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COVID-19 in Quebec: What you need to know on Sunday

COVID-19 in Quebec: What you need to know on Sunday

The latest:

  • Quebec has 47.411 confirmed cases of COVID-19, and 3,985 people have died. On Sunday, the government announced an increase of 573 cases and 45 deaths from a day earlier. One of the dead was a patient attendant at a Montreal long-term care home.

  • Retail stores with direct outdoor access in the Montreal area will reopen on Monday.

When retail stores in the Montreal area open their doors on Monday, shoppers should be ready to keep their distance from others and touch as few items as possible.

Some of the ways retail stores have adapted will look familiar: stickers on the floor indicating where to stand in line, plexiglass windows and a reduced number of people allowed inside at the same time.

But for stores where customers are used to touching items and trying them on, there are a whole new set of challenges to reduce the risk of spreading COVID-19.

But several organizations that serve Montreal's Indigenous community say it's too soon to be easing restrictions and reopening stores.

Transmission of COVID-19 is only now beginning to peak among Indigenous populations, according to a report prepared by organizations that included the Native Women's Shelter of Montreal and the Montreal Indigenous Community Network.

The groups are asking for more resources, including better access to testing, as stores in the Montreal area get set to reopen on Monday.

"The provincial public authorities must take into account how the pandemic affects the various, often marginalized, communities. Universal decision-making disregarding the Indigenous community is harmful," the report states.

In Université Laval dorms, some live in isolation

When universities closed in mid-March, Université Laval in Quebec City asked the thousands of students in its residences to either move back home or off campus.

Two-thirds of them left. But among the remaining third were many international students, who were stuck as borders closed and apartment rents rose.

For the students who remained: no visits, no socializing and strict physical distancing in common areas.

Will Montrealers have a terrasse season?

Terrasse season would normally be in full swing in Montreal by now. But while several measures to prevent the spread of COVID-19 are being relaxed, restaurants are still waiting to hear how they can safely serve people outside.

The City of Montreal has said it will allow for larger terrasses this year to accommodate physical distancing.

Restaurants, though, have yet to be given instructions about how and when that will happen.

Union wants independent inquiry

A union representing health-care workers in central Quebec is calling for an independent inquiry into how COVID-19 spread through the region's long-term care homes.

The CISSS Mauricie-et-du-Centre-du-Québec announced in April it would launch an internal investigation, following outbreaks in several facilities, including the CHSLD Laflèche, where 44 residents died.

But the union says it wants that investigation to be done by an independent body, as it believes decision-making at the level of regional health boards may have played a role in the crisis.