Updates from March, 2020 Toggle Comment Threads | Keyboard Shortcuts

  • Kate 10:16 on 2020-03-28 Permalink | Reply  

    Five Montreal firefighters have COVID-19 and others have had to go into quarantine, so the remaining workers have changed their shift patterns and delayed vacations (although where could you go on vacation now?).

    A third STM worker has the rona – in fact I’m surprised more drivers haven’t got it, considering their degree of exposure to the public even after they taped off the front of the buses.

    Workers at at NDG pharmacy have also tested positive.

    Le Devoir has a statement from an SAQ worker about what it’s like when every day is like the day before Christmas, and people ignore the rules.

    Le Devoir also reports on the various hotspots around town, including a couple of outbreaks in Jewish communities following Purim and one big wedding in the west end. (Contrast Côte St-Luc mayor Mitchell Brownstein’s keenness on bringing in quarantine procedures with Hampstead mayor Bill Steinberg’s Trump-style denial of the facts.)

     

    • Kate 18:49 on 2020-03-27 Permalink | Reply  

      There had been plans for a new installation to replace the baubles that floated over the Village in summertime, but it’s been postponed till next summer. A decision whether that part of Ste-Catherine will become a pedestrian mall again this year hasn’t yet been made.

       

      • Kevin 20:06 on 2020-03-27 Permalink

        Magic 8 Ball says don’t bet on it

      • Tim F 08:07 on 2020-03-28 Permalink

        Non sequitur: What happens to projects like Royalmount and the Quartier des lumières (Maison Radio-Canada) do you think? Full steam ahead? Mothballed? Dead for the next 10 years?

    • Kate 18:47 on 2020-03-27 Permalink | Reply  

      Mayor Plante declared a local state of emergency Friday afternoon, but the city is not yet cordoned off from the rest of Quebec. Plante is specifically concerned about how to manage the people with no homes to go to – how can you ask them to stay home if you don’t provide means for them to do so?

       

      • JP 21:03 on 2020-03-27 Permalink

        I saw a pretty enthusiastic soccer game happening at a local park as well as a full basketball court on my daily 6pm walk…looked like a bunch of young guys. I didn’t get too close. Normally, I think this is great. I understand the need for exercise and being outdoors, but it grates me that people still don’t get it!! Stay home or go for a walk/bike ride/jog!!!

      • walkerp 22:58 on 2020-03-27 Permalink

        You saw a full basketball court? Outside? In Montreal? I haven’t seen this pre-corona. Where, pray tell?

      • Kate 23:26 on 2020-03-27 Permalink

        Cops should be breaking up scenes like that, JP.

      • JP 00:26 on 2020-03-28 Permalink

        I’m questioning my definition of a full basketball court now…but I’d say there were about 10 or so kids (teens?) there. It’s a court on Acadie across from the La Dauversiere high school.

        I agree that the cops should break up scenes like that.

      • walkerp 07:52 on 2020-03-28 Permalink

        Thanks, JP. Not good that they are doing it now, but if this all gets fixed, I may take a look over there to see if there actually is a place in Montreal outside with pickup games.

      • Tim S. 09:39 on 2020-03-28 Permalink

        So, question for everyone: We (me, wife, kids) have been in pretty much full isolation for 12-14 days now, and are healthy. We were planning to go visit my 70+ father, who’s been by himself for most of the past two weeks, but others in my family think this could be considered an illegal gathering and neighbours might call the cops on us. Should we go?

      • Kate 09:42 on 2020-03-28 Permalink

        Tim S., there are variables, but on the whole I don’t think it’s a good idea. If you really did isolate and he lives on his own nearby, just maybe, but if you have to drive any distance, or if he lives in a residence, you can see how many ways it could slip up. If you have to stop on the way for food or bathrooms or to buy groceries, or if one of the kids forgets to wash their hands, etc. etc., no, not now. I don’t know about illegal, but I think the phone will have to do for now, or Skype or Facetime if he can do that.

