Ontario considering easing restrictