TORONTO (LifeSiteNews) – Some Ontario hospitals are opting to keep mask mandates despite the provincial government dropping almost all of them.
Most healthcare settings, including hospitals, and public transit were allowed to dispense with masks from midnight June 11/12.
Ontario is lifting nearly all of its remaining mask mandates on Saturday. https://t.co/kkHPuNY9KR
— CP24 (@CP24) June 8, 2022
Long-term care facilities, however, are required by the government of Ontario to continue the mandate.
Toronto and Ottawa area hospitals will voluntarily keep masks in place for the foreseeable future, as will smaller hospital networks like the Huron-Perth Health Association.
Ontario’s chief medical officer of health, Dr. Kieran Moore, indicated on June 8 that institutions could decide for themselves if they want to keep the masks or not.
“While masking requirements are expiring, organizations may implement their own policies,” Moore said.
Some Ontario health care professionals are not happy that Ontario will continue to join the rest of North America and drop mask mandates.
Dr. Naheed Dosani, who calls himself a “health justice activist” tweeted that he was dismayed at the move away from masks.
So…Ontario just announced that mask mandates for hospitals will be dropped this Saturday June 11th.
Really? After all we have learned? Our government is actually going to drop the most basic thing we can do to keep vulnerable patients & health workers safe in hospitals? 🙄
— Naheed Dosani (@NaheedD) June 8, 2022
The Mental Health Commission of Canada also expressed concern for the mental well-being of Ontarians dismayed by the fact that some people will not wear face coverings when they go to the doctor.
Mask mandates in Ontario are changing today. Feeling anxious about it? We talked to a psychologist to get tips on how to handle that particular stress: https://t.co/4Lv71gsLjH pic.twitter.com/tmE0SwZdNj
— Mental Health Commission of Canada (@MHCC_) June 11, 2022
Dozens of studies have shown that wearing masks in general settings does little to nothing to stop the spread of COVID. Some studies show that negative health effects often result from prolonged mask wearing.
Ontario is one of the last jurisdictions in North America to hold on to masking policies, and Dr. Moore said that he wanted to see mask mandates remain in place for retirement homes and long-term care settings until the summer of 2023.