      • John B 09:50 on 2020-03-28 Permalink

        @Tim S: From the definition that Quebec provided, it would be an illegal gathering. I also saw something recently, (maybe on CBC’s nightly “ask the doctors” segment), where someone asked the question “If I’ve been in isolation and am symptom free, can I go visit someone else in isolation who is symptom free?” and the response was that it’s a bad idea.

        I doubt that anyone will call the cops, but it does go against the social contract to stay isolated & stop the spread of the disease.

        Also, schools only closed 15 days ago. How sure can you be that nobody in your home is carrying the disease? Has anybody coughed even once in those 15 days? If so maybe they have the virus but almost no symptoms, and maybe they passed it to someone else in the family who isn’t showing symptoms yet. If you’ve been out to buy food, especially near the beginning, there’s a chance you picked it up and don’t know it yet. Is it worth the risk of maybe bringing it to your father?

      • Alison Cummins 10:42 on 2020-03-28 Permalink

        Tim S.,

        Kids can carry the virus without showing any symptoms. People your father’s age are much more likely to become very sick and die. (Alone, not surrounded by family, because family are not allowed in.)

        Even if the risk is low — which we can’t know, it might be high — the consequences could be devastating.

        If you choose to visit your father, respect the fact that he is particularly vulnerable. Go alone, don’t touch him (keep a distance of a dining table between you at all times), wear a mask and wash your hands before and after touching anything in his home or any part of your face.

        Does he have the ability to video chat? I call my father every day to video chat with him and tell him to stay the fuck home,

      • dwgs 08:56 on 2020-03-29 Permalink

        Off topic @ walkerp…Not sure what neighbourhood you live in but in Georges St. Pierre park in lower NDG (aka Oxford Park) there is a full size outdoor b-ball court where there is often a pick up game in progress during normal times. It’s at the corner of Upper Lachine and Oxford. You can go have a sub at Momesso’s afterwards.

      • walkerp 09:59 on 2020-03-29 Permalink

        Thank you, dwgs! I did not know about that. Added to the list to check out post-corona.

      • Tim S. 15:44 on 2020-03-30 Permalink

        Thanks for the thoughtful comments everyone. Lots to think about.

    • Kate 12:07 on 2020-03-27 Permalink | Reply  

      A jewelry shop on the Main – in the space where Simcha’s used to be, at Napoléon – was burgled this week while closed, and two very heavy safes were removed from the premises. The Journal says half a million bucks’ worth of goods were stolen.

       

      • walkerp 13:43 on 2020-03-27 Permalink

        Total speculation, but this feels like organized crime. Was probably cased a long time ago, maybe by somebody who worked at the restaurant. But they would have needed more funding and muscle to do the job, especially move the safes and then get them open later. Just waiting for the right moment and boy did they get it. Really sad for that guy.

      • Douglas 17:19 on 2020-03-27 Permalink

        I’m 100% sure he had those stones insured.

      • Douglas 17:27 on 2020-03-27 Permalink

        Something smells fishy. Almost all the time, buildings next to each other have either brick walls / ciment blocks dividing the two buildings from top to bottom.

        You can see on google street view the bricks of the Rosas building…. Those bricks are never sitting on just 2×4 wood planks as I saw in the video.

        Someone knew there was an easy section with just gypse separating the two buildings. Robbers would never be able to destroy a hole big enough in the bricks / ciment blocks without it collapsing on them or waking up the entire area.

        Very fishy. Owner could have done this.

      • Kate 19:03 on 2020-03-27 Permalink

        Well, let’s not have aspersions cast on anyone. Police who investigate such things are not stupid, and insurance investigators are not stupid. If there’s been dirty work at the crossroads, it’ll be found out.

