Quebec mulls making masks mandatory to prevent spread of COVID-19

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Visitors wear masks as they tour Montreal’s Museum of Contemporary Art in late June. Quebec health officials have been strongly encouraging people to cover their faces when physical distancing isn’t possible, but not everybody is getting the message. (Graham Hughes/The Canadian Press)

(Isaac Olson/ CBC News) — Quebec officials are hinting the province will soon require people to cover their faces when they’re in enclosed public spaces, although the premier has yet to fully commit to that measure.

Public Health Director Horacio Arruda said Tuesday that officials are doing an “intense analysis” of the situation, and an announcement will be made soon.

Until then, Arruda said, he strongly encourages everybody to wear a face-covering whenever physical distancing isn’t possible.

Premier François Legault said he isn’t ruling out a provincewide regulation require face masks indoors, when in public.

“We have to look at how to apply it,” he told reporters Tuesday. “We exclude nothing.”

Legault said his administration has been talking with Arruda for some time about mandating face-coverings — a regulation that is becoming increasingly common across Canada and around the globe. (…)

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