Bonfire, mimosa, ringing the bell and throwing masks... Many public sector workers and their clients celebrated, in their own way, the lifting of the wearing of mandatory face coverings today.

" At last ! We feel much better, especially with the heat of the last few days. You feel like you're alive again, you can breathe again! says Romain Devanneaux, chef at La Korrigane microbrewery in Saint-Roch, Quebec.

Several of his colleagues marked the occasion, at midnight, by throwing off their masks and ringing the bell which is usually used to announce beer rounds.

At the Coiffure distinctive de Charlesbourg salon, we welcomed the first clients of the day with a big, clearly visible smile and a flute of mimosa for the occasion.

"We celebrated it big!" laughs his manager, Josianne Tremblay. After two years of the pandemic, it was a little destabilizing at the start of the day, but we quickly got used to it. We hope it will last! »

Several impacts

For many, the announcement had the effect of a deliverance. It must be said that, on the one hand, the face covering was particularly suffocating for some workers and that, on the other hand, it acted as a brake on social interactions for others.

“In the kitchen here, it's between 35 and 40 degrees, so with the mask on it was really hot. It feels good to be back to normal,” says Adam George, manager of Basha restaurant in downtown Montreal.

" It changes everything ! confirms Mathieu Roger, branch manager of La Cage de Lebourgneuf. This makes it easier for the cooks and, for the waiters, contact with customers is more natural. »

At the Privilege Gym in Beauport, customers would even have had discomfort, forced to wear the mask between two exercises when they were exhausted, it is said.

Not gone

Thus, it will have been necessary to wait almost two years before the lifting of this measure, introduced on July 18, 2020 in closed or partially covered public establishments.

But this does not mean that masks will disappear from our lives.

While some will prefer to keep it on for a while, it remains mandatory in public transit and in health care establishments, as well as for COVID-19 patients.

"At least we won't have to play police anymore." Just that, it's huge for us, "said Simon Bourret, owner of XL Gym, in Quebec.

– With the collaboration of Clara Loiseau