      • JP 00:43 on 2020-03-28 Permalink

        I’m very much in agreement with Douglas here. You own a jewelry store and store your jewelry safe in a room that is barely secure from the building next to you. Inside job. Very clean. Worked in tandem with someone at the restaurant, maybe even the owner of the restaurant. They’ll split the “insurance profits.” That acting for CBC’s cameras was just awful. I would hope investigators would try to see through it, but if they can’t prove anything…

    • Kate 09:10 on 2020-03-27 Permalink | Reply  

      Spring in Villeray has usually involved opening the window to hear the endless procession of planes coming in over the neighbourhood on their way to YUL. I don’t mind this as much as some people do, but it’s a definite feature of the warmer months under a flight path.

      Here’s a bit of silver lining: there are not so many planes these days.

      Has anyone seen any reporting about the state of the air around Montreal at the moment?

       

      • JF Prieur 09:23 on 2020-03-27 Permalink

        Here is a chart i posted on Twitter, I track planes for Flights were

        https://twitter.com/AdmiralHackbar/status/1243245627460460549?s=20

      • Kate 10:42 on 2020-03-27 Permalink

        Thank you. It’s always nice to know one hasn’t imagined a change in things.

      • Brett 15:33 on 2020-03-27 Permalink

        For air quality, you can check https://aqicn.org/city/montreal/ and scroll down for historical data. It seems numbers for PM2.5 have been lower since the lockdown started.

      • qatzelok 17:37 on 2020-03-27 Permalink

        I’m usually really sick with dust allergies during March and April every year. This year, my sinuses are fine, even with the windows open. Also, I usually have to keep a fan next to my head to block out car noise. This year, I can sleep silently, which is a much better sleep. : )

    • Kate 08:59 on 2020-03-27 Permalink | Reply  

      The SPCA is seeing a surge in pet adoptions as people cope with the isolation of COVID-19. People are also looking into animal fostering, for a more temporary solution to their problems.

       

      • jeather 13:05 on 2020-03-27 Permalink

        I was looking into fostering but apparently the need is very low. And tbh my cats would not love it.

      • Kate 14:26 on 2020-03-27 Permalink

        My fostering days are over: my cat flatly refuses to accept that other cats have the right to exist, even if they’re only walking by in the alley and she’s safe inside the back door.

      • jeather 00:42 on 2020-03-28 Permalink

        I think they might accept a v small kitten, as historically they’ve been ok with them. But really I won’t do anything as I have an 18 year old cat and she suffers enough from the other cats already. I just sort of want a teensy baby kitten to show up by magic.

      • Kate 09:58 on 2020-03-28 Permalink

        jeather, you know the Pussy Patrol, don’t you? They always have kittens to manage at this time of year. They posted they weren’t allowing any potential adoption visits now, but they might, just might, have a kitten to be looked after.

      • jeather 14:28 on 2020-03-28 Permalink

        I really, really shouldn’t, but boy do I want to.

      • GC 15:30 on 2020-03-28 Permalink

        I really hope a lot of these people just foster and not adopt. If you were already looking to adopt a month ago, fine. For the others, if they didn’t want a pet before–or couldn’t because of their job/lifestyle–then they are not going to want it after isolation ends, either.

      • Kate 16:02 on 2020-03-28 Permalink

        What’s odd is I saw one post about people abandoning pets, too, but haven’t seen anything else suggesting that’s been common. There’s zero indication that our pet animals pose a risk, and I’m seeing a lot of anecdotes about how happy everyone’s cats and dogs are to have their people around more, and in general how humanizing it is to have a pet when you’re isolating, especially alone.

        GC, I know what you mean. Especially with dogs, it’s one thing to adopt a dog when you’re home all the time, quite another to deal with its needs when you’re out for long periods at work. People need to be realistic about this.

    • Kate 08:50 on 2020-03-27 Permalink | Reply  

      The city’s church bells will all be ringing for ten minutes Sunday at noon, in an apparent attempt to comfort people, not to alarm them thinking it’s a warning of alien invasion.

