Montreal officials say masks 'must become a social norm' as the city looks to a summer unlike any other

While Montreal braces for the reopening of some schools and businesses in the next few weeks, Mayor Valrie Plantewarned everyoneto get used to a world without close social interaction no gathering in parks, no parties, no concerts and no festivals.

"We are talking about deconfinement of certain sectors, not of the population at large," she said atabriefing Tuesday.

Residents must continue to stay in their own neighbourhoods and only make essential trips when necessary, she said, and she "strongly invites" everybody to cover their faceswhen they go tostores, ridepublic transit or navigatea busy sidewalk.

Physical distancing and regular hand-washing are still the main measures to prevent the spread of COVID-19, she said, and those public-health recommendations are hereto stay for the foreseeable future.

It will be a summer far different than Montrealers are used to, Plante said. There are still no concrete plans toopen water games, pools, libraries, sports facilities or even playgrounds, she said.

However, heradministration is working hand in hand with public health authorities to look at how to move forward with recreational services and working on ways to make the warmer monthsas enjoyable as possible, she said.

Plante said sheis pleased overall with Quebec's effort to gradually openschools and the economy.

But if Montreal sees outbreaks cropping up across the city as the economy and schools open, authorities will have to adjust accordingly, said Plante.

City buys50,000 face coverings for vulnerable population

Quebec and Montreal public health authorities now understand that many people carry the virus but are asymptomatic, said the director of Montreal's public health agency, Dr. MylneDrouin and that's why they are now stressing the importance of face-coverings.

"Face-coverings must becomea social norm," said Drouin.

The aim is to allow people to return to "a more or less normal life" while preventing a second wave of COVID-19, she said.

A big challenge for her agency is to figure outhow to keep dense work environments, public transit and other normally crowded places safe, she said.

"The public must also do its share and respect the guidelines," she said. "Clearly we have to maintain vigilance."

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Masks and face-coverings will not be mandatory, as not everybody in the community has the resources to make or buy a mask, Drouin said, and the city doesn't want to take on the role of enforcing such a requirement.

Plante said the city will do its best to make sure people without the means to buy or make a mask get one.

Her administration has ordered 50,000 reusable face-coverings that will be distributed to community groups throughout the city, with the aim of outfitting the island'smost vulnerable residents,to protect them as well as others from contagion.

More than 1,000 Montrealershave died

Twelve days after announcing that the island of Montreal had "attained the peak of the curve," Drouin said that plateau is holding, despite the fact that there are 450 confirmed new casesin the last 24 hours, bringing the total of COVID-19 cases on the island to more than12,000.

Drouin said 1,039 Montreal residents have died due to complications caused by COVID-19. Most of those deaths have been to residents of long-term care homes.

Health officials are still trying to figure outwhy Montreal has such a high death ratecompared to cities like Toronto, but Drouin saidit may be that Montreal's testing rate is so much higher. (Earlier this month, public health authorities began including more deaths as COVID-19 deaths, even in some peoplewho had not been tested.)

Drouin said it is also important to note that Ontario's lockdownbegan before its spring break, whereas Quebec saw a surge in cases whenpeople returned from travelling to hot zones like the United States and Europe in early March.

Cases on the rise inMontral-Nord

Drouin said public health needs to examine available capacity in the health-care network to see if it can handle an influx of new patients if there is a bump-up in infections oncecertain sectors of the economy and public life restart.

Certain neighbourhoods clearly have an epidemic curve higher than the others, and "we are very sensitive to this," Drouin said.

Montral-Nord is one borough that has seena significant increase in cases over the past three weeks. Public health data shows the borough has more than 1,150 infections.

More than 40 per cent of those infections are associated with CHSLDs or other types of long-term homes, Drouin said, and morethan 20 per cent of those infected are health-care workers.

"We're looking to have a specific screening strategy in this neighbourhood in the coming days," she said.

Saint-Michel and Riviere-des-Prairies are also seeing an increase in cases, Drouin said.

Her team will be looking at these areas to see what can be done to reduce transmission be it widening sidewalks in busy sectors, disseminating public-health directivesin multiple languages or working closely with community groups to ensure crucial information is spreading faster than the virus.

As Montreal public health zeroes in on theseacute outbreaks, Drouin said thelarger strategy will be to give everybody in every neighbourhood more access to testing.