Dropping masks in schools called ‘callous’ and ‘thoughtless’ by Hamilton member of COVID science table
The head of one of Ontario's largest hospital networks made a plea for people to continue wearing masks for the sake of the health-care system on the same day the end of mandatory masking by March 21 in most Ontario settings was announced.
"Public health modelling predicts we'll see another increase in COVID hospitalizations between now and May," Rob MacIsaac, CEO of Hamilton Health Sciences (HHS), tweeted Wednesday. "We're not out of the woods yet. Please get vaccinated, wear a good mask, and isolate if you're sick, to keep our patients and staff safe."
Schools were not among the high-risk settings keeping masks until April 27. Instead it's transit, hospitals, seniors' homes, other health-care settings, jails, shelters and congregate living where masks will be mandatory for longer.
Hastily dropping masks in schools ... seems like such a callous, thoughtless end' to the pandemic," tweeted Dr. Menaka Pai, a Hamilton member of Ontario's COVID-19 Science Advisory Table.
She pointed out that masks are an easy" way to protect kids under age five who can't get vaccinated. In Hamilton, just one in two kids age five to 11 has had a COVID shot. Among youth age 12 to 17, one in 10 has had a booster shot.
My heart is breaking a bit today," tweeted Pai on Wednesday. I wish our government could do simple things to keep our little people, our vulnerable people, our marginalized people safe."
In an interview with The Spectator on March 1, the scientific director of the science table said mask mandates should remain in place until at least April 1 in Ontario. The timeline was centred around March break next week to see if there was any fallout two or three weeks later.
McMaster Children's Hospital also called for masking to stay in place until two weeks after March break, along with a number of other pediatric hospitals and health-care organizations.
Instead, masks will drop on the first day kids return to school after the break.
My guess is many parents on the playground, and many kids and staff in the classrooms, will keep masking," tweeted Pai, while urging kindness."
The Children's Health Coalition, which includes McMaster, encouraged everyone to continue masking in schools," in a statement Wednesday.
Adherence to these measures have allowed schools to stay open," said the coalition. As a group whose commitment is to the health and well-being of children, we all want the pandemic to be a memory for our kids, not part of their day-to-day. But we're not quite there yet."
Premier Doug Ford defended the latest phase of reopening saying, We have to move forward from this. People are exhausted."
Key highlights of Ontario's next phase of reopening
March 14
Remove required COVID vaccination polices in a wide variety of settings including schools, campuses, hospitals, health-care organizations and congregate living. These policies required disclosure of vaccination status as well as education and regular testing for the unvaccinated. A number of organizations went beyond the policy requirements and mandated vaccination. Hamilton's hospitals have already said they are keeping mandatory vaccination. McMaster University and Mohawk College have said they will stick with their policies until at least the end of the semester. Hamilton's school boards have not indicated their plans yet.
Remove mandatory vaccination requirements for staff, students, volunteers and visitors at long-term-care homes.
March 21
Masking requirements end in most settings, including schools. Mandatory masks remain in transit, seniors' homes, hospitals, other health-care settings, shelters, jails and congregate living.
Other measures in schools lift, including cohorting and daily on-site screening.
Requirements for businesses removed such as passive screening and safety plans.
March 28
Reopening Ontario Act expires. Emergency orders under the act remain for 30 days more.
April 27
Masking requirements lift in all settings.
Any remaining emergency orders under the Reopening Ontario Act expire.
A number of directives from Ontario's chief medical officer of health lift, including precautions health-care workers must take when caring for COVID patients and measures to keep seniors' homes safe from virus spread. These directives are expected to be replaced by provincial guidance and requirements by individual organizations.
Changes for contacts of COVID cases
No isolation requirements for nonhousehold close contacts of cases.
For household contacts, no isolation for adults who have had three doses of a COVID vaccine or two doses for those under age 18. No requirements for those who have tested positive in the last 90 days. Household contacts who don't fall into these categories must isolate for 10 days from last exposure.
All close contacts should monitor for symptoms, wear a mask, avoid visiting those vulnerable to COVID and stay away from high-risk settings for 10 days after exposure.
More to come...
Joanna Frketich is a health reporter at The Spectator. jfrketich@thespec.com