Ontario Resists Reimposing Mask Mandate as Sixth Wave Underway

Kieran Moore, Ontario's chief medical officer of Health, speaks at a press conference at Queen’s Park regarding the easing of restrictions during the COVID-19 pandemic, in Toronto on Jan. 20, 2022. Nathan Denette/The Canadian Press

Ontario’s top doctor said on Monday that the province is going through a sixth wave of COVID-19, but he said the mask mandate won’t be reinstated at this time while emphasizing the low risk children face from the virus.

“It is clear that we are in the sixth wave of this pandemic driven by the BA.2 variant. In the last few weeks, we have seen an increase in the percent positivity and upward trend in wastewater surveillance and a rise in hospitalizations,” Dr. Kieran Moore said during a press conference in Toronto on April 11.

Moore said these trends would likely continue for the next several weeks and proposed a layered protective approach to mitigate the impacts, including masks, vaccines, and antivirals.

The issue of mask-wearing has been the object of intense debates in the province since the general mandate was repealed on March 21, with opposition parties and other pro-restrictions figures pressing to have the mask mandate reinstated.

Moore said there is a “strong recommendation” for wearing a mask in all public indoor settings, but for now the mandate won’t be reinstated.

“While we will not be reinstating a broad mask mandate at this time, we should all be prepared that we may need to resume a requirement for mask-wearing in indoor public spaces if a new variant of concern emerges, a threat to our health care system, or potentially during the winter months when COVID-19 and other respiratory viruses are likely to circulate again,” he said.

But Moore said it would make “tremendous sense” to maintain the mandate for high-risk facilities such as retirement homes beyond April 27, and as such his team is drafting that recommendation for the government.

Teachers’ unions have also put pressure on the government to keep masks in schools.

Moore said that children are not at risk from the virus.

“So of all of Ontario’s 2.75 million children, there’s two in the intensive care unit right now. On average, we’re having 30 to 60 children admitted to hospital—some of those are incidental admissions to hospital as well—over a one-week period. So we’ve not seen any significant threat to the health of children,” he said.

Moore also said that since the pandemic, 10 children died from COVID-19. “I’m sorry for any child that has had to succumb from this virus and to their families, but for the most part they have had comorbidities as well.”

Cases and Hospitalizations

Moore was asked during the press conference why Kingston is seeing very high rates of infection, where he had mentioned there are over 450 cases per 100,000.

He said while the cases are high, hospitalizations have remained low thanks to vaccination.

“They’ve remained at a very high level of detection of cases as well as infection, and yet, I believe, today they had nine people in hospital and 50 percent of them would be incidental admission. ... So it tells you that they have one of the highest immunization rates in the province, that a strong immunization strategy sprung first dose, second dose, third dose, fourth dose strategy can prevent the health system impact, can mitigate the negative effects,” he said.

For cases by vaccination status in Ontario, as of April 11, the individuals who received a booster dose are currently getting infected at much higher rates, with 23.78 cases per 100,000 over seven days compared to 17.29 for fully vaccinated and 14.79 for the combined category of unvaccinated or partially vaccinated.

For hospitalizations, 87 percent of Ontario’s population is fully vaccinated, and they count for 78.4 percent of hospitalizations and 67.7 percent of ICU admissions. Of all COVID-19 admissions notwithstanding vaccination status, 55 percent were admitted to hospital for a reason other than COVID-19, and 36 percent were admitted to the ICU for another reason as well.