Ontarians Should 'Be Prepared' To Have Vaccine Passports & Masks If It's Needed Again
Ontario's COVID-19 Science Advisory table just released their modelling for the province.
While it may seem like the COVID-19 pandemic is past us since Ontario eased its restrictions and is set to lift mask mandates soon, Ontarians might not want to toss their masks quite yet.
On March 17, Ontario's COVID-19 Science Advisory Table published their latest projections for the province, and in it, they caution that residents should "be prepared" for certain health measures to be reintroduced.
Ontario's top epidemiologists feel that Ontarians should still put on a mask "whenever necessary" in order to protect more vulnerable populations, stay home when they're feeling sick, and get all of their vaccine doses if they haven't yet.
But, on top of that, the science table cautioned that Ontario should also be ready to bring back vaccine passports and mask mandates if they are needed again.
Chief Medical Officer of Health, Dr. Kieran Moore, previously warned Ontarians that masks might make a comeback if "a new variant of concern emerges."
The modelling also said Ontario should bring back sweeping COVID-19 vaccine campaigns if the pandemic worsens again, as well as keep up with protective health measures for those living and working in high risk settings like hospitals and long-term care facilities.
Now that Ontario has taken away vaccine certificates, scrapped capacity limits and social gathering sizes, and is set to gradually lift mask mandates, the science table predicts that there will be a rise of COVID-19 transmission.
"The extent of this increase, and of a person's risk of contracting COVID-19 will depend on the number of close contacts (especially indoors without masking), vaccination status, and the spread of the more transmissible BA.2 subvariant," the report reads.