      Update: This item says it will be “every Sunday till Easter” i.e. three consecutive Sundays if Easter is included.

       

      • denpanosekai 18:55 on 2020-03-27 Permalink

        I don’t want none of this. No church bells, no mosque loudspeakers, no nothing at all.

      • Kate 19:33 on 2020-03-27 Permalink

        Without being religious at all, I like church bells. Try standing on Place d’Armes when the bells of Notre Dame let loose. You can feel them all the way down your spine. But even a decent-sized parish church can make a great sound.

      • Ian 04:48 on 2020-03-28 Permalink

        Besides as we’ve been told repeatedly, Catholicism isn’t religion, it’s patrimoine. /s
        That said now that synagogues are closed my neighbours have taken to praying loudly every morning on their stoops so I get woken up by people chanting. Bells wouldn’t be more annoying and would at least be shorter.

    • Kate 08:48 on 2020-03-27 Permalink | Reply  

      Hydro-Quebec is warning of scams in the form of fraudulent text messages offering refunds. There may also be bogus tax refunds offered via text.

       

      • Kate 08:22 on 2020-03-27 Permalink | Reply  

        Montreal’s major festivals are facing the axe this summer and will have to acknowledge this soon before planning goes any further. Cirque du Soleil has already laid off most of its workers and Just For Laughs three quarters of theirs.

        Minor baseball leagues are also looking at a shutdown, and the revival of major league baseball here is also facing a setback.

         

        • Kate 23:34 on 2020-03-26 Permalink | Reply  

          Orléans-Express is going to suspend the bus route between Montreal and Quebec City starting Sunday. They’re blaming a steep drop in demand rather than calling it a public health decision.

           

          • Kevin 11:07 on 2020-03-27 Permalink

            All its routes, not just Qc-MTL

          • Kate 23:27 on 2020-03-27 Permalink

            Thanks, Kevin.

        • Kate 23:30 on 2020-03-26 Permalink | Reply  

          Horacio Arruda – do I need to define him as the Quebec director of public health? – says we should stay out of the west end, which is defined later in the item as Côte‑St‑Luc and Côte‑des‑Neiges, with the downtown area coming third in counts of COVID-19 cases.

          However, the mayor of Hampstead gives us an even better reason to stay far away from his patch. Bill Steinberg says we shouldn’t believe the media, which he feels are exaggerating the seriousness of the pandemic.

          It’s possible Montreal will see stricter measures of control in upcoming days. Dr. Arruda already asked people not to travel between regions of Quebec, so maybe we could be asked not to circulate to other neighbourhoods? Apparently this worked in South Korea.

           

          • david100 02:39 on 2020-03-27 Permalink

            Trust me, from long experience, I can guarantee that nobody should travel to Hampstead or Côte‑St‑Luc, pandemic or not.

          • david100 02:43 on 2020-03-27 Permalink

            I guess you can be arrested for walking down the street in most neighborhoods in this pandemic moment, but Hampstead and Côte‑St‑Luc pioneered that take-down technique way back. Best thing is that it wasn’t race-based, or anything – was totally based on a complicated decision matrix of (1) whether the neighbors knew you; (2) whether the cops knew you; and (3) whether you were a teenager, or some other such ruffian.

            God help you if you were a teenager wandering through the hood, unknown both to locals and cops. There’s probably a town somewhere in Abitibi where they’re still trying to get home, after having been dropped off by our “cops.”

          • Kate 08:01 on 2020-03-27 Permalink

            I used to have to cut through Hampstead when I walked to high school. Walked along Ellerdale until it turned into Fielding. Never had any issues, but then I was an innocent-looking little white girl.

            Shoe drops: No, no, no, david100, you can’t be arrested for walking down the street. Police might break up any ad hoc gatherings, but (as noted in other recent comments here) even things like soccer and basketball games are still going on in some parks. But we’re allowed out. You can go buy groceries – cautiously.

