Fed up with federal inaction at the airport, Montreal plans to deploy public health workers to question and inform arrivals.
Updates from March, 2020 Toggle Comment Threads | Keyboard Shortcuts
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Kate
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Kate
We’ve now got 39 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Quebec, and François Legault has ordered bars, theatres, gyms, ski hills, sugar shacks, arcades and pools to close. “But the government wants people to keep working so businesses and office towers remain open, as will public transit.” Yay.
I was just out around Little Italy doing some normal non-hoarding grocery shopping for the week. Lots of folks were out – you would not have suspected anything had changed. I didn’t look inside the Caffè Italia but I saw people going in and out, and there was quite a crowd on the sidewalk outside Café Vito in Villeray as well.
At the SAQ, the cashier asked me to turn the wine bottle so he could scan the bar code without touching it, and asked me to pay with a card rather than cash. He had gloves on, and told me the union was insisting on these measures.
People still want to be out socializing. It’s hard to make Montrealers stay inside and stay away from society just as winter’s wrapping up and we all want to be outside for awhile.
Chris
>as will public transit
It better. Lots of hospital workers get to work that way.
Uatu
I went to the SAQ as well on Friday because I really needed a drink after the events of the past week…
Kate
Yup.
Alison Cummins
I think being outside is encouraged. We’re supposed to go out to do groceries, to help people and to go for walks — a formula both rational and humane.
Ian
I was out for a casual stroll soaking up some sun and I saw that all the Mile End cafés are full like nothing is going on at all.
It’s great that Legault is shutting down bars and asking restos to enforce distancing but the cafés need to be shut down too, it’s ridiculous.
Kevin
Very different in NDG. Friday was normal for a quiet time in winter. This morning very fee were out-except at the pharmacies
Ephraim
The cafes should be closed, other than pick up. People have to get this social distancing and QUICK. The faster we do this, the flatter the curve, the more lives we save and the quicker we get back to normal. I can’t even visit my mom.
walkerp
People were out for brunch but in way fewer numbers than you would normally have on a beautiful day in early March. I think they are slowly getting the idea.
JP
Re: Brunch in small groups and full cafes in Mile End: My sense is that there is still a segment of the population that feels they’re either immune to this or if they do get it, they’ll end up recovering and being fine, so why bother being cautious. Vulnerable populations (the elderly, immuno-compromised, etc) are all around us, not to mention we’re trying to alleviate pressure off the healthcare system. The point in taking this seriously, at least for me, is to protect those vulnerable populations and flatten the so-called curve.
I completely understanding stepping out, going for a walk, doing groceries, running errands, but full cafes!! I really, really wanted to meet up with friends this weekend, but it just seemed irresponsible. I think cafes should have had a “to-go” policy implemented. People can spend time in small groups with family/friends in their homes instead.
Ephraim
One of the countries was reporting a higher than usual amount of people under 60 with higher mortality rates. France yesterday cautioned against analgesics, telling people to use acetaminophen/paracetamol rather than asprin, ibuprofen, etc.
Blork
I had a dentist appointment scheduled for Monday morning and I got a call this afternoon that it has been cancelled on the advice of the dental board. *
OTOH this weird time is a chance to try new things. For some people that means working from home, or actually spending some time with their kids. For me it means I just ordered $250 worth of booze from the SAQ to be delivered to my door by Canada Post, even though there’s a spectacular SAQ Sélection about a seven minute walk from chez moi. I never had a reason to use that service before, but the idea of having some plug deliver booze to my door has been a weird fantasy since I was a teenager, so there.
I don’t think it’s called “the dental board” but you know what I mean.
Douglas
The gym!!
Make no mistake about it guys. We are officially in a recession that will last 6 months. Consumer confidence is overnight killed right now everywhere. Buckle up everyone.
mare
I have an appointment with a specialist tomorrow, after waiting 10 months on a “black box” waiting list. It better not get cancelled, I prefer to have this surgery done before there aren’t any operating rooms anymore; I also need to go back to work and earn some money.
