Continue to wear masks, says health ministry

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OTTAWA Hold on to your masks. You are probably going to need it for a while.

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Even as a growing number of provinces lower or relax indoor mask requirements, Ottawa Medical Officer of Health Dr. Vera Etches said on Thursday she wanted people to continue to mask themselves for now. .

With 30% of the population still not fully vaccinated and the highly transmissible Delta variant at play, the risks are simply too high, she said.

You can go around the world and find that masks are a very useful tool in continuing to reduce transmission when you are indoors and in crowded places. I hope the people of Ottawa will continue their good practice of using masks and continue to be vaccinated.

During an update on COVID-19, Etches said she spoke with the province’s Chief Medical Officer of Health, Dr. Kieran Moore, about the pursuit of a mask warrant in the province-wide once Ontario exits Stage 3 of pandemic restrictions.

It could happen soon.

Ontario is expected to meet the threshold to exit Stage 3 in the coming weeks. To do this, 75 percent of people 12 years and older in public health units must be fully immunized and 80 percent must have at least one dose. No public health unit in the province can vaccinate less than 70% of people over 12 years of age. The earliest the province can exit Stage 3 is August 6.

During a stop in Ottawa this week, Premier DougFord suggested few public health protocols would remain in place once the province exits Stage 3.

We want to hit our target, and then the protocols, for the most part, are gone, with the possible exception of a few (Dr Moore) who may want to stay put, Ford said. For the most part everyone has worked hard and we are going to move beyond that and start working on the economy.

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Alberta went beyond ending masking this week when its Chief Medical Officer of Health, Dr. Deena Hinshaw, announced that people who test positive for COVID-19 will no longer be required to self-isolate in most areas. cases and universal masking in schools will no longer be required, nor will quarantines be required for close contact of cases, among others. The province said COVID-19 measures will evolve based on other respiratory viruses.

Other provinces including British Columbia, Saskatchewan, Prince Edward Island and New Brunswick have relaxed or will soon drop mandatory mandates for indoor masks.

Meanwhile, in the United States, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has rescinded previous guidelines and recommended that vaccinated people wear masks indoors in some areas, as cases increase in many parts of the country.

Etches said Thursday that she and others are closely monitoring situations in the UK, Israel and other countries where there have been resurgences of cases, driven by the Delta variant.

We don’t have to follow this trend. Besides making sure people are fully immunized, there are other things we can do by wearing masks in confined spaces and in crowds, distancing ourselves and staying home when sick. except to have us tested, even if you have received two doses of the vaccine.

Although the number of cases and other measures have been steadily low in Ottawa, the fact that 30% of the population is still unvaccinated means that there is still a risk of COVID-19 exponentially growing that would impact on fully vaccinated people as well.

Etches said the rationale for asking people to continue to wear masks indoors and in crowds is to protect people as everyone returns inside and monitor for a period of time until what we can see that we are able to handle the COVID situation.

It won’t be forever, she said.