Quebec to make masks mandatory on transit
Agencies will be given two weeks to prepare for new rule: sources
Wearing a mask will soon be obligatory for all users of public transit in Quebec.
In an about-face from their previous position, Premier François Legault and the director of public health, Horacio Arruda, are to make the announcement Tuesday at a Montreal news conference, government sources said Monday.
The decision follows weeks of debate about making masks mandatory — particularly in situations where the two-metre distancing rule is difficult such as on buses and the métro.
Until now, Quebec has hesitated and said enforcing such a rule to fight COVID-19 would be a problem because it implies penalties for not complying and some form of policing to monitor it all.
Instead it has “strongly recommended” the wearing of masks combined with hygiene measures such as hand washing.
Arruda never closed the door to the idea, but said he would prefer to see it become a social norm as is the case in some countries. He said he would wait for the opinions of international and Canadian experts.
The government is expected to give transit companies and the public two weeks to prepare for the new rules.
It is not expected to extend the mask requirement to stores and businesses.
At a news conference in Quebec
City on Monday, Arruda hinted at the shift in policy as a way of preparing for a possible second wave of virus this fall.
“It’s important to understand the virus still exists,” Arruda said after repeating that he is alarmed when he sees citizens letting down their guard.
“We all have a responsibility to prepare.”
He added the required use of masks on public transit is “very, very strongly being evaluated now.”
Pressure has been growing on the government to act on masks including from the Liberal and Parti Québécois opposition parties, which made the suggestion weeks earlier.
“Better late than never,” Liberal leader Dominique Anglade tweeted Monday afternoon. “But in public health sooner would have been better.
“Another reversal by François Legault that could have been avoided after we asked repeatedly for masks to be made mandatory in public transit.”
The Société de transport de Montréal announced in May it would distribute masks for free in the transit system, with Quebec offering to help find and pay for them.
Legault has stated one reason Quebec initially held back on masks was because it wanted to ensure healthcare workers had them first.
But in early June, a group of health care professionals recommended masks be made mandatory in closed public spaces as well as open spaces where physical distancing could not be maintained.
Toronto’s transit corporation has already announced it is making masks compulsory in its network starting July 2.
Meanwhile, new projection data was released Monday indicating that if Montreal-area citizens ease up on distancing rules by around 50 per cent, it could lead to an increase in the number of hospitalizations and deaths in July — which would then accelerate in August.
But the chances of the pandemic taking off again this summer in the general population “remain weak,” although spot flare-ups are possible in certain sectors, such as CHSLDS, meat-processing plants and factories.
The conclusions are included in the latest epidemiology projections produced by the experts at l’institut national de santé publique du Québec (INSPQ) and Université Laval.
The projection was released as the World Health Organization announced the worldwide pandemic is “far from being over,” with global deaths topping 500,000.
The good news in Quebec, however, is that there has been a significant increase — particularly in the greater Montreal region — of the number of people wearing face coverings, the INSPQ says.