Home of the coronavirus pandemic in Canada, Montreal will make it mandatory to wear a mask in all public places closed from July 27, Valérie Plante, mayor of the city, announced on Monday. The second city of Canada follows suit the first, Toronto, and the national capital Ottawa, where the wearing of masks in closed public places becomes mandatory as of Tuesday. Valérie Plante justified the obligation of the mask by invoking on social networks "the emergence" in recent days "of certain outbreaks in the suburbs of the metropolis, which could undermine the efforts we have been making since the start of this pandemic". The measure will affect businesses, sports centers as well as bars and restaurants, she said.
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The government of Quebec already announced last week that the wearing of the mask would become mandatory in public transportation throughout the province as of July 13. Valérie Plante also invoked the fact that several merchants had "stressed the daily challenges they face in order to enforce the rules of hygiene and distancing in their establishment" . "For many, a slackening leading to a possible reconfinement would involve outright putting the key under the door" , she declared. "Going back would be a disaster for human lives and for our economy," she said.
"We will of course allow a period of adaptation and grace so that everyone is ready," she added, while assuring that in the end "we will not hesitate to take action against violators " . Quebec alone accounts for more than half of the approximately 105,000 cases of coronavirus recorded in Canada since the start of the pandemic and nearly two thirds of the 8,700 deaths, most in Montreal and its suburbs.
