Hope Lilley is correct.
LILLEY: Mask mandates will soon eliminated but don't be afraid
The great mask debate is about the heat up now that Ontario’s chief medical officer has said mask requirements will be dropped in the near future including for schools.
“Given the positive trends and the public health indicators and the high vaccination rate, we are actively reviewing all directives and instructions to health-care providers or organizations that were temporarily put in place in response to the COVID-19 pandemic,” Dr. Kieran Moore said Thursday.
Note his use of a key word in that statement, “temporarily.” That’s all measures like masking or vaccine passports were supposed to be, temporary measures. Some activists appear to want them to be a regular feature of life.
One point that everyone needs to remember, and that Dr. Moore has emphasized, is that just because masks aren’t required doesn’t mean they can’t be worn. Each of us can choose to wear, or not wear, a mask based on our own health conditions and risk assessment.
“Even when it’s no longer required in public settings, it will continue to be an effective tool for reducing transmission,” Moore said. “Some in our communities may also choose to continue wearing them regularly, and we need to be respectful of individual choices once masking is no longer required.”
That’s all sensible, unlike the doctors who have spent the entire pandemic trying to convince people that the worst was just around the corner.
We have 90% of the population 12 and over fully vaccinated in Ontario. The age groups most at risk from hospitalizations or death – those 60 and over – have even higher rates of vaccine uptake. Those aged 60-69 have 76% with three vaccine doses. And for those over 70, it’s 87% with all three doses.
“On Tuesday, March 1st, we intend to continue our cautious, phased and staged reopening of the province by lifting capacity limits in all remaining indoor public settings and proof of vaccination will no longer be required from patrons in certain businesses,” Moore said Thursday.
He said the virus will still be with us but that we have tools we did not have two years ago, such as vaccines and therapeutics, that can allow us to return to normal.
It’s been a difficult two years during COVID and some people will naturally be anxious about peeling back the layers of protection they have become used to. That’s understandable and shouldn’t be mocked, but neither should the anxiety of some hold the rest of society back.