Despite announcements from Alberta, Saskatchewan and PEI, Ontario health minister Christine Elliott has said the Ford government does not plan on ending its vaccine passport system or mask mandate any time soon.
“We have no plans currently to drop the passport vaccination situation or masking,” said Elliott at a press conference on Wednesday. “We believe that masking is going to be important for some time to come.”
Elliott said the Ontario government takes its advice from Ontario chief medical officer of health Kieran Moore and other medical experts. She added that Ontario has committed to “a very cautious, phased, prudent approach to opening up.”
Ontario had announced in January that it would be lifting various COVID-19 restrictions over the following two months but made no mention of when vaccine passports or mask mandates would end.
“The evidence tells us that the measures we put in place to blunt transmission of Omicron are working,” said Ontario Premier Doug Ford. “We can be confident that the worst is behind us and that we are now in a position to cautiously and gradually ease public health measures.”
Ford said Ontario will take a phased approach to ending COVID-19 restrictions, with 21 days between each step.
The first phase, which began on Jan. 31, consisted of increasing social gathering limits to 10 people indoors and 25 people outdoors; requiring places such as bars, restaurants and gyms to operate at 50% capacity; and mandating sport and concert venues operate at 500 people.
The second phase, set to begin on Feb. 21, will see increased social gathering limits of 25 people indoors and 100 people outdoors; capacity limits ended in places such as bars, restaurants and gyms; and sport and concert venues permitted to operate at 50% capacity.
The third phase, starting on March 14, will entail social gathering limits of 50 people indoors with no limits for outdoors and capacity limits lifted in any remaining indoor public settings.
Ontario also announced on Wednesday that it had expanded access to free rapid test kits to people for at-home use.
“As we continue to carefully ease public health measures, rapid tests are providing another layer of protection and offer the public an additional tool to confidently do the things they love, like visiting family or dining at their favourite local restaurant,” said Elliott in the press release.
The announcement said Ontario will be distributing five million rapid tests each week for eight weeks through pharmacies and grocery stores across the province and 500,000 each week through community partners in vulnerable communities.
