By Matthew McCully
The province’s COVID-19 update press conference Wednesday was prefaced by a stern message from premier François Legault addressed to men about violence against women, following the murder of two women in Sainte-Sophie earlier this week.
As of Monday, March 8, the Estrie region, along with Capitale-Nationale, Chaudière-Appalaches, Mauricie and Centre-du-Québec will move to orange zones, meaning the curfew is extended until 9:30 p.m. and gyms and restaurants will be able to reopen.
Montreal, Laval, Laurentides, Monteregie and Lanaudière, however, will remain red zones for the time being, Legault announced Wednesday.
While there has been a decrease in COVID-19 cases in Quebec over the last few weeks, Legault said for the past 10 days the situation has stabilized, and experts predict an increase in cases in the coming weeks because of the UK variant of the virus.
Even so, and without knowing what impact March break will have on cases in the province, Legault announced that next week religious gatherings in orange zones can increase from 25 to 100 people, and only elementary school students in Grade 5 and up will have to wear a mask. Sports played by two people, gyms and restaurants can also reopen. Private gatherings, however, are still forbidden, Legault said. The province will wait until after March break to address a plan for theatres and concert venues.
The premier said the next two to four weeks will be difficult and called it a race against time, with March break and Covid variants on one side, and the vaccination campaign on the other.
Legault said 800,000 doses of vaccine are expected to arrive in the province throughout the month of March.
Tossing another bone to Quebecers, Legault said school sports will be allowed to resume everywhere in the province on March 15. More details about what will be allowed and the measures in place, as well as a plan for the gradual deconfinement of sports activities outside of schools will be announced next week.
Following the announcements, media questioned whether the move to orange, without knowing the impact of March break, were a bit premature and whether the province risked taking one step forward, two steps back. Legault said some regions have more wiggle room or ‘marge de manoeuvre’ if cases should increase, while that is not the case in Greater Montreal.
Quebec’s Public Health Director Horcaio Arruda described the loosening of restrictions as a calculated risk.
During Wednesday’s press conference, Legault addressed concerns about the vaccine rollout and the number of doses going to various regions. The premier explained that Montreal had received more doses recently because of the higher number of COVID-19 cases and cases of the UK variant, but that the distribution across the province was being done in an equitable way. He added that in addition to the mass vaccination centres and pharmacies, the government is also working on a plan to provide in-home vaccinations to seniors who are unable to travel to get vaccinated.
Quebec reported 729 new cases of COVID-19 Wednesday, bringing the total number of people infected to 289,670. According to public health, 271,908 people have recovered.
There were 19 new deaths, for a total of 10,426 in Quebec since the beginning of the pandemic. Hospitalizations decreased by 10 for a total of 618, and the number of people in intensive care is 120, down by one from the day before.
To date 638,445 doses of vaccine have arrived in the province, 472,710 of which have been administered.
In the Estrie region 31 new cases of COVID-19 were reported in the last day, bringing the local total to 11,616. One new death was reported at the Résidence H-N Parent, bringing the total deaths in the region to 304.
So far 21,168 doses of vaccine have been administered in Estrie.
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