“We are in a race against time,” said Prime Minister Francois Legault, adding that Quebec has lost the race so far.
An evening clock from 20:00 to 05:00 will take effect on Saturday. Restaurants, gyms, theaters and most retail stores will be closed for at least four weeks. Legault calls it ‘shock therapy’ which he hopes does not need to be extended.
Primary schools will reopen next week as planned, but more students will be expected to wear masks. High schools reopen January 18.
All Quebecers are called upon to stay at home and travel only when absolutely necessary. Those who do not comply can be fined thousands of dollars.
“We’re talking about saving lives here and we’m talking about saving our healthcare system,” Legault said.
For weeks, many health workers have been pushing the Quebec government to shut down further, after warning that its hospital system was collapsing.
“None of us want a hard exclusion yet, but we are in a very precarious situation at the moment,” said Dr. Marina Klein, research director and specialist in infectious diseases at McGill University Health Center, said in an interview with CNN.
For months, Quebec has seen a steady increase in new cases, hospitalizations and coronavirus deaths.
Data from the Quebec Department of Health shows that about 1,400 people are currently hospitalized in Covid-19, the second to the province of Ontario, with 76 new hospitalizations reported Tuesday alone.
A health advisory group in Quebec warned in December that Quebec could run out of hospital capacity by the end of January if hospitalizations continue to increase.
Klein says the partial restrictions that have been in place in Quebec since the fall have been ineffective against the spread of the virus.
“It’s like a slow torture we’ve experienced, as opposed to the alternative solution, to do something that is very difficult, very difficult for a short period of time, which is likely to be much more effective,” Klein says. She said health workers are exhausted and morale is low as many have been exposed to the virus or are already infected.
According to health officials, Canada has dealt with a stubborn second wave of the virus, which is getting more serious by the day.
“Covid-19 spreads among people of all ages, with a high infection rate in all age groups. At the national level, however, infection rates remain the highest among those aged 80 and older who are at greatest risk for serious outcomes,” said Dr. Theresa warned. Tam, Canada’s chief public health official, in a statement released Wednesday.
“The downstream effects of weeks and months of increased disease activity are still being seen in ever-increasing numbers of serious illnesses and deaths …”
Ontario, home to two out of every five Canadians, is also facing an increase in hospitalizations, despite introducing its own province exclusion on Dec. 26. The Ontario government says it is closely monitoring Quebec and considering stricter measures.
“I always say everything’s on the table, but let’s see where the numbers go,” Ontario’s Doug Ford told a news conference on Tuesday.
According to Legault, businesses and schools are not a major source of distribution. Instead, private, social gatherings in homes have led to the crisis. He said the closure of the circuit breaker is now necessary.
“My concern at the moment is that we are facing a possible launch of an even more transmissible tension, these are the ones that are currently being seen in the UK, and if it were to get an already out of control epidemic what we have, we are talking about a situation we have never seen before, “said dr. Klein said.