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Côte-St-Luc declared a state of emergency Tuesday afternoon in anticipation of a surge in COVID-19 cases as seniors return from wintering abroad.

The borough enacted the measures because it has a higher percentage of seniors within its population than any other city in Quebec. To “save human lives,” the city can now spend emergency funds or take “immediate action” ordinarily outside of its operation, according to the Civil Protection Act.

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There are now 74 confirmed cases of the COVID-19 disease in Quebec and officials say those numbers will continue to spike until the effects of social distancing, school closures and other mitigating measures are felt.

Seniors are most susceptible to the virus and, in Montreal, tens of thousands are holed up in their apartments, living on supplies and medicine delivered to them by volunteers.

Maryse Bisson is in charge of a network of community organizations that help 41,000 seniors across the island. With the city closing most of its facilities, most of those organizations are without a central base of operation.