Complexe Desjardins interior on June 25, still nearly empty the week after it opened back up during Montreal’s coronavirus summer. Though malls elsewhere in Quebec opened on June 1, Montreal shoppers had to wait until June 19.
The summer that didn’t happen
September 22 is summer’s end in the Northern Hemisphere. And what a strange summer it was here in the city. Montrealers are known for their love of summer festivals and other outdoor events after long, brutal winters. Unbeknownst to us in January, there would be no International Jazz Festival in 2020. No Grand Prix, no Just for Laughs, and no L’International des Feux Loto-Québec. Montreal’s coronavirus summer could have been worse, but it was not the release we longed for during winter.
What did happen in the summer, however, was cases of COVID-19 remaining low after tumbling down from the terrible peak of spring [graph below]. Following a clear end to the first wave, the lifting of restrictions did not cause a spike during summer. But this last week of summer saw Montreal move up to yellow and then to orange in Quebec’s COVID-19 alert system. It’s time for uncooperative Montrealers (you know who you are) to take the virus seriously, because the second wave will be no kinder than before.
Total number of cases is broken down by category: Orange denotes healthcare workers, light blue represents certain closed settings (CHSLD, intermediate resources, private seniors’ residences, rehabilitation centers, hospitals, prison and community accommodation), and dark blue is everyone else.
How did Canada do this summer?
Compared with its neighbor, Canada managed to keep things under control [graph below]. The midsummer peak in the “United” States was truly horrifying for the world to watch. As summer closes (the endpoint of the graph is September 21), the USA is failing a bit less at ~123 new cases of COVID-19 per million people per day. Canada is at “only” ~26 new cases per million, but we see an obvious upward trend since the beginning of the summer, and especially since the end of August.
COVID-19 data in the “United” States needs to be taken with a grain of salt. It was bad enough when we found out that Trumpist governors of some states will hide or manipulate COVID-19 data for political purposes. Then on July 15, we learned that nation’s “leader” decided to reroute virus data from the CDC to an agency headed by Trump sycophant Alex Azar. Sadly, this poses serious credibility questions about the data’s integrity. An undercount of COVID-19 cases / deaths in that nation is very likely the scenario.
Montreal’s coronavirus summer in photos
Vieux Montreal: spring versus summer
Promenade marchande: No cars allowed
Keeping it zipped
The summer coming to a close saw the U.S. border remaining closed to land-crossings for all but essential workers. Canadians are still permitted to fly to the States, as they have been all summer. Mr Trump would have you believe that “Canada would like it open”, but as per usual, the Trump Theorem* can be applied to this statement. Canada’s decision to keep it zipped until at least October 21 is in line with the desires of Canadians, as validated in the latest poll:
Nine-in-ten Canadians (90%) agree with two regulations that have been in place for weeks: keeping the border with the United States closed to non-essential travel, and placing all travellers arriving to Canada into a mandatory 14-day quarantine or isolation period.”
*the Trump Theorem: The opposite of any statement made by Donald J Trump is likely to be true.