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Kate
Usually lists of what’s open and closed are made for holiday weekends, so it’s a shift of gears to have a listing for a pandemic. The Grande bibliothèque has packed it in and closed, but the SAQ remains open.
Another shift of gears: people who have not been keen on François Legault are praising him for his decisiveness in facing this crisis. This pandemic will make some political careers and break others.
This is going to be a really hard time for restaurateurs and an additional blow to retail, unless you’re selling basics like groceries and domestic supplies. CTV talked to some merchants in Old Montreal, which is empty of tourists.
More to come, obv.
dominic
Can confirm, walked through Old Montreal yesterday. The usually PACKED rue St Amable had literally zero people on it. A few random people on St Paul and de la Commune, but just from listening in on conversations, they seemed to be mostly Americans and Russians. Maybe people who were already on vacation and figured theyd still make the best of it. It will probably thin out in the coming days even more.
walkerp
No lineup and many empty seats spotted while going past Schwartz’s Saturday at 7 PM on a beautiful spring day. Unprecedented.
Seems like fear and social responsibility are working hand in hand for what I hope will be a positive outcome.
Kate
Some people may realize that scaling down their lifestyles is not only possible, but in some ways is a welcome change. But there may be a reaction when the crisis is declared over, with some folks making up for the time of privation with a period of excess. We’ll see.
JaneyB
The beautiful sunny day reminds me of a satisfying, non-crowd activity. If you’re tired of Netflix in the coming days or need to involve your kids in something, you can start your garden. More info here: https://104homestead.com/winter-sow/ and http://wintersown.org/Milk_Jug.html
Ephraim
Legault is earning a lot of respect… but I still think there is more than can be done to keep us ahead of the curve. The malls, even if empty, should go. They should negotiate with places like Provigo, Metro, IGA to wave order and pick up fees and tell the stores to switch to get most people to that, so they can limit the number of people in stores. Italy is down to 6 people in the supermarket at a time to ensure social distancing. I’ll be in shock if they don’t order work-from-home in the next few days… it should have been ordered already.
vasi
If groceries setup online payment, that’d be even better.
Kate
vasi, Lufa does. Can’t you pay on other grocery sites by card?
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Kate
A man was shot in front of Notre-Dame early Sunday and is in critical condition. Seems there was some kind of brawl but the story is otherwise a mystery. Update: He died. Homicide #3.
Saturday evening, two men were stabbed near de la Savane metro, and again, little is known about why.
Sunday morning a man was randomly stabbed in lower NDG.
JaneyB 00:13 on 2020-03-16 Permalink
Good. I wish they’d actually just test arrivals too, not just at YUL but also traffic over the bridges to Gatineau now that there are community cases loose in Ottawa. I know it will only slow not stop the virus but who doesn’t love slow?
dmdiem 02:44 on 2020-03-16 Permalink
no. it’s counter intuitive, but the last thing you need to do is create a bureaucratic bottleneck. all it takes is one person in the line to infect everyone else.
https://imgur.com/gallery/pVEnORa
Kate 07:20 on 2020-03-16 Permalink
dmdiem, with modern devices it doesn’t take long to take a person’s temperature, and ask anyone to step out of line if they’re feverish.
walkerp 07:45 on 2020-03-16 Permalink
But to what end? We don’t have quarantine centers set up. We don’t have a system to force self-isolation. Seems to me we should just let them through as quickly as possible with really strong communications that they all need to go home and self-quarantine for 14 days.
Kate 07:51 on 2020-03-16 Permalink
I suppose the public health agents can hand out a sheet (French and English, I suppose, but what about other languages?) explaining everyone needs to isolate for 14 days after arrival. Maybe if you have a fever the information would be more urgent, but we don’t really have a means of enforcing anyone’s behaviour once they leave the airport.
