QUEBEC CONCERTS WILL BE TESTS FOR RELAUNCH

The Quebec government is planning two concerts involving a total of 25,000 spectators in September as an experiment to examine the effect of COVID-19 on large gatherings and to help relaunch the entertainment and tourism industries. Researchers at Université Laval will oversee the two shows, which will be held in the Quebec City area, Tourism Minister Caroline Proulx, shown, said Monday. Public health authorities hope at least 75 per cent of Quebecers are fully vaccinated by then. “The goal is to have a test concert sometime in September that would reproduce the conditions pre-pandemic,” Proulx told reporters in Quebec City. Quebec is touting itself as the first province to attempt such an experiment; similar ones have been held in cities like Barcelona and Paris.