        • Kate 23:16 on 2020-03-26 Permalink | Reply  

          People who work with the homeless say there’s been talk but very little is being done to help them at a time when they need extra care not to become vectors of contagion or get sick themselves.

          The CBC item goes into the need for volunteers, and mentions François Legault’s announcement Thursday of a website where people can offer their help. But I can’t make this square with other demands being made. You can’t do most volunteer work from home. You have to go somewhere and mix with other people. For example, the CBC piece mentions a need for people to cook for a soup kitchen, which is not something you do in isolation, or necessarily while keeping two meters away from the people you’re working with. Will volunteers have to be regularly tested?

           

          • Alison Cummins 23:42 on 2020-03-26 Permalink

            I imagine it’s something like being a health care worker. It’s gotta be done, so you do it — and “it” includes protecting yourself.

          • JP 20:53 on 2020-03-27 Permalink

            Regarding volunteering in a kitchen, maybe they’ve decided to have fewer volunteers within the same space. I noticed the Santropol Roulant has made some changes to their volunteering shifts recently.
            https://santropolroulant.org/en/2020/03/prevention-measures-covid-19/

            I have no idea about the regular testing, though something tells me there won’t be.

          • Michael Black 21:34 on 2020-03-27 Permalink

            Alison’s right.

            But, one issue I read is that many volunteers were older, and thus vulnerable. And groups are unwilling to add new volunteers at this time, because they might have the virus.

            An earlier article mentioned that many groups relied on groups of volunteers from a business and that’s dropoed off as business shut down.

            But, Resilience Montreal has a post up.asking for people who can cook at home. Well the home part is sort of implied. So maybe they see it as an emergency situation, so regular rules don’t matter.

            They already moved to the park to hand out food (that old McDonald’s place is cramped, when I.dropped something off in December a lot of people in the space where the door opens, not sure how they use tge space), and apparently the cops tried to shut them down. Now it’s part of tye plan. At least the weather is warming up. They were also looking for clothes. Resioience as a building is closed, though I can’t remember where I saw that

          • Alison Cummins 21:55 on 2020-03-27 Permalink

            So they need… Money? Food? Volunteers? It’s unclear what exactly is needed, and from who. And if someone has resources to offer, who to contact.

        • Kate 19:32 on 2020-03-26 Permalink | Reply  

          CBC says the first Montreal victim of COVID-19 was a Hasidic man from Outremont who started showing symptoms Sunday and was dead by Wednesday night.

           

          • Kate 13:14 on 2020-03-26 Permalink | Reply  

            As of next Monday, the STM plans to reduce bus and metro service by 20% in response to a reduction in ridership (75% for buses, 80% in the metro).

             

            • Blork 13:55 on 2020-03-26 Permalink

              I won’t do it, but it is very tempting to go for a Metro ride just to see this…

            • Kevin 21:51 on 2020-03-26 Permalink

              I was on the metro Wednesday. Few enough riders that I could easily stay away from them

            • CE 09:19 on 2020-03-27 Permalink

              I had to take the 80 bus yesterday, there was a max of 6 people on the bus and at one point I was the only passenger. I put on the GO feature on Transit and where I would normally “help” over 100 people at that time on that route, I got 6.

          • Kate 10:07 on 2020-03-26 Permalink | Reply  

            The quickly rising numbers of COVID‑19 cases in Quebec have alarmed many, but experts say the hike only occurred because of a surge in testing that caught up with the cases already in existence.

            A new drive-thru clinic is going to be opened at Cavendish Mall. Côte St-Luc has turned out to be something of a hotspot in town, so there are good reasons for this.

            Grocery stores have been unable to cope with the sharp rise in demand for delivery. While CTV has general advice on how to shop safely, La Presse reports how a recently returned snowbird was barred from two grocery stores in Lac St‑Jean.

