is extended until may 27. may 20 — the minister of labor, employment and social solidarity, jean boulet, allows dentists, massage therapists, optometrists and many others to resume their activities in the greater montreal region starting on june 1, 2020. however, hairdressing and beauty salons, as well as gymnasiums and training rooms, would remain closed until further notice. may 21 — in a press release, the city of montreal announces the gradual reopening of sports and leisure facilities in montreal, including community gardens, skateparks, golf courses, tennis courts, and other public spaces. may 22 — groups of at most 10 people are permitted to gather outside. it is recommended, but not required, that they be from at most three different households. françois legault, marc bergevin and jonathan drouin participate in the distribution of masks at the cadillac metro station. may 24 — businesses that had been closed every sunday by government mandate are able to resume activities on sundays. may 25 — non-essential businesses reopen in the greater montreal region. the city of montreal deploys around sixty inspectors to enforce physical distancing measures. may 26 — despite the reopening of businesses, mayor plante maintains her decision to not make wearing a mask mandatory in public areas, including in the metro. may 27 — the reopening of facilities including private health offices, pet grooming services, personal and beauty care, museums, public libraries and camping sites outside of greater montreal area is announced alongside an additional extension to the state of emergency. may 28 — the city of montreal urgently opens various municipal building to allow people to cool off, as montreal experiences its first heat wave of the year, with temperatures regularly exceeding 30 °c (86 °f). the previous day, the second highest temperature in montreal's entire history was recorded, at 36.6 °c (97.9 °f). the quebec government authorizes the purchase and installation of air conditioners in chslds in montreal, as only a third of rooms had air conditioning as of may 24. may 30 — the suspension on the activities of municipal outdoor pools, wading pools and playground equipment, including splash pads, is lifted. at the end of may, montreal's death rate was higher than most american cities, including chicago and los angeles. june pedestrianization of wellington street in verdun, montreal, during the summer in order to allow for social distancing june 2 — le devoir reports that montreal has only 150 investigators doing contract-tracing, and that 18,000 investigations have been conducted, a number deemed clearly insufficient in the event of a second wave. june 5 — after having received several complaints, the montreal ombudsman launches an investigation into the hastily implemented health corridors by the city of montreal. june 8 — the government announces that restaurants in greater montreal can open on june 22. the same day, quebec's national public health director, horacio arruda, said that the situation in montreal was "under control." however, a publicist from the amusement chain six flags, owner of la ronde since 2001, confirmed to the 24 heures newspaper that the quebec government had not yet authorized la ronde to open its doors. in the weekly pandemic survey presented by léger, 72% of quebec respondents were of the opinion that there would be a second wave. june 11 — horacio arruda rules out the possibility of a total lockdown in the event of a second wave. june 12 — the minister of economy and innovation, pierre fitzgibbon, announces the reopening of malls in montreal on june 19. june 13 — 60 dollarama employees demonstrate in montreal to demand better health and safety measures to fight covid-19. june 15 — montreal barbershops and hair salons are able to reopen. the montreal botanical garden also reopens. the government of quebec pledges $500,000 to help raise awareness of covid-19 in montreal through interventions like the distribution of masks. june 16 — 35 workplace-related outbreaks are active in montreal. between june 6 and june 16, fewer than 100 cases were recorded per day in montreal. the government announces that june 19 will be the last day of operation for the five mobile testing centres in montreal, which have been operational since mid-may 2020. june 17 — the journal des voisins learns that modular units are going to be installed at the end of the summer in the parking lot of the sacré-coeur hospital in order to accommodate 100 patients in the event of a second wave of covid-19. horacio arruda announces that places of worship can hold indoor gatherings of up to 50 people from june 22 onwards. amidst a second heat wave in the city, the director of public health, dr. mylène drouin, affirms that they have followed through with their plan to install air-conditioners in chslds. june 18 — the parking lots of major montreal parks are permitted to reopen. june 19 — the government of quebec authorizes family visits to private seniors' homes (rpas) that do not have a covid-19 outbreak, starting on june 26. the day before, a similar measure had been announced for chslds. june 22 — the following establishments reopen: restaurants in the greater montréal area (including food courts in shopping malls); gyms, indoor pools, and arenas public and private beaches houses of worship (with a maximum of 50 congregants) cinema, theatres, concert halls and other indoor venues (with a maximum of 50 people indoors) day camps libraries for the first time since march 22, no new deaths are recorded in quebec. june 24 — due to relative decreases in the rate of new cases, new health minister christian dubé (who assumed the post as part of a cabinet shuffle) announces plans to release new case numbers weekly beginning june 26, rather than daily. the move faced criticism (including from prime minister justin trudeau, who urged the premier to continue being "transparent and open" in its data), leading the province to backtrack and continue releasing numbers daily. quebec's director of public health horacio arruda stated that he had misjudged how the public would react to the change, and that he did not mind continuing with daily updates. june 25 — horacio