Montreal Mayor Valérie Plante has declared a renewed state of emergency "to better deal with the turbulence caused by the Omicron variant" as COVID-19 cases skyrocket in Montreal and across Quebec.

The mayor made the announcement Tuesday morning at a virtual press conference from home while in isolation after testing positive for the novel coronavirus on Saturday.

Joining the mayor for the press conference was the head of her executive committee, Dominique Ollivier, the city's director general, Serge Lamontagne, and civil security coordinator, Richard Liebmann.

The city's last state of emergency started during the first wave of the pandemic on March 27, 2020, and ended 17 months later on Aug. 27, 2021. 

Plante declared the new state of emergency under the Civil Protection Act with the support of public health, granting the city special powers to ensure the continuity of services.

With the epidemiological situation expected to "worsen over the next few weeks," the city says it will be able to purchase personal protective equipment and screening equipment for essential workers.

Emergency shelter sites will also be set up for the city's homeless population, but Plante acknowledges there are about 100 additional beds that are still needed.

"With the number of cases that are just going up with the Omicron variant, we want to be ready if there's an outbreak in a shelter, for example. We will need to isolate people, we will need more beds, especially more sites, so this is why having the state of emergency will help us to be even faster in creating those extra resources if there are outbreaks," she said. 


'WORST TIME' TO DEAL WITH THIS: HOMELESS ADVOCATE

James Hughes, president and CEO of the Old Brewery Mission, criticized the city’s plan to act now, after the situation became critical.

“The worst time to plan for an emergency is when you're in it, and we're in it right now,” he said.

Hughes estimates closer to 200 beds are needed and says they fully expect Omicron outbreaks to hit the homeless community.

Opening emergency shelters takes time, he said, adding that it's not easy to find staff to run them amid a labour shortage.

“The shelters including the Old Brewery Mission have been advocating both the health ministry and the city to take action on this much earlier and not right in the middle of the panic that we find themselves in today,” he said.

Hughes said more people may be on the streets this winter, and is appealing to Montrealers to call 911 if they see someone in distress. 

'I FEEL MUCH BETTER'

The mayor confirmed she is "feeling much better" and is recovering at home after announcing on Twitter on the weekend that she had tested positive for COVID-19.

"As you can see, I'm a bit low energy and my voice is not entirely bad," she said. "I think I'm a good example of somebody who did everything that had to be done, respecting all the rules and everything and just got hit by this variant. This is why I speak from experience and with my heart when I tell my Montrealers to be very vigilant because it is a very, very contagious variant."

On Tuesday, Quebec set a new single-day record with 5,043 new COVID-19 infections, with 1,455 cases recorded in Montreal.