ONTARIO – Provincial mask requirements were expected to expire on April 27, but with the influx of COVID-19 cases, the Ontario government is extending the mask requirement until June 11.
The masking requirement includes:
- public transit.
- health care settings (e.g., hospitals, doctors’ offices, clinics that provide health care services, laboratories, specimen collection centres, and home and community care).
- long-term care homes.
- retirement home.
- shelters and other congregate care settings that provide care and services to medically and socially vulnerable individuals.
“To protect our progress in managing this latest wave, I am maintaining masking requirements in specific public settings where individuals who are, or may be, at increased risk of severe outcomes, are in close contact for extended periods of time,” said Dr. Kieran Moore, Chief Medical Officer of Health. “Continuing to follow masking requirements and keeping up to date with COVID-19 vaccinations are the best ways we can prevent transmission and protect our friends, families, and our communities.”
With high vaccination rates and the expansion of booster doses, the government of Ontario feels that they have the necessary tool to manage the sixth wave of COVID; however, they are still looking into expanding more of Ontario’s tools to stop the spread of COVID and stay open for business.
One such tool is the expanding access to an antibody treatment called Evusheld.
Health Canada approved Evusheld on April 14, 2022, and the treatment is for immunocompromised individuals who are not positive for COVID-19 at the time of administration.
Following two single-dose injections, the treatment protects COVID-19 for six months.
“Thanks to the province’s high vaccination rates as well as an increase in antiviral treatment availability and eligibility, we have been able to cautiously and gradually reopen Ontario,” said Christine Elliott, Deputy Premier and Minister of Health. “Vaccination remains our best protection against COVID-19, and I strongly recommend that everyone stays up to date with their vaccinations by receiving the dose you are eligible for as soon as you can. As with vaccines for other diseases, you are protected best when you stay up to date.”
Evusheld will be available to individuals with the highest risk of a severe outcome from COVID-19 in the coming weeks, including:
- solid organ transplant recipients;
- stem cell transplant recipients;
- CAR-T therapy recipients; and
- other hematologic cancer patients undergoing treatment.
A complete list of settings where masking requirements continue to apply is available online.
