Quebec now has a firm date to end its face mask mandate across public places in the province.
On Wednesday, Dr. Luc Boileau, the interim director of public health, said masks will no longer be required across the province as of May 14.
Masks will still be mandated on public transit and in healthcare networks and long-term care homes.
Boileau says public health has “all the indicators” — citing declining cases and hospitalizations — that the epidemiological situation in Quebec is getting “better and better.”
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Last week, Boileau admitted he doesn’t think the government will force the use of masks again for potential future waves of COVID-19. “We will most likely go into different phases,” he said. “We do not wish to come back with this as mandatory.”
On Wednesday, when asked about a chance of another wave in the fall, Boileau said there is “nobody on the planet who can guess what’s going to happen.”
When looking at the evolution and new variants, Boileau says public health doesn’t plan to reintroduce COVID-19 measures that were widely used and enforced over the past two years.
Boileau says health officials will continue to look at data before announcing when the mask mandate would be lifted on public transit.
Quebec’s mandatory mask policy has been in place since July 2020 — 21 months ago. Prince Edward Island, the only other province in Canada with a mask mandate, lifts its measures on May 6.