            The Gazette, which has taken this moment to radically redesign its website, is doing its usual thing: a piece entitled “While you were sleeping: New day, same locked-down life” subheaded “We’ll be doing this for weeks”. When did the Gazette decide its leading tone should be passive-aggressively pissed off? It’s been like this for a long time. (I’m going to write something soon about what the various Montreal media do well and what they don’t – I started writing it here, then recalled this is meant to be a post about COVID‑19 …)

            QMI is raising an eyebrow at the Legault government’s view that making cigarettes is an essential service. The official line is that they want to circumvent an influx of illegal cigarettes, but I suspect Legault & cie also feel it would be bad politics to shut down indulgences at a time like this, thus keeping the SAQ and SQDC open and the cigarette factories rolling.

            CTV also covered the question of the safety of going for a walk, which we touched on here on Wednesday. The tl;dr here is that yes, you can walk, but don’t go too far from home, and keep your distance.

             

            • Meezly 10:39 on 2020-03-26 Permalink

              Wha…? I was thinking this would be a great time for smokers to quit their disgusting habit, esp. now that they’re home-bound, not exercising and their tar-coated lungs are more vulnerable to the ravaging effects of Covid-19.

              Since people are smoking at home more often, there are more cigarette butts littering my street. You’d think smokers would use ashtrays or empty cans, but no, they merely toss their butts onto the sidewalk.

            • Blork 10:40 on 2020-03-26 Permalink

              Well I wish some of the goddamn runners would reel it in a bit. It’s one thing to cross paths with someone who’s out for a stroll, but it’s another thing to be standing at an intersection waiting for your light when a runner sidles up next to you and runs in place right next to you for 30 seconds or a minute all while breathing very heavily.

              Worse is the old runner who passed me yesterday at a snail’s pace, barely faster than my walking gait. He came up from behind and shuffled past mere inches off my elbow, while wheezing heavily with very phlegmmy sounding lungs. FFS!

            • Blork 10:41 on 2020-03-26 Permalink

              Regarding smoking, it should be noted that quitting smoking can be really hard for many people, and darn near impossible during stressful times.

            • Meezly 11:31 on 2020-03-26 Permalink

              True. But it shouldn’t prevent them from cultivating civil smoking habits. Cities are laying off municipal employees during this crisis, so smokers shouldn’t assume that sidewalks are being cleaned.

            • DeWolf 12:01 on 2020-03-26 Permalink

              I haven’t seen much information about going out for a bike ride. I assume that if it’s fine to go for a walk around the neighbourhood, the same applies for riding a bike? That’s what I plan to do tomorrow, after several days of not leaving the house, because it’s a lot easier to keep a physical distance from others on a bike than on the sidewalk.

            • Alison Cummins 12:03 on 2020-03-26 Permalink

              Cigarettes are a common way for people to manage their mental health, and for confined people to mark time. Smoking used to be actively encouraged in wartime, in prisons and on psychiatric wards.

              There might be better ways — SSRIs offer a better cost/benefit profile than cigarettes for anxiety — but there are a bunch of people out there who would rather smoke than take pills or do yoga, and I’m not sure the medical system wants to take on a surge of smoking-cessation counselling at this exact moment.

            • John B 12:07 on 2020-03-26 Permalink

              CBC had an article on going out for exercise the other day. They try to manufacture some controversy, (between Trudeau’s “Go home and stay home” and the top doctors in each province saying it’s fine to go out for exercise), but it comes down to yeah, it’s fine to go out & exercise, (including biking), if you maintain the 2 metre distance. On a bike I’d try to keep some extra space, since you’re moving faster you could quickly end up in someone else’s snot cloud if a cyclist 2m in front of you sneezes or coughs.

              I went for a bike ride yesterday. The downtown streets are nearly empty. I rode Sherbrooke from Westmount to Papineau, and came back on René-Levesque. As a cyclist this is your chance to ride streets you never would during normal times, (and I bet there will be fewer cyclists there than on the bike paths).

