Experts optimistic Quebec will be able to avoid a COVID-19 lockdown this winter

Nearly a year after Quebec placed its largest cities under a partial lockdown in an effort to slow the rise of COVID-19 infections, experts say that this fall, there is reason for optimism.

On Sept. 28, 2020, Premier Francois Legault announced that starting Oct. 1, much of the province's population would be living under the highest alert level for 28 days. The restrictions would end up lasting much longer, with restaurants in Montreal not able to reopen their dining rooms until June.

Today, there are signs the province may have passed the peak of the pandemic's fourth wave, as the number of daily new COVID-19 cases declines.

On Monday, the Health Department reported 519 new cases of COVID-19, the lowest number of new daily cases in nearly three weeks and well below the average of 680 new daily cases reported over the previous seven days.

The second wave of the pandemic began in late September 2020, before peaking in January. But the fourth wave began earlier in the year and may have now peaked, said Dr. Donald Sheppard, the director of the McGill interdisciplinary initiative in infection and immunity.