Montreal and the rest of Quebec can soon look forward to the opportunity to gather for music, movies in theatres, performances and other reasons to get together: Yesterday, the Quebec government announced that the permitted amount of gatherings both indoors and outdoors will increase from 50 to 250 people on August 3.
In the announcement issued by public health authorities, the increase to 250 people means greater chances for survival of performance halls, theaters and cinemas across Quebec in addition to places to produce television, movies and music. It also means good news for indoor sports training and events (just in time for the incoming Canadians games later this month), in addition to places of worship, courtrooms, and rented rooms like community halls.
“With this announcement, we are enabling the people of Quebec to take ownership in greater numbers of the cultural places," said the Minister of Culture and Communications Nathalie Roy. "However, it remains essential to pool our efforts to promote a safe reopening in accordance with public health notices."
When it comes to being together indoors, standing spectators will be asked to maintain a distance of 2 metres apart, and anyone who is over the age of 12 will have to wear a mask unless they have a special medical condition preventing them from doing so. If they're seated, however, spectators of an event need only be 1.5 metres apart from one another and will be able to take off their masks, only putting them back on when standing up and moving around.
This decision only applies to public events; private gatherings will continue to be limited 10 people at a time from a maximi of three households.
Meanwhile, festivals in Montreal continue to be prohibited until August 31. As it stands, no festival is looking forward to rescheduling for 2020, especially when considering how some of the city's biggest events such as Formula 1 are officially cancelled for the year.
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