March 12 is a date that bar and venue owners across Quebec have had circled on their calendars for the past few weeks.
It’s the day that things go back to — almost — normal.
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According to the Government of Quebec’s website, as of Sunday bars within the province will once again be able to keep their doors open and serve drinks until 3 am. Karaoke and dancing will also be able to resume as capacity limits return to full.
With distancing scrapped, capacity limits at maximum, and vaccine passports abolished, the only major COVID-19 restriction that remains is face masks, which will be optional in the coming weeks, according to Dr. Luc Boileau, Interim Director of Public Health
On Thursday, Boileau said the government is considering lifting the mask mandates sooner than expected. This comes after Premier François Legault announced that all public places in Quebec would lift face mask requirements by “mid-April at the latest.”
By this logic, there’s a good chance that bars will look and feel the way they did pre-pandemic by the end of March.