Quebec increases limit for indoor holiday gatherings, extends eligibility for 3rd doses
CBC
The Quebec government will allow private indoor gatherings of up to 20 vaccinated people as of Dec. 23, Health Minister Christian Dubé announced Tuesday.
Dubé said public health is asking people to be responsible and continue to follow public health measures. No other easing of restrictions will be announced for the holidays, and other public health restrictions remain in effect.
The government did not announce a date for when the loosened rules on gatherings will end.
"If we have to reconsider that after the holidays, we'll take a look. Because we don't like going back," said Dubé, adding he wants the measure to last.
Currently, only 10 people or those from three different households are allowed in private homes.
Dubé said there will also be no surveillance measures associated with the measure.
"We trust Quebecers to be responsible," he said at a news conference.
Dubé made the announcement during a news conference alongside Public Health Director Dr. Horacio Arruda and Daniel Paré, the head of the province's COVID-19 vaccination campaign.
The health minister said he is "strongly" against having unvaccinated people attend holiday gatherings "for obvious reasons."
Dr. Arruda said people who want to socialize with someone who is unvaccinated should wear a mask and physically distance, but his recommendation is not to mix vaccinated and non-vaccinated people at all.
"The best gift you could get for Christmas is a vaccine," he said.
Dr. Arruda said a big factor in the decision to double the private home gathering limit was the stability of hospitalizations in the province, despite the increase in cases.
"We have [another] week of data," he said. "Maybe two weeks ago I wouldn't have done the same, but today I feel reassured."
He also pointed to a detailed testing of samples from almost 900 positive COVID tests on Nov. 30 that found that none of them contained the omicron variant, which the government has said it is following closely. At this point, there is still only one case of the variant in Quebec and it is travel-related.
Darlene Naugle had difficulties getting around the small community of Port Bickerton on Nova Scotia's Eastern Shore when she moved to area from Alberta three years ago to care for her sick daughter.
Skates and hockey sticks on backyard rinks are the definitive sound of winter for many Canadians.
Progressive Conservative leadership candidate Wally Daudrich doesn't seem to mind that some Tories might think his claim Manitoba schools are promoting acts of bestiality and incest is impossible to believe.
Artificial intelligence has become increasingly present in people's lives, ranging from the ability to create a generative image in a messages with simple prompts, to using data to reduce workplace injuries.
While Trump's tariffs, housing and health care have received plenty of attention during the Ontario election campaign, educators say voters should pay more attention to where the major parties stand on the province's public school system.
As the Canadian Armed Forces continue to try and dig out of a deep recruitment hole, they're starting to give new recruits with medical conditions a shot at joining the military rather than automatically turning them away.
Israel says the release of more than 600 Palestinian prisoners is delayed "until the release of the next hostages is assured, and without the humiliating ceremonies" at handovers of Israeli captives in Gaza.
Crystal Ellingsen and Jennifer Brady thought their battle with the government of Nova Scotia ended last year, but now they're raising their voices once again to continue the fight.
Ryan Evans of Oromocto, N.B., says he knows how lucky he is.
It has been just over 104 years since Jessie Kirk was inaugurated as the first woman on Winnipeg's City Council — but to this day, only 32 other women have been elected to represent a ward in the city's history.
An apartment building in central Edmonton that shut down late last year after a security guard was killed on-site may be allowed to reopen to tenants.
Experts and officials are saying Friday's 4.7 magnitude earthquake, felt across southwest B.C., is a wake-up call that British Columbians need to be prepared for an emergency situation.