due to the coronavirus pandemic, the company planned to lower its utilization rates in 2020 by almost 10%. in the east montreal refinery, 137,000 barrels of gasoline and diesel are produced every day. on june 17, the city of montreal unveiled its $22 million plan for the economic revival of the metropolis over 6 months. as of june 18: 160,000 jobs were lost in greater montreal (-7.1%): particularly high job losses in sectors where personal contact is more pronounced: accommodation and food services (-24%); education (-23%); information, culture, and leisure (-15%) foreign direct investment (fdi) down 30% to 40% ($2 billion in 2019) an 80% shortfall in revenue for the culture and tourism industries for the 2020 summer season. in his june 19 analysis, gérard fillion wrote that "montreal is in trouble. the city's deficit could be close to $500 million this year, or 9% of the planned budget of $6.2 billion" and that "shops, hotels, restaurants, culture, leisure, these are almost 20% of all the jobs in town." on june 22, the montreal company frank and oak went into court protection due to the pandemic. sears, aldo, stokes, la senza, sail, and reitmans had to do the same because of the pandemic. the closure of the casino de montréal, between march 12 and june 25, would have deprived loto-québec of approximately $2.5m per day, or $330m in total. march–april 2020: suspension of classes on friday, march 13, the premier of quebec, françois legault, announced the closure of schools, cegeps, and universities until march 30. on march 22, quebec extended the school closing period until may 1. educational institutions in montreal english montreal school board commission scolaire de montréal private schools cegep universities number of schools 64 189 270 12 9 number of students 35,000 115,018 125,000 54,000 190,000 on april 20, the minister of education and higher education of quebec announced that the results of the 2020 winter session would not be counted in the calculation of the r score. many experts on may 6 fear a significant increase in high school dropout, which before the pandemic was 15%. on may 12, in a survey commissioned by the canadian association of university teachers (caut) and the canadian federation of students (cfs), 77% of canadian students said they were worried about their future, 70% among them feared not having a job this summer and 30% of them considered leaving their post-secondary studies. on may 15, in a letter sent to premier legault, the ministries of health and education, and the mayoress of montreal, the pediatric association noted a significant delay in the cognitive development of students in greater montreal is to be expected because of the prolonged course close. according to immigration and citizenship canada data, some 30,700 foreign students study in quebec in 2019. about a third of mcgill university students come from abroad and between 8% and 10% of université de montréal students. to make up for this possibility of losing a large number of students, the université de montréal has already indicated that all of its faculties will hold the fall 2020 session by online classes. on may 14, it was concordia university's turn to do the same. two days earlier, the 12 cégeps de la métropole had announced similar measures. may–august 2020: preparation for the start of the school year on may 15, the director of ahuntsic college estimated that the only way school could return in the fall would be through distance education. five days later, uqam announced that its fall 2020 session would be held remotely and online. on may 26, the quebec government allowed international students to start their courses this fall even if they are physically abroad. the next day, it asked universities and cégeps to prepare to welcome 30% of their students in person for the fall of 2020. on june 1, daniel jutras succeeded guy breton as rector of udem. he delivered a message posted online because of the pandemic. on july 29, the public health agency of canada (phac) released a guidance document on the covid-19 pandemic for post-secondary educational institutions. with 10 days before the start of the school year for cegeps in montreal, the regroupement des cégeps de montréal, which brings together 12 french-speaking and english-speaking establishments, could not say the exact percentage of students who will have to set foot in class this fall. for example, 3,500 of the 7,500 students at collège ahuntsic will have to show up at one point or another during the week. for its part, the center de services scolaire de montréal had 500 teaching positions to fill, including 90 regular positions. on august 10, jean-françois roberge, minister of education, announced his revised plan for the start of the 2020 school year. in it, we learn that students in the third cycle of elementary school (fifth and sixth grade), as well as all high school students will be required to wear the mask in school, but not in classrooms. a week later, the