Ontario’s last mask mandate expires Saturday, but there are holdouts. Here are some of the places where you’ll still need to cover up

With the province’s mask mandate for high-risk settings set to end this weekend, some theatres, doctors’ offices and workplaces will continue to keep the rules in place.

Thestar.com
June 8, 2022
Olivia Bowden and May Warren

Ontario’s last mask mandate covering high-risk places like public transit, long-term care and other health-care settings is poised to expire Saturday, but the Ministry of Health won’t confirm if these rules will be extended.

Regardless, there are some last bastions of face-covering -- from certain doctors’ offices to famous theatres -- that will continue to require them well into June, despite potential blowback.

Dr. Nili Kaplan-Myrth, a family doctor based in Ottawa, said her office will continue to require that all patients wear a mask as it’s clear COVID-19 spreads through the air.

“For my patients that show up at my door without a mask, we will provide them with one, and most people aren’t going to have a problem with that. And anybody who does have an issue with that will not be able to see us in person,” she said.

“It’s our own space in which we have the responsibility to keep everyone safe and healthy,” she added.

The province lifted mask requirements for most indoor settings including schools, movie theatres, sports stadiums, stores, gyms and restaurants on March 21. Mask requirements for high-risk settings -- such as doctors’ offices, public transit, hospitals, shelters, retirement and long-term-care homes and labs -- were kept in place until April 27 and then extended as cases spiked earlier this spring.

Ministry of Health spokesperson Bill Campbell would not say whether these rules will be extended further. He said in an email Monday that “the Chief Medical Officer of Health is currently reviewing and monitoring key indicators across the province” and that the ministry will “continue to seek and follow his advice on next steps.”

That won’t stop some hospitals from setting their own rules -- the University Health Network and Sunnybrook, for example, will continue with their current masking requirements beyond June 11, spokespersons confirmed.

Asked if the TTC would continue with masks even if the province doesn’t, spokesperson Stuart Green said the transit agency continues to “follow both provincial mandates and the best advice of public health officials” and will “communicate any changes to the provincial mandate and the impact on our operations to our customers.” Toronto Island ferry passengers must also wear masks under the current provincial mandate, and it is up to the Ministry of Health whether that will continue after June 11, Toronto Public Health told the Star.

Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) lab tests -- considered the gold standard for COVID-19 testing -- are still limited to high-risk people and settings in Ontario, so it’s hard to get a sense of how many cases are out there. Wastewater surveillance, which picks up virus signals in sewage, does show that transmission has dropped sharply in both the GTA and Ontario since early April.

Colin Furness, an infection control epidemiologist at the University of Toronto, said there hasn’t been a clear plan outlined by the province in terms of how to determine when masks should come off.

“If we had a plan, then we would have milestones,” he said. Those milestones could be determined by wastewater levels and clear criteria, but currently that is not occurring, he added.

The province should also be looking at ensuring some spaces remain safe, especially for those who are high risk, he said. That would include mask-only hours at grocery stores or keeping mask requirements on public transit. It would be ideal if masks could be recommended based on the wastewater levels per week, he said.

“Yoking our protection to the actual threat to the local community, that is a good way forward, along with fixing air quality.”

Several scientific studies have found that mask use helps control the spread of COVID, including one published in the peer-reviewed journal The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) in March, which analyzed mask wearing in several countries and found that it was associated with a notable reduction in transmission.

Chapman’s Ice Cream, a family-run business located in Markdale, north of Brampton, is one workplace that will be keeping masks on for now. They’re required for everyone on site, except when eating or drinking at lunch or break.

Ashley Chapman, the company’s chief operating officer, said they still screen employees for symptoms and have invested in a PCR testing machine, so they know there are still COVID absences on the plant floor “almost every day.”

“We’re still seeing these cases and we know how contagious it is, and let’s be honest, we’re in the middle of the summer, we’ve got to make ice cream,” he said.

Chapman's Ice Cream, a family-run business located in Markdale, Ont., is one workplace that will be keeping masks on for now.

They occasionally get an employee who is “tired of wearing the mask at work, but at the same time there’s a lot of people way more, on the plant floor, who have gotten used to it,” he added.

Last year, the company faced online harassment when leadership announced a $1-an-hour raise for all vaccinated employees. All unvaccinated employees have now been given the raise as well. The difference in pay was meant to offset the cost of rapid tests for these staff members, which they are no longer required to take twice a week, Chapman said.

“Some of the people online have been quite brutal and mean and nasty, and have pretty much declared that we’re guilty of human rights violations because of our stance on trying to keep our people safe,” Chapman added.

At Mirvish theatres, the show will go on with masks on (and no neck gaiters or bandanas, per their website).

Spokesperson John Karastamatis said they’re taking their cue from Broadway -- requiring masks for at least the month of June.

The “majority” of their audience seems to want this, judging from the emails and calls they get, he added.

“We not only have to look after the safety of the audience, but we also have to look after the safety of the cast, the crew, the staff at the theatre, so we’ve chosen to err on the side of caution, as we don’t know what the future holds,” he said.