“We are in a race against time,” said Prime Minister Francois Legault, adding that Quebec is losing the race so far.
A curfew takes effect on Saturdays from 8:00 PM to 5:00 AM. Restaurants, gyms, theaters and most stores will remain closed for a minimum of four weeks. Legault calls it “shock therapy” which he hopes will not need to be renewed.
Primary schools will reopen next week as planned, but more students will have to wear masks. Secondary schools reopen January 18.
All Quebecers are urged to stay home and travel only when absolutely necessary. Those who fail to comply can face fines of thousands of dollars.
“We’re talking about saving lives here and we’re talking about saving our health care system,” said Legault.
For weeks, many health care providers have lobbied the Quebec government to further detain, after warning that the hospital system was shrinking.
“None of us want a hard shutdown anymore, but we are in a very precarious situation right now,” said Dr. Marina Klein, research director and infectious disease specialist at McGill University Health Center, in an interview with CNN.
Québec has seen a steady increase in the number of new cases, hospitalizations and deaths from the coronavirus for months.
Data from the Quebec Ministry of Health shows that approximately 1,400 people are currently hospitalized with Covid-19, second only to the province of Ontario, with 76 new hospitalizations reported Tuesday alone.
A Quebec health advisory group warned in December that Quebec could use up hospital capacity by the end of January if hospital admissions continue to increase.
Klein says the partial restrictions in place in Quebec since the fall have been ineffective against the spread of the virus.
“It’s like a slow torture we’ve undergone, as opposed to the alternative solution, to do something that’s very difficult, very difficult for a short period of time and that is likely to be much more effective,” says Klein. She said health workers are exhausted and morale is low, as many have been exposed to the virus or already infected.
Canada is facing a persistent second wave of the virus, which, according to public health officials, is now getting worse by the day.
“Covid-19 is spreading among people of all ages, with high infection rates in all age groups. However, nationally, infection rates remain highest among those 80 and older who are most at risk for serious consequences,” Dr. Theresa Tam, Canada’s chief public health official, in a statement released Wednesday.
“The downstream effects of weeks and months of increased disease activity continue to be seen in still-rising numbers of serious illnesses and deaths …”
Ontario, home to two in five Canadians, is also experiencing an increase in hospital admissions despite imposing its own provincial lockdown on Dec. 26. The Ontario government says it is monitoring Quebec carefully and is considering tougher measures.
“I always say everything is on the table, but let’s see where the numbers are going,” Doug Ford, Ontario’s prime minister, said at a news conference on Tuesday.
Legault says businesses and schools are not a major source of dissemination. Instead, private gatherings at home led to the crisis. He said a circuit breaker-type lockout was now needed.
“I am concerned at this point that we are dealing with a possible introduction of an even more transmissible species, which is the one that is now being seen in the UK and whether that would arise in an already out of control epidemic that we we’re talking about a situation we’ve never seen, ”said Dr. Klein.