Quebecers who go to big-box stores to do their weekend shopping will not have to take out their phones to present their vaccination passport on Saturday, just like those who go to restaurants, cinemas, bars and others public places.
The obligation to present your vaccine passport, in force since September 1 in Quebec, was lifted on Saturday, along with several other health measures aimed at slowing the spread of COVID-19.
Thus, since Saturday, the reception capacity in all public places in Quebec has been increased to 100%. In addition, there is no capacity limit per table in restaurants, bars, taverns and casinos and these establishments will all be able to return to their normal operating hours.
It is also the return of dance and karaoke activities.
Marc Michaud said he was happy not to have to take out his phone when entering a breakfast restaurant in Brossard on Saturday.
“It’s nice to see some of those rules starting to weaken. I think people are pretty tired of everything after two years,” he testified.
He felt comfortable, he said, even though he had to wear a mask when not seated.
Peter Sergakis, who owns several bars and restaurants in the Montreal area, said it will take at least a year before things get back to normal.
“We feel very good, it was about time, two years now,” said Sergakis, citing other issues such as labor shortages and rising food prices due to inflation.
“We can see the light at the end of the tunnel now, but making money is going to take time,” he said. We cannot afford another closure. »
For Rachel Gendron, coming out of a café in the suburbs of Montreal, it feels good psychologically to see the restrictions removed.
“You have to be careful, for sure, there are still a lot of people in the hospital,” he said. All [la baisse des mesures] Seems to go fast, but I’m hopeful. »
No restriction on the number of participants for activities of a social nature is now imposed in a rented hall.
The register of visitors to private seniors’ residences has also been withdrawn.
Less isolation
“Contact cases” no longer need to isolate themselves.
Indeed, people who lived with a person infected with COVID-19 had until Friday to isolate themselves at home for five days. Since Saturday, it is no longer necessary to do so.
At a press conference on Thursday, the acting national director of public health, Dr. Luc Boileau, however indicated that these people must “take measures to protect others”, such as avoiding places where the mask can be removed.
However, it will be necessary to wait “by mid-April at the latest” for the end of the obligation to wear a mask in all public places, excluding public transport. In the latter case, the lifting of the obligation would come “at the earliest in May”.
The Direction générale de la santé publique du Québec considers that the vaccine passport has proven to be “a valuable tool for encouraging vaccination and protecting the population by reducing the risk of contagion. »
In its recommendations of February 14, it notes, however, that two million Quebecers have been in contact with the virus, and that “these people, whether vaccinated or not, would have an extremely low risk of being contagious after their illness. and/or to be re-contaminated by this same virus”.
Also, the risks of contagion are not reduced in the same proportions as with the Delta variant, largely dominant when the vaccine passport was implanted, she underlines.
In addition, Santé Québec no longer publishes its “dashboard” presenting the daily assessment of COVID-19 on weekends. However, raw data from the Quebec government indicated on Saturday that there were 1,099 patients in hospitals due to COVID-19.