More Ontario mask requirements to lift on June 11
Ontario’s top doctor has announced that most remaining COVID-19 mask mandates in the province will lift this weekend.
“With high vaccination rates and Ontario’s COVID-19 situation continuing to improve, most of the province’s remaining provincial masking requirements, including on public transit, will expire as of 12:00 a.m. on June 11, 2022,” Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. Kieran Moore said in a statement issued Wednesday.
- Download our app to get local alerts to your device
- Get the latest local updates right to your inbox
The order was set to expire June 11, after it was extended in April. However, the Ministry of Health told CTV News Toronto earlier this week that Dr. Moore was reviewing and monitoring key indicators across the province before committing to the date.
Masks will continue to be required in long-term care and retirement homes.
Ontarians have been mostly mask free since March 21, when the requirement was lifted in public places like restaurants, gyms, and movie theatres.
Hospitalizations and case positivity rates did increase in the weeks that followed that decision – which the Ontario government said at the time was expected.
Since then, those COVID-19 metrics have significantly improved and ICU admissions related to the virus have reached a level unseen since last August.
Remaining mask directives at hospitals and other health-care spaces will also end on June 11. Those directives will be replaced by guidance issued by the health ministry for workers in those settings.
However, a number of major hospitals in Toronto have said they will keep their mandatory masking policies in place following the news.
The University Health Network (UHN), The Hospital for Sick Children, and Humber River Hospital all told CP24 that their masking requirements continue to be necessary as they care for their respective vulnerable patient populations.
Representatives for North York General Hospital and Sunnybrook Hospital also told CP24 they plan to keep their mask requirements.
Private businesses are free to implement their own masking policies in the absence of a provincewide mandate and individuals can continue to wear a mask if they so choose, the Ministry of Health said. The Ministry said it still recommends wearing a mask in higher-risk settings like shelters and group homes.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Quebec nurse had to clean up after husband's death in Montreal hospital
On a night she should have been mourning, a nurse from Quebec's Laurentians region says she was forced to clean up her husband after he died at a hospital in Montreal.
Northern Ont. lawyer who abandoned clients in child protection cases disbarred
A North Bay, Ont., lawyer who abandoned 15 clients – many of them child protection cases – has lost his licence to practise law.
Bank of Canada officials split on when to start cutting interest rates
Members of the Bank of Canada's governing council were split on how long the central bank should wait before it starts cutting interest rates when they met earlier this month.
Maple Leafs fall to Bruins in Game 3, trail series 2-1
Brad Marchand scored twice, including the winner in the third period, and added an assist as the Boston Bruins downed the Toronto Maple Leafs 4-2 to take a 2-1 lead in their first-round playoff series Wednesday
Cuban government apologizes to Montreal-area family after delivering wrong body
Cuba's foreign affairs minister has apologized to a Montreal-area family after they were sent the wrong body following the death of a loved one.
'It was instant karma': Viral video captures failed theft attempt in Nanaimo, B.C.
Mounties in Nanaimo, B.C., say two late-night revellers are lucky their allegedly drunken antics weren't reported to police after security cameras captured the men trying to steal a heavy sign from a downtown business.
What is changing about Canada's capital gains tax and how does it impact me?
The federal government's proposed change to capital gains taxation is expected to increase taxes on investments and mainly affect wealthy Canadians and businesses. Here's what you need to know about the move.
New Indigenous loan guarantee program a 'really big deal,' Freeland says at Toronto conference
Canada's Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland was among the 1,700 delegates attending the two-day First Nations Major Projects Coalition (FNMPC) conference that concluded Tuesday in Toronto.
'Life was not fair to him': Daughter of N.B. man exonerated of murder remembers him as a kind soul
The daughter of a New Brunswick man recently exonerated from murder, is remembering her father as somebody who, despite a wrongful conviction, never became bitter or angry.