1) As #COVID19 outbreaks pop up all over the province — from a Laval dinner party to a cluster of cases at a Quebec City microbrewery — the province is poised to again shut down some sectors of the economy, this time by region. In this thread, I'll explain what this could entail.

2) Premier François Legault — who had been so quick to reopen the economy in the midst of the #pandemic — warned Thursday of potential lockdowns by region, or even sub-region, should the number of #COVID19 cases stay above 180 a day. This was an unexpected turnaround by Legault.

3) The Premier floated the possibility of closing bars or reducing the size of 250-person public gatherings, again by region or sub-region. The government is now devising a color-coded alert system, assigning red to high-risk regions and green to areas that pose a low risk.

4) On Friday, Health Minister Christian Dubé revealed he spoke earlier in the day with various industry groups. He announced the government will hold a technical briefing Tuesday for journalists to outline the new alert system. All this suggests so-called smart lockdowns.

5) Unlike the previous lockdown which covered the whole province, smart lockdowns would probably be imposed on certain sectors of the economy in #COVID19 hotspots, allowing business to proceed as usual in the rest of the province. At first glance, this seems like a good plan.

6) But there are two weaknesses with this approach. One, it doesn’t address the fundamental problems that are currently afflicting Quebec's over-burdened health-care network. On Saturday, I will be focusing on the lack of a comprehensive cancer plan in a @mtlgazette feature.

7) Two, smart lockdowns don't address at least one major flaw in Education Minister Jean-François Roberge’s school strategy. With #COVID19 clusters already confirmed in at least two schools, the government is still unwilling to compel students to wear masks in large classes.

8) Meanwhile, Sherbrooke claimed the dubious title of highest number of new #COVID19 cases in Quebec Friday: 40. That compares with 25 in Montreal, down from 41 the day before, as the orange line in the chart below shows. But no doubt the #coronavirus is smouldering in the city.

9) In fact, Montreal reported two small outbreaks Friday in eldercare homes in the east end. In addition, the number of schools identified as having at least one student or teacher with a #COVID19 infection rose by five to 22 since Thursday, according to http://covidecolesquebec.org .

10) Picking up on an earlier tweet, Quebec’s health-care system is highly vulnerable as it faces a potential resurgence. The chart below suggests the city’s hospital ERs would not be able to handle an influx of #COVID19 patients in the event of a second wave. End of thread.