Montreal Mayor Valérie Plante says the city is actively preparing for a possible second wave of the novel coronavirus as students head back to class and the fall season looms.
“We can’t let our guard down,” she said Friday during an executive committee meeting.
A local state of emergency has been renewed, which grants the city exceptional powers and resources. The measure has been in effect since March 27 and renewed 33 times since the COVID-19 crisis began.
Montreal has been the epicentre of the virus’s outbreak in Canada with more than 29,000 cases. It accounts for roughly half of the province’s caseload and death toll.
The number of new infections in Quebec has been slowly declining over the past few months as restrictions have been eased. However, the chief of the city’s civil protection centre warned Friday that the pandemic isn’t over.
“There is no solution to the virus as of right now,” said Annick Maletto.
Plante said Friday that the city is entering the “second phase” of its plan to fight the health crisis as schools in the Greater Montreal area start to reopen this week after they were forced to close in March.
“We are preparing to face a second wave and put everything in place to support Montrealers,” she said, adding that the city is regularly in touch with the province.
Three new temporary homeless shelters capable of housing more than 300 of the city’s most vulnerable are also opening in Montreal ahead of winter. Advocates have said that vulnerable Montrealers have been disproportionately affected by COVID-19.
As summer winds down, the city will retract the extra walking space and temporary bike paths created on streets throughout the fall as planned, according to Plante.
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