Joey 08:33 on 2020-03-16 Permalink
This seems more like “city is annoyed with Ottawa” than anything. Some of our friends came back from a week in Cancun the other day. They are in self-isolation for 14 days. It’s hard to believe that they are much more likely to have COVID-19 after being at a resort and on an airplane than we are after spending the same time period living our lives normally. In other words, we should all be self-isolating/quarantining – the idea that we ought to be making all kinds of distinctions based on age, recent travel, etc., seems a little too clever. My suspicion is that we will be locked down within days.
Francesco 09:23 on 2020-03-16 Permalink
Agree with Joey and dmdiem, but you already know that. Every airport I’ve transited in Asia has had infrared temperature screening on arrival since the original SARS-CoV in 2002. It didn’t do anything for SARS-CoV-2. Once the virus is in a community and active measures aren’t taken to prevent its spread within that community, it’s too late. As Joey said, we should *all* be taking active measures now.
Legault’s posturing is just once again to appease his base: a small minority of Quebeckers that just simply hate people who don’t look, sound, dress or worship like they do.
Francesco 09:25 on 2020-03-16 Permalink
Ugh just re-read that. Please excuse the syntax and poor grammar.
Kate 09:38 on 2020-03-16 Permalink
For once, Francesco, I don’t feel xenophobia in Legault’s measures. Closing schools, getting bars and gyms and all those other nonessential businesses to close, are not targeted at any ethnic or religious group.
Maybe people are right and temperature-taking is only pandemic theatre.
Alison Cummins 13:58 on 2020-03-16 Permalink
A friend of mine was pulled aside during routine airport check-in a few years back. « You aren’t feeling very well, are you? » asked a concerned airport officer. Well no she wasn’t, but how did they know? An infra-red monitor that discreetly screens everyone passing it.
I don’t know that the Chinese monitoring was useless. After Wuhan they were able to keep the rest of China under pretty good control. Maybe being able to identify people with fevers and track down their contacts was part of that?
I can see how it could be worth identifying people who might have it before they continue on their journey. Are they about to get on another crowded plane or transport vehicle? Are they going home to a large family? Does this seem to be a person who will respect quarantine measures?
A month ago (and possibly still) African countries decided that it made most sense for their nationals to stay put in Wuhan quarantine and not come home. Africa didn’t have any cases yet and China seemed to have a handle on the situation. Stranded Africans were bored and miserable but it was better than trying to contain COVID-19 in, say, Rwanda.
We’re taking the opposite approach. We’re being proactive about shutdowns which helps us track contacts. And we’re bringing home our nationals from countries that are making a mess of things. If someone is coming from a country that is encouraging young people to get sick (Britain) or that doesn’t have a functioning national public program (US) we can expect that they are at higher risk than people who have been self-quarantining in a country where everyone else is self-quarantining.
IF we can identify them easily without creating lineups and crowds, and IF we’re in a position to follow up with them, I’m all for infra-red monitors and asking people if they’ve been coughing lately.
(I’m also all for making screening available to other risk groups — teachers, cashiers, anyone who spends time with old people — not travellers specifically.)
Kate 15:54 on 2020-03-16 Permalink
I wonder if that temperature scanning device was put in for SARS, and whether it’s still operating.
Alison Cummins 16:55 on 2020-03-16 Permalink
Kate, possibly, or MERS. Apparently Istanbul airport is the only one to have it permanently installed, but it was broken when we went through a couple of weeks ago.
Also RE what we do with returning snowbirds:
nationalpost.com/pmn/news-pmn/canada-news-pmn/a-canadian-evacuee-describes-life-under-quarantine-at-cfb-trenton/amp
Francesco 22:10 on 2020-03-16 Permalink
Hi @kate I was specifically referencing Legault’s rhetoric about foreigners and his posturing about the feds not doing enough to stem the flow of foreigners through YUL. His comments are anything but science-based.