Quebec premier announces end to curfew Monday, back-to-school plan

Quebec's much-maligned second curfew of the pandemic is coming to an end Monday, said Premier Franois Legault as he joined key cabinet ministersto announce a relaxing of some COVID-19 measures Thursday afternoon.

LegaultaddressedQuebecersin a news conference Thursday afternoon, alongside Education Minister Jean-FranoisRoberge, Health Minister Christian Dub and interim Public Health Director Luc Boileau.

Healso announced schools will be reopening to in-person learning Monday, withall students wearing masks indoors. Students and educators who test positive or are in close contact with someone withCOVID-19are being asked to isolate themselves for five days.

WATCH | Legaultsaysprojections improving enough to end curfew,reopen schools:

Quebec premier says pandemic projections improving enough to end curfew and reopen schools

3 years ago

Duration 1:57

Franois Legault says COVID-19 hospitalizations could begin to drop next week, news that has led to a decision to end the curfew and reopen of schools on Monday.

Several CEGEPs and universities have already announced that they plan toreopen later this month.

Stores in the province, ordered to close on Sundays for the past two weeks, will be allowed to reopen on Sundays as of next week.

Legault said the province has brokered a deal with a Quebec company to purchase 70 millionrapid tests for at-home use by Quebecers. Those testswill be distributedgradually over the coming weeks and months.Students will receive tests in the days followingtheir return to classes, as well.

The premier said he hoped to reopen restaurants and concert venues shortly to those who are adequately vaccinated.

"We have good news today. Experts tell us the new cases have peaked,and the wave of hospitalizations is expected to peak in the coming days," Legault said.

"We have to remain careful. Hospitalizations are still high and could continue to increase."

Vaccine passports at more stores

The government has also decided asof Jan. 24, that customers will berequired to show their vaccine passports to shop atbig-box stores of 1,500 square metresor more, with the exception of grocery stores and pharmacies, which are considered essential services.

The 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. curfew began almost exactly two weeks ago, garnering criticism asLegault provided little evidence thatcurfews areeffective at slowing transmission of the virus.

The announcement of the latest measures come on the same day that Quebec's public health research institute, the Institutnational de sant publique du Qubec(INSPQ), released its latest pandemic projections, which predicteda reduction in hospitalizations by the end of the month, and that new hospital admissions would peaksometime next week.

However, in a Twitter post, L'Institut national d'excellence en sant et en services sociaux (INESSS), the government agency thatdevelopstools to evaluate the clinical and organizational performance of the health-care system,declined to make any projections right now,"given the uncertainty of the data."

Boileau, who headed INESSS until earlier this week, agreed "there is obviously still some uncertainty around the evolution of the pandemic," but he said that hospitalization data has started to show the beginnings of a plateau.

"It's stillincreasing, but not an increase that'sas strong as in recent weeks," he said.

As for the impact of a return to school on COVID-19 transmission, Boileau said rather than schools driving the spread of COVID, the case count in schools is more a reflection ofthe level of spread in the community.

"But we'll be very careful," he said.

In December, the majority of COVID-19 outbreaks were in elementary schools and factories.

Legault and Boileau said experts now have a better understanding of the highly transmissible Omicron variant, which caused the highest spike in hospitalizations in the province since the start of the pandemic, even thoughhealth officials have said it usually produces a less severeform of the disease.

Premier defends proposed tax on unvaccinated

Legault last addressed the provinceonTuesday, when he named Boileau to the post of interim public health director.

Dr. Horacio Arruda, who held the position for nearly 12 years, tendered hisresignation Monday evening.

Arruda had been criticized for supporting Legault'smovein early Decemberto allow indoor gatherings of upto 20 peopleover the holidays, as well as for offering little evidence to backa return to anovernight curfew, announced the day before New Year's Eve.

Healso came under fire at the end of December for saying N95 masks were not as efficient as surgical masks if wornimproperly. On Thursday, Boileau said that Public Health had determined teachers do not require N95 masks.

Thegovernment is not backing down from a plan announced Tuesday to charge unvaccinated Quebecers a "health contribution" an amount the premiersaid mightbe leviedwhen citizensfiletheir income tax.

Nearly 13 per cent of Quebecers over the age of five have not yet receiveda single dose of a COVID-19 vaccine,and they represent about 46 per cent of new intensive care admissions, according to the Quebec Ministry of Health.

Legal andethics expertsquestionwhethersuch punitive measures arethe right way to persuadepeople to get immunized.

Legault defendedthe proposed tax Thursday, saying it would be"an incentive to protect [the unvaccinated] from themselves."

CAQpopularity waning

Despite some recent missteps in his government's pandemic response, Legaultremainsone of the Canadian premiers with the most popular supportthough recent data collected bythe polling aggregation websiteQc125.com show supportfor his party, Coalition Avenir Qubec, may have declined in recent weeks.

About 43 per cent of those surveyed said they support the CAQ,compared to 47.4 per cent in early December.

Thursday, Legault said he wasn't aware of the polls when he made the decision to end the curfew.

"What we're trying to do right now is not respond to polls, but to the real situation," he said.

"I'm not here to win a popularity contest; I'm here to protect Quebecers."