Two provinces hard hit by COVID-19 second wave, two different approaches to flattening curve

It’s the tale of two provinces.

Ontario and Quebec are in the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic — but they are reacting very differently.

The Ford government has no plans to roll back re-opening measures, and Quebec is cracking down, announcing a partial lockdown in three hard hit regions, which go into effect October 1.

“If you’re inviting guests for a party, you’re breaking the law. When this happens, police officers can give fines of a thousand dollars,” said Quebec Premier François Legault, about the new reality that started at midnight.

Three parts of the province, including Montreal and Quebec City, move back into the red zone — that’s the highest pandemic alert level — meaning no more private gatherings inside or out, bars and restaurants also shut down, police have been armed with more power when it comes to fines, and getting easy access to warrants.

In Ontario, where it’s also staring down a rising COVID-19 curve, projections say that could be more than a thousand new cases a day by the middle of this month, but no crackdown.

“You have to measure, you know, the impacts to the people’s livelihoods, so I take the economy very very seriously,” said Ontario Premier Doug Ford.

Ford said the second wave is different than the first, in that the province is more prepared this time and not moving back to stage two at the moment, not even in hotspots like the GTA and Ottawa.

The modelling shows Ontario is on a similar track to Victoria, Australia, that brought the numbers down with big restrictions, including a curfew.

Quebec’s last COVID-19 case report stated an uptick in 838 cases in one day as of Thursday morning, while Ontario reported 625 new cases on Wednesday.

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