Quebec opens non-essential stores, Alberta allows in-person dining
Posted February 8, 2021 7:27 am.
Last Updated February 8, 2021 7:39 am.
Non-essential stores, personal care salons and museums across Quebec will be allowed to reopen on Monday as the province eases some of the restrictions put in place to control the spread of COVID-19.
The province is also allowing universities and junior colleges to begin to gradually reopen their campuses to allow students to attend in-person classes and activities a few times a month.
But while the number of COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations has dropped in recent weeks, the government says it’s still too early to remove measures such as a nighttime curfew.
Six of the province’s less-populated regions are moving to the lower orange-alert level, allowing their residents to eat inside restaurant dining rooms, work out at gyms and stay out until 9:30 p.m., instead of 8 p.m. like the rest of the province.
The province is also allowing people across the province to participate in outdoor activities with people outside their households.
Residents will be able to meet outside with up to three people from other households, while in orange zones, the limit will be increased to eight.
Indoor gatherings are still prohibited, and bars remain closed. The government is also ordering anyone who can work from home to do so.
Restaurants in orange zones will only be allowed to seat two adults and their children at each table, and reservations will be mandatory to facilitate contact tracing and to prevent people from outside the region from visiting them.
RELATED: Doug Ford to announce plans to reopen Ontario following state of emergency
Alberta restaurants can reopen today for in-person dining as part of the province’s four-step plan to reopen the economy.
Restaurants had been closed to in-person dining after a resurgence of COVID-19 late last year sent case numbers soaring.
Premier Jason Kenney says reduced case numbers have made it possible to ease some restrictions, but he has also criticized some restaurants for ignoring public health orders by opening their doors prematurely.
Fitness training can also resume today but only for one-on-one workouts — individual workouts without a trainer are not permitted.
Sports and entertainment-related activities can resume in schools, and the province also said over the weekend that youth will be able to take part in lessons and practices for team-based minor sports and athletics, although games are still prohibited.
Indoor gatherings are still banned and outdoor get-togethers are capped at 10.
The plan has been criticized by some as too risky given there are more than 500 Albertans still in hospital with COVID-19 and more than 60 cases of two variant strains of the virus.
The two variants, originating in the United Kingdom and South Africa, are exponentially more contagious than the original strain and, if left unchecked, could quickly swamp hospitals.
Premier Doug Ford is expected to announce plans on Monday to gradually reopen Ontario following its state of emergency.
A senior government source who was not authorized to speak publicly on the matter says Ford will announce that the state of emergency declared last month will be allowed to expire as scheduled on Tuesday.