arruda announces the immediate reopening of bars, spas, water parks, casinos and other tourist attractions. june 26 — following criticism from the public, the new minister of health and social services, christian dubé, announces via his twitter account that daily reporting will start again on june 29. a survey presented by the canadian medical association (cma) and carried out by l'observateur reveals that only 42% of quebecers said that they regularly wear a mask in public. the weekly survey by léger produced similar results, finding that approximately 55% of quebecers wear a mask at the grocery store, while only 18% wear a mask on public transit. july july 6 — mayor plante announces that masks will become mandatory in all closed public places in montreal at the end of july. july 10 — it becomes prohibited for bars in quebec to serve alcohol after midnight. additionally, bars must close by 1:00 a.m. july 12 — montrealers who have frequented bars in the metropolitan area are implored to get tested for covid-19. since july 1, at least eight customers or employees of five bars have tested positive for covid-19. july 14 — at least 30 cases from nine different bars are detected in montreal since july 11. although the public health agency did not release the names of these bars, some employees or customers posted them on social media. july 17 — quebec retroactively changes its methodology for determining recoveries, stating that its previous method, which did not consider non-hospitalized cases to be recoveries unless proof of their recovery was received, had "significantly underestimated" the total count, and was inconsistent with methodologies used in other provinces. this led to a one-time addition of 23,686 recoveries, and the reduction of active cases from 27,603 to 1,556. premier legault suggests that the spread of the virus is not linked to bars, but rather to private parties. the montreal regional directorate of public health announces that three new covid-19 walk-in screening clinics are open. july 18 — masks become mandatory in closed public spaces for everyone over the age of 12. businesses can be fined up to $6,000 if they allow customers to violate the mandate. quebec becomes the first canadian province to enact such an order. july 23 — the quebec government announces that the number of people who can attend indoor and outdoor gatherings in a public place will increase from 50 to 250 people starting on august 3, 2020. people must sit at least 1.5 meters from each other, unless they are part of the same household, before removing their face coverings. they will have to put their mask back on before moving again. july 25 — a hundred people demonstrate at the foot of the george-étienne cartier monument on mount royal against the obligation to wear a mask. towards the end of july, some montrealers who had been tested for covid-19 had to wait more than five days to get their result. july 31 — in order to deal with a possible second wave, medicom group, a company established on the island of montreal, starts manufacturing n95 masks. august prevention instructions at maisonneuve park august 5 — a seroprevalence study of blood donors carried out by héma-québec shows that 3.05% of montrealers who participated in the study had contracted covid-19. august 7 — dr. mylène drouin, director of public health in montreal, in a press conference with dr. horracio arruda, declares that they are ready for the worst in the event of a second wave, which could occur at the start of autumn. august 8 — a march against sanitary measures brings together hundreds of demonstrators. august 20 — mayor plante denounces the august 16 party organized at the foot of mount royal where approximately 2,000 people gathered between 4 p.m. and 5 p.m. august 24 — montreal public health asks that anyone who has participated in latin dance events, indoors or outdoors, since july 31 get tested for covid-19; a person who had participated in activities at lafontaine park and verdun park tested positive for covid-19. august 26 — legault and other officials rule out the adoption of the federal covid alert exposure notification app in the province for the moment, citing privacy concerns and existing contact tracing capabilities. legault also expresses an objection to using software primarily developed in ontario, as montreal is "one of the best centres in the world" for artificial intelligence development. september september 8 — the mayor of longueil, sylvie parent, tests positive for covid-19. september 28 — amid a major spike in cases in greater montreal, quebec city, and chaudière-appalaches, premier legault announces that restrictions will be reinstated in these areas effective midnight on october 1, including the banning of indoor gatherings and the closure of restaurants, bars, movie theatres, museums and other indoor public spaces. the restrictions will operate under the "red zone" of the new regional alert and intervention system, which uses four colour-coded tiers to prescribe health restrictions for each region. september 30 — quebec gives police the legal powers "to enter homes quickly to stop gatherings during covid-19". police officers "will be able to obtain warrants faster through a new, virtual system that was established in collaboration with the crown... normally the process for obtaining a warrant can take a day or two, but that won't work when police want to break up parties that very same evening," said premier legault. public security minister geneviève guilbault said "we had to give the police the means to intervene." she said that the right to peaceful protest "without masks cannot be tolerated" and she is not ruling out using force to disperse protests if needed. "eventually, we will cross that bridge when we get there," she said. october october 1 — quebec reverses its earlier objections and announces that it plans to join covid alert, with dubé arguing that it would be quicker to adopt a platform that was already available than to commission one from local developers. october 5 — quebec officially joins the covid alert app. premier legault emphasizes that the more people use the app, "the more successful we will be and the faster we can go