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.

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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.