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“For the past 14 days, we have been focused on spreading awareness. When we saw groups that didn’t respect public health orders, we went and warned them to break it up. Now, if a group is caught red-handed, we’re going to write them up,” said Inspector André Durocher of the SPVM in an interview.

“Our police officers have told us that people [gathered in parks] that they warn on one day have to be warned again the next day. So at one point, we have to act. There is no one who can say they don’t know about public health rules anymore,” he added.

But with nearly one quarter of Canada’s known COVID-19 cases, how did Montreal become this country’s infection epicentre in the first place?

Public health experts have noted many reasons, notably an earlier March break than the rest of Canada, faster and more aggressive testing as well as a high rate of community transmission.

Photo by Pierre Obendrauf/Postmedia

This year, Quebec’s March break was on the first week of the month, as opposed to the second or third for most Canadians provinces.

Thus, “all the travel happened before the World Health Organization ever declared the pandemic and the travel restrictions came in. For us, the damage was already done. Travellers going back to school or work on the 9th did so unknowingly. What you see happening in Montreal now is partly due to that,” said Dr Nathalie Auger, an epidemiologist at the University of Montreal’s School of Public Health.

Quebec has also outpaced all other provinces in COVID-19 testing, leading to higher number of confirmed cases. The province also includes presumptive cases in its daily tally, which further boosts its numbers.