minister presented two new advertising campaign measures to help elementary and secondary school students who need support from the start of the school year. in a letter sent on august 14 to the minister of education, the regional director of public health of montreal and the national director of public health, the alliance des professeures et professors de montreal asked quebec to revise downwards. teacher-student ratios late august–september 2020: back to school on august 27, back to school day in quebec, the pointe-de-l'ile school service center in montreal announced that three staff members from françois la-bernarde, jules-verne and henri-bourassa had tested positive for covid-19. air pollution the decrease in air traffic, the closure of factories, the increase in telework, and consequently a significant reduction in road vehicles on the road network, have had the effect of significantly reducing greenhouse gases (ghg). according to data from the réseau de la surveillance de la qualité de l'air, in the east of the city, the average air quality index was 26.2. for the same period last year, the average was 32.6. obviously, the better the air quality, the lower the index. this index measures conventional gaseous pollutants (so2, no/no2, o3 and h2s), particulate pollution, volatile organic compounds (vocs) and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (pahs). in montreal, nitrogen dioxide dropped more than 30% during the first two months of the pandemic. air pollution in montreal in the spring of 2020 was the lowest since 1997. biodiversity like metropolises around the world, more wild animals were seen during the pandemic in montreal. on april 3, 2020, the chief scientist of québec and québecoiseaux announced the creation of the des oiseaux à la maison. as of may 3, 166 species had been sighted in montreal. from may 30, a humpback whale was staying near the jacques-cartier bridge, finding itself more than 400 kilometers (250 miles) from its natural habitat. on may 31, the 3-4 year old calf would have made more than 50 jumps in the old port. empty cans and bottles between the end of march and june 22, 2020, quebec retailers were not obliged to return returnable containers. selective collection of recyclable materials it was in the 1990s that the selective collective of materials (cardboard, newspapers, paper, glass, plastic and metal) began. according to statistics canada, in 2013–2014, canadians avoided sending over 9 million recycled materials to the landfill. of this number, more than half went to china. in quebec, the 27 sorting centres, no longer able to sell our "recyclable" materials, have asked for state aid to survive. in early 2018, the plante administration injected $29.9 million into the montreal sorting centre. in january 2020, two of the three sorting centres in montreal threatened to close, including one that had received the subsidy of nearly 30 million two years earlier. garbage and recyclable materials were recognized as an essential service during the pandemic. although not in the position of the city of quebec where 80% of the contents of the recycling bins were stored by (and at the costs of the city of quebec), a large significant quantity of materials normally recycled ended up in the dumps. as for other materials such as household appliances, refrigerators, wood, sofas, tires, construction residues, dangerous household and green residues, the 7 ecocentres of the agglomeration of montreal remained open according to the usual schedule, although it was strongly recommended not to go. plastic bags on february 6, 2020, mayor valérie plante announced the end of plastic bags in all merchants in montreal by the end of 2020. however, during the crisis, several companies, such as loblaw or iga decided to no longer accept reusable bags belonging to customers, the latter having to use plastic bags. as a consequence, packaging manufacturers increased their production by 20%, a phenomenon that was observed across canada. health workers saturday april 17, a first attendant to the beneficiary fell in coma against covid-19. wednesday, april 29, a beneficiary attendant died after working with patients affected by covid-19 from chsld cartierville. thursday, may 21, a beneficiary attendant who came to lend a hand in chslds died as a result of covid-19. on may 13, nearly 20% of the 19,875 covid-19 positive cases were healthcare workers. on may 21, a fourth beneficiary attendant in montreal died as a result of covid-19. on may 27, health workers demonstrated in several cities in quebec, including montreal, to demand their right to vacation. in a press conference on june 2, premier françois legault stated that the majority of the 10,000 beneficiary attendant positions to be filled targeted the montreal region. on june 11, a sixth beneficiary attendant died from covid-19 at the age of 48. on june 15, a surgeon at the sacré-coeur hospital in montreal was in intensive care because of covid-19 long-term nursing homes