Drouin hopeful latest restrictions will help Montreal avoid lockdown

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Montreal’s top health official said she’s hopeful the latest round of COVID-19 restrictions will help the city steer clear of another full lockdown over the coming weeks.

Worried by rising COVID-19 cases, Premier François Legault last week rolled back the curfew to 8 p.m. in Montreal and Laval as of this past Sunday. The restrictions pale in comparison to those imposed on Gatineau, Lévis and Quebec City, where schools and non-essential businesses were earlier ordered shut amid soaring infection counts.

“If we’re able to restrict again, we probably won’t need to deploy emergency measures such as the ones we’ve seen in regions that had accelerations” in case counts, Dr. Mylène Drouin, Montreal’s public health director, said Wednesday morning in an interview with 98.5 FM.

“Above all else, I want to avoid a lockdown for Montreal or the closure of schools. As a population, we have to cling to our little pleasures — the good weather, the parks. There are things we can do. I know it’s a lot of effort, but I’m trying to focus on the hope, what we have in front of us, and how we’re managing well so far in the Montreal area.”

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Quebec reported 1,559 new cases of COVID-19, including 313 in Montreal, the provincial government said Wednesday. Montreal’s daily tally is down from 370 seven days ago, and more than 1,000 in early January.

Although variants now represent about 48 per cent of new COVID-19 cases in Montreal, health officials have been able to slow the increase in cases through “aggressive” testing, isolation and vaccination efforts, Drouin said. Methods include roaming vaccination clinics and “prevention brigades” that go door-to-door in neighbourhoods with sizeable immigrant populations.

“The progression is very slow,” Drouin said. “We are maintaining a sort of plateau. Yes it’s increasing, but it has nothing in common with what we’re seeing in other regions.”

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Hours after Drouin spoke, Quebec softened rules introduced Tuesday requiring people to wear masks outdoors for activities involving individuals from different households.

Responding to widespread confusion and criticism, Legault clarified Wednesday afternoon that the new mask directive “only applies to situations where it may be difficult to maintain a two-metre distance.”

“With the rise in variants, we want to add an additional layer of protection,” Drouin had earlier told 98.5 FM in defence of the mask requirement. “When there are groups of seven, eight or 10 people gathered together in parks, people move about, they get close. This is where we want to add the layer.”

Many cities and towns in European countries such as France have made mask-wearing compulsory for outdoor activities.

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In visiting several Montreal parks last weekend, Drouin said she was startled to see some people “passing a shisha around, a bottle of alcohol. We’re absolutely not in a situation where measures are being relaxed. I’m glad to see people are outdoors, taking advantage of the weather. Many people respect the measures. But if we want to at least stay in this zone, we have to keep those measures in mind. They’re not that restrictive.”

ftomesco@postmedia.com

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