Quebec's COVID-19 state of emergency is finally over after 811 days but that doesn't mean the end of all measures. The legislation to end the health emergency, Bill 28, passed by a vote of 68 to 42 in the National Assembly Wednesday, June 1. Its adoption puts an end to the formal state of emergency but empowers the government to continue to enforce some public health orders from the health minister until December 31.
Since July 2020, the Quebec government has made masks across the province mandatory in all public places. Well, nearly three years later, the COVID-19 Quebec mask mandate has officially been dropped. While it was originally meant to be lifted mid-April, the mask mandate in Quebec was extended following a bump in cases during the virus' sixth wave. Now, after lots of "will they, won't they," Quebec has officially lifted the mask mandate as of May 14, 2022.
Interim National Public Health Director Dr. Luc Boileau will hold an 11 a.m. Quebec press conference Wednesday and is expected to confirm an end date for the province's mask mandate at least in most spaces. Multiple outlets report that Boileau is sticking to the May 14 deadline he tentatively set on April 28.
A Quebec public health press conference could bring news about the end of the mask mandate. Interim National Public Health Director Dr. Luc Boileau is scheduled to give an update on the province's COVID-19 situation at 2 p.m. Thursday.The conference comes two weeks ahead of the projected end of face-covering requirements in most enclosed public spaces. Boileau has already twice pushed that deadline, first from mid-April to the beginning of May and then to mid-May.The director previously committed to monitoring the need for mask mandates and expressed hope that officials would be able to end them even earlier.
The Quebec mask mandate is projected to end in most enclosed public spaces on May 14, Interim National Public Health Director Dr. Luc Boileau said at a Thursday press conference. He cautioned, however, that officials would not confirm an end date for face-covering rules until next week when, he said, they would have a better sense of the direction of the COVID-19 situation as the sixth wave winds down.It will have been almost two years since the mask mandate took effect.