March 10, 2022

While there has been no formal announcement from any Ministers, Dr. Kieran Moore, Ontario’s Chief Medical Officer of Health, issued the following statement yesterday regarding masking requirements:

“With continued improvement in trends, Ontario will remove the mandatory masking requirement for most settings on March 21, with the exception of select settings such as public transit, health care settings, long-term care homes and congregate care settings.“

In addition, the province is changing isolation policies effective March 9, 2022 for close contacts of someone with COVID-19 or who is symptomatic.

If a person has had close contact with a person outside their household with COVID-19 they are not required to isolate, but are advised to wear a mask outside the home for 10 days and to avoid high-risk people and settings.
If a household member tests positive or has symptoms, people do not need to isolate if they:
- are 18 or older and have received a booster dose,
- are under 18 and have two vaccine doses, or
- have tested positive for COVID-19 in the last 90 days.

A Technical Media Briefing was released you may find informative outlining how and when the province intends to lift the remaining public health and workplace safety measures.

Key dates in the Briefing include:

March 14: Mandatory Vaccination policies end
March 21: Most masking mandates end
March 28: Reopening Ontario Act expires.
- For legislative reasons, there will be a final extension of the emergency order for 30 days
April 27: All remaining measures, directives and orders end

The full statement from Dr. Moore is below and the Technical Media Briefing can be viewed and/or downloaded from the government of Ontario website.

I hope you find this information helpful. Please contact me for assistance working through your staffing matters.

STATEMENT

Statement from Ontario’s Chief Medical Officer of Health

March 9, 2022
Health

TORONTO — Today, Dr. Kieran Moore, Chief Medical Officer of Health issued the following statement:

“With the peak of Omicron behind us, Ontario has been able to cautiously and gradually move through its reopening milestones.

The majority of public health and workplace safety measures have now been lifted, and key public health indicators continue to improve or remain stable.

As we continue on this path, we are able to take a more balanced and long-term approach to Ontario’s pandemic response.

With continued improvement in trends, Ontario will remove the mandatory masking requirement for most settings on March 21, with the exception of select settings such as public transit, health care settings, long-term care homes and congregate care settings.

As a society, we must remain kind, considerate and respectful toward those who continue wearing a mask. We must also expect indicators, such as cases and hospitalizations, to increase slightly as Ontarians increasingly interact with one another. However, thanks to our high vaccination rates and natural immunity, as well as the arrival of antivirals, Ontario has the tools necessary to manage the impact of the virus.

I want to thank Ontarians for their ongoing resilience and commitment to community as we navigated this global pandemic together. Your sacrifices and collective actions have made a difference.

While this does not signal that COVID-19 has disappeared or that the pandemic is over, it does mean that we have come to a place where we know what we need to do to manage this virus and to keep each other safe.

We need to remain vigilant. We need to stay home when sick. And, most importantly, we need to get vaccinated and boosted.

Vaccination is the best protection against COVID-19 and the best protection for the progress we have made.”

Learn how Ontario intends to lift the remaining public health and workplace safety measures and learn to manage COVID-19 for the long-term.

Lenoury Law

Employment and Labour Law

Ontario Chief Medical Officer of Health says most mandatory mask requirements will be lifted March 21.

Statement from Ontario’s Chief Medical Officer of Health

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