Local medical officers of health pen letter to Ontario's top doctor asking for mask mandates back
Three local medical officers of health have written a joint letter to Ontario's top doctor, asking him to bring back mask mandates in schools and other indoor public settings.
Dr. Mustafa Hirji, Niagara Region's medical officer of health, Dr. Shanker Nesathurai, the Windsor-Essex County's medical officer of health, and Dr. Thomas Piggott, Peterborough's medical officer of health, penned the letter and sent it to Dr. Kieran Moore, Ontario's chief medical officer of health, on Wednesday.
They praised Moore for extending mask mandates in hospitals, long-term care homes, transit and other high-risk settings until June and urged him to widen it further to include indoor public places, including workplaces, schools, universities, colleges, and essential service places like pharmacies and groceries.
"To be fully effective and clear in communication to Ontarians, we believe this is needed at a provincial, not a local level," the letter reads.
"Like you, we had hoped that as masking and other protections ceased to be requirements, that we would be able to get through this wave without much suffering or long-term disruption. Unfortunately, this does not seem to have played out as we had hoped."
In March, the Ford government lifted the mask mandate for most settings. That decision, according to a brief from Public Health Ontario (PHO), contributed to the province's sixth wave which saw about 100,000 to 120,000 daily cases at one point in April.
The surge led to repeated calls for the government to reintroduce masking, especially in schools. But, the province repeatedly insisted that it was not needed.
In their letter, the three doctors noted that COVID-19 hospitalizations in their regions continue to exceed figures from previous pandemic waves. It led Niagara's main hospital to ramp down surgeries to 70 per cent, they said, adding that, earlier this week, 100 patients were admitted without a bed.
"The COVID-19 pandemic has clearly had a disproportionate impact on the individuals and communities with the worst social determinants of health. The current persistently high transmission of COVID-19 is exacerbating inequalities in our society," the doctors wrote.
"This subjects those with inequities to more infections, more hospitalizations, more isolation from work and school, more lost income due to isolation, and more risk of long-term disability with Post-Acute COVID Syndrome (aka Long COVID)."
In the letter, the doctors highlighted the importance of masking in reducing COVID-19 infections, asking Moore to reconsider imposing mandates.
"The return of masking could help protect those with inequities and vulnerabilities, relieve the pressures on our hospitals, and most importantly protect the health of the people we serve," they said.
On Thursday, Ontario reported 32 more COVID-19 deaths and saw day-over-day hospitalizations drop.
Dr. Peter Juni, the scientific director of Ontario's COVID-19 science advisory table, said earlier this week that it appears hospitalizations have also now peaked at 1,700. He added that a decline in wastewater indicators of COVID in the coming weeks would likely be followed by a decrease in hospital admissions.
"So whatever you're doing in terms of your behaviour — with contacts, masking, etc. — keep doing that for a few more weeks," he said. "But I think we're on the right track now."
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Western University researchers unlock potential 'cure' for ALS
New research out of London, Ont.'s Western University is shedding light on a potential cure for ALS, in which the targeting of the interaction between two proteins can halt or fully reverse the disease's progression.
What Michael Cohen said on the stand in Trump hush money case
The star prosecution witness in Donald Trump's hush money trial took the stand Monday with testimony that could help shape the outcome of the first criminal case against an American president.
Collapsed Baltimore bridge span comes down with a boom after crews set off chain of explosives
Crews conducted a controlled demolition Monday to break down the largest remaining span of the collapsed Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore.
Police release 3D images of young child found in an Ontario river two years ago
Police have released a three-dimensional image of a young child whose remains were discovered in the Grand River in Dunnville, Ont. almost two years ago.
Kamala Harris drops F-bomb during White House live-stream
U.S. Vice-President Kamala Harris used a profanity on Monday while offering advice to young Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders about how to break through barriers.
Behind the barricades: How protesters spend their first days in a new encampment
Students in Montreal describe life in a newly erected encampment in Montreal as a whirlwind of preparations, from facing rain and a potential police crackdown to setting up a space for the exchange of ideas.
Security video caught admitted serial killer disposing of bodies in Winnipeg garbage bins
Security video caught admitted serial killer Jeremy Skibicki on multiple late-night outings, disposing of body parts in nearby garbage bins and dumpsters in the middle of the night.
Canucks' Soucy suspended 1 game, Zadorov fined $5,000 for post-game crosschecks on McDavid
A Vancouver Canucks defenceman has been suspended for a game and another was handed a hefty fine after a scrum broke out at the end of Game 3 against the Edmonton Oilers Sunday night.
'Judge Judy' Sheindlin sues for defamation over National Enquirer, InTouch Weekly stories
'Judge Judy' Sheindlin sued the parent company of the National Enquirer and InTouch Weekly on Monday for a story that she said falsely claimed that she was trying to help the Menendez brothers get a retrial after they were convicted of murdering their parents.