante said during a press conference held via Facebook and telephone conference call.
It won’t be mandatory to wear a mask, whether homemade or purchased, and you won’t be stopped by police for not doing so, the mayor added.
But given that it is difficult in a densely populated city to keep two metres away from others at all times, it’s safer for everyone if people cover their faces, she said, showing off a fabric mask that she keeps on hand at all times.
“A face covering must become the social norm,” regional public health director Mylène Drouin said.
The Montreal transit authority is providing reusable cloth masks to all employees who request them.
Plante said the city has ordered 50,000 reusable masks that will be supplied to community organizations to distribute to vulnerable people, like the homeless.
The new health advice is not a substitute for washing hands, using sanitizer or coughing into your elbow, nor does it mean you can start disregarding rules on social distancing, Plante said. But it’s one more tool to help prevent COVID-19 cases from escalating when elementary schools and businesses reopen in the coming weeks.
People are urged to make or purchase their own reusable fabric mask, but not to use medical-grade masks needed in the health-care sector.
Plante took back her earlier criticism of the Quebec government for pressing the restart button on the Montreal economy later than it’s doing in the rest of the province. On Friday, she objected when Premier François Legault said businesses in greater Montreal might not reopen at the same time as those in other regions of Quebec.
But on Tuesday, Plante said she had come around to Legault’s way of thinking, given that the island of Montreal is still the epicentre of the pandemic with 12,487 cases and 1,039 deaths to date.
Legault announced that stores with outside entrances will reopen on May 11 in the Montreal region, compared to May 4 in the rest of Quebec.
“I think it was the right thing to do,” Plante said.
The mayor said she was not yet ready to announce if and when playgrounds, playing fields, day camps, libraries and pools will open this summer, saying those decisions will depend on provincial health policy and the evolution of the pandemic.
Helping Montrealers in densely populated neighbourhoods stay cool if pools, wading pools, libraries and air-conditioned malls remain closed could be “a big challenge,” Plante added.
The city will need to find innovative ways to keep residents safe if summer temperatures soar to deadly levels, she said. In 2018, 66 Montrealers — many of them seniors, people with chronic conditions and residents of densely populated, low-income neighbourhoods — died in a heat wave.
“We’ll have to think outside the box,” Plante said.
Plante has promised to unveil a plan to help relaunch the city’s economy in May.
With festivals cancelled, restaurants closed and theatres shuttered, Plante said she would be calling on higher levels of government to throw a lifeline to the city’s tourism and hospitality industries.
“They have more substantial sources of revenue to support those sectors that really need help,” she said.