'Impossible' to ask entire population to protect a small proportion, insists public health officer
Wearing a COVID-protective mask is set to become a matter of “personal choice” rather than an obligation as early as the end of March, Quebec's interim public health said Thursday.
Luc Boileau told reporters recent projections by health-care research institutes suggested the pandemic situation will continue to improve. According to a report by The Canadian Press, on Wednesday the Health Department said mask mandates could be lifted in most public places by mid-April “at the latest”.
Boileau said: “It's kind of impossible to ask a whole population of 8.5 million people to continue to wear masks to protect a part of them,'' he said.
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Instead, masks will become a “personal choice in the context of a progression to a normal life,'' but he added that "if there are people who feel more comfortable wearing a mask, of course they will be able to”.
Quebec has no plans to backtrack on its decision to remove most public health measures by March 12, including the use of the vaccine passport system. The government will also not change the five-day isolation requirement for those who test positive for the disease.
Boileau said enough people have either been vaccinated or been infected with COVID-19 to make it possible to gradually remove restrictions, adding that the province will receive about 220,000 doses of the newly approved Novavax vaccine in the coming weeks.
