Quebec goes on lockdown due to virus

Province’s move could impact businesses in North Country

The province of Quebec has announced a lockdown and curfew to limit the spread of COVID -19. It begins Saturday and is scheduled to run until Feb. 8. The curfew will run from 8 p.m. to 5 a.m. daily.

Northern New York business officials are examining what impact the move will have on cross-border traffic and commerce. The border has been closed to nonessential travel since last March, in the early days of the pandemic.

But essential cross-border business has continued.

“We have been in active communication with the Quebec government in recent days and are assured that there will be no interference with essential personnel commuting across the border,” said Garry Douglas, president of the North Country Chamber of Commerce in Plattsburgh, Clinton County, in a statement. “This happily includes the hundreds of Quebec doctors, nurses and health care professionals who are a vital part of the North Country’s health care system.”

The curfew is the latest move by Quebec officials to limit gettogethers that have been a source of the spread of COVID -19. Quebec warned that violators could face fines of as much as $6,000, or $4,729 in

U.S. dollars.

Excluded from the curfew are essential workers, dog walkers and individuals visiting the pharmacy. Manufacturers performing “priority ” work are also excluded.

“Many of our North Country manufacturers and other businesses depend on cross-border supply chains, so hopefully interruptions of these connections can be avoided in most cases,” Douglas said. “We know that several of our Quebec-based companies are working to clarify what activities can be regarded as priorities, and we have been told by the government that they do not want to interrupt manufacturing supply chains.

“We also have area businesses dependent on the Port of Montreal, as well as rail and trucking across the border, and we are told these shipping and transportation activities will continue,” Douglas added.

Amtrak suspended service into Canada last March at the start of the pandemic. Its Adirondack services to Montreal, for example, now terminate in Albany.

The Quebec lockdown and curfew, which follow an ongoing lockdown in Ontario, “does not bode well for the removal of border crossing restrictions anytime soon, possibly pushing our hopes for some relief off longer,” Douglas said. “It is certainly something we will continue to stay on top of in both Washington and Ottawa.”