National Post (National Edition)
How Montreal became epicentre
OTTAWA • With more than 2,600 cases of COVID-19, Montreal has become Canada’s infection hot spot. So authorities are turning to the police — and hefty fines — to crack down on those still flouting social distancing orders.
“Today, I am going to allow myself to be more direct. Montreal is the epicentre of the pandemic. Understand that we are now in the upward curve of the pandemic,” warned the city’s regional director of public health, Dr Mylène Drouin, on Thursday.
Drouin, as well as Montreal Mayor Valérie Plante and Quebec Premier François Legault, is increasingly frustrated at “a minority” of Montrealers and Quebecers who continue to flout orders to avoid public gatherings of more than five people and keep a distance of two metres between each other.
Over the last few weeks, Quebec media has reported on a plethora of gatherings that have occurred despite the pandemic, ranging from events in the city’s parks to weddings with hundreds of guests.
Since the carrot isn’t working for some people, both Legault and Plante decided on Thursday that it was time to bring out the stick.
“Today, I sent a message to police officers for the Sûreté du Québec and municipal police services to be less tolerant. I don’t think we can accept that a vast majority of people are making an effort to fight the virus, and those efforts are annihilated by a few others who aren’t taking it seriously. Police will hand out more fines,” a visibly impatient Legault said during a press conference.
And those fines aren’t trivial, the premier warned: between $1,000 and $6,000 per person caught disregarding physical distancing orders. A business caught conducting “non-essential” services can be fined between $3,000 and $5,000.
The premier also said police forces throughout the province have already received over 7,000 tips about Quebecers flouting public health orders.
Later the same day, Montreal’s mayor repeated her threat made on Wednesday to shut down the city’s much-loved parks if people didn’t smarten up. She also announced that the city’s police force, the SPVM, would significantly increase its park patrols.
“For the past 14 days, we have been focused on spreading awareness. When we saw groups that didn’t respect public health orders, we went and warned them to break it up. Now, if a group is caught red-handed, we’re going to write them up,” said Inspector André Durocher of the SPVM in an interview.
“Our police officers have told us that people that they warn on one day have to be warned again the next day. So at one point, we have to act. There is no one who can say they don’t know about public health rules anymore,” he added.
But with nearly one quarter of Canada’s known COVID-19 cases, how did Montreal become this country’s infection epicentre in the first place?
Public health experts have noted many reasons, notably an earlier March break than the rest of Canada, faster and more aggressive testing as well as a high rate of community transmission.
This year, Quebec’s March break was on the first week of the month, as opposed to the second or third for most Canadians provinces.
Thus, “all the travel happened before the World Health Organization ever declared the pandemic and the travel restrictions came in. For us, the damage was already done. Travellers going back to school or work on the 9th did so unknowingly. What you see happening in Montreal now is partly due to that,” said Dr Nathalie Auger, an epidemiologist at the University of Montreal’s School of Public Health.
Quebec has also outpaced all other provinces in COVID-19 testing, leading to higher number of confirmed cases. The province also includes presumptive cases in its daily tally, which further boosts its numbers.
But community transmission has also been a significant driving force behind the virus’s rapid spread, public health authorities have warned.
For example, the Montreal Gazette reported that on March 12, one wedding in Westmount attracted hundreds of people who were apparently oblivious to the COVID-19 threat.
On the same day, another smaller wedding in Côte StLuc attracted some guests from New York City, which would later become the American epicentre of the virus, the newspaper stated.
Among the hardest hit is Montreal’s Hasidic Jewish community, which pushed police to ensure religious events in the city’s Outremont and Mile End were cancelled in the last week. Leaders of another Hasidic group located in Boisbriand, just north of Montreal, put the community into self-quarantine in the hopes of slowing the virus’ spread.
I SENT A MESSAGE TO POLICE OFFICERS FOR THE SÛRETÉ DU QUÉBEC AND MUNICIPAL POLICE SERVICES TO BE LESS TOLERANT.