Trudeau urges Canadians to stay home as Covid-19 surges - Politico

By MAURA FORREST11/20/2020 06:00 PM ESTUpdated: 11/20/2020 06:32 PM ESTLink CopiedCanadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Friday used his strongest language since the start of the country’s second wave of Covid-19 to urge people to stay home, as new projections suggest Canada could see 20,000 cases daily by the end of December.Trudeau stopped short of recommending a second lockdown and did not suggest any new restrictions, insisting he would not tell the provinces how to manage the crisis. More than 11,000 people have died of Covid-19 in Canada since the start of the pandemic.On Friday, Canada’s chief public health officer outlined new modeling that painted a grim picture for the weeks to come and warned the country is “not on a good trajectory.” If people maintain their current number of contacts, Dr. Theresa Tam said, Canada could be logging 20,000 daily cases by the end of December. “It’ll be tough, but we know what we have to do.”Still, Trudeau and Canada’s top public health officials have yet to ask people not to have any gatherings over the holidays, though Trudeau said Friday that “a normal Christmas is quite frankly right out of the question.” On Thursday, Quebec Premier François Legault outlined his province’s plan for Christmas, which will allow people to gather in groups of up to 10 between Dec. 24 and 27, as long as they self-isolate for a week before and after.Asked for his reaction, Trudeau said Legault is dealing with the reality that people will meet up over the holidays, regardless of the rules.