              For smoking, I can’t imagine someone trying to go through withdrawl right now. It’s not the time to cut access to cigarettes, (same for alcohol & pot).

            • Clément 12:54 on 2020-03-26 Permalink

              @Blork, here is what it looks like as a runner:

              Well I wish some of the goddamn runners strollers would reel it in a bit. It’s one thing to cross paths with someone who’s out for a stroll jog, but it’s another thing to be standing at an intersection waiting for your light when a runner stroller sidles up next to you and runs stands in place right next to you for 30 seconds or a minute all while breathing coughing very heavily.

              Worse is the old runner group of strollers who passed blocked me yesterday at a snail’s pace walking four abreast, barely faster than my walking gait moving aside to let me pass safely… FFS!

            • Tee Owe 13:16 on 2020-03-26 Permalink

              Blork, Clément – gotta add my own 2 cents worth here – where I live (not Montreal) the situation is just the same . I run at 7 in the morning to avoid all this hassle. So I come to a red light at a busy intersection and I’m waiting and a cyclist ‘sidles’ up beside me, and leans across me then asks me to push the pedestrian walk button – he’s like, in my face. Sigh (and I’m not touching that button)

            • Douglas 13:30 on 2020-03-26 Permalink

              The US banned alcohol during prohibition and the lessons learned from that is that its just not worth it.

              People will continue to consume it by all means necessary. And illegal if need be.

            • Patrick 13:43 on 2020-03-26 Permalink

              Talking about “essential services,” here in the US gun shops are said to qualify…

            • Blork 14:01 on 2020-03-26 Permalink

              @Clément, @Tee Owe, I get your point, but my point is that a huffing-and-puffing runner is making more of a cloud of potential viruses than a stroller, so it is MORE important for the RUNNERS to pro-actively create distance. In the two cases I mention in my example, it was the runners who came wheezing into the stroller’s space. IF YOU ARE BREATHING HEAVILY FROM EXERTION YOU SHOULD BE EXTRA CAREFUL AND GIVE PEOPLE FOUR METRES!

            • jeather 16:14 on 2020-03-26 Permalink

              Runners should not come up to strollers who are already at a crosswalk, waiting, but also vice versa.

            • mare 18:40 on 2020-03-26 Permalink

              Everybody should just start wearing a mask when outside. Not for your own protection necessarily, but to potentially prevent shedding the virus everywhere. It has helped elsewhere, will help here too.

              Some research papers on the subject:

              https://docs.google.com/document/d/1HLrm0pqBN_5bdyysOeoOBX4pt4oFDBhsC_jpblXpNtQ/mobilebasic

            • Clément 19:29 on 2020-03-26 Permalink

              @Tee Owe: Quebec City?
              I live in Quebec City and the only way to get a pedestrian crossing light is to actually press the button, otherwise, it’s all cars, all the time. It’s annoying at best of times, but now it’s actually dangerous. Worst is that the button don’t work if you wear gloves, you have to actually remove your gloves for the buttons to work!

              Jaywalking it is for me!

            • Dhomas 07:11 on 2020-03-27 Permalink

              I was in Quebec city over spring break, staying in Vieux Québec. All the pedestrian crossing “buttons” I used were contactless. You would need to wave your fingers under the device to activate it. I’m guessing that’s not in place everywhere yet.

            • Clément 13:26 on 2020-03-27 Permalink

              @Dhomas: The so-called contactless buttons often require that you get your hand really close to activate them and for some reason, they are less sensitive in winter, so you have to get even closer. And, as I’ve said, wearing gloves doesn’t seem to work.

            • Alison Cummins 14:11 on 2020-03-27 Permalink

              We’re at the QdS drive-thru clinic right now. According to the website we both qualify for testing — returned from overseas after March 2, one of us has symptoms, we live together — but they changed the criteria. They won’t test the non-symptomatic one because the results would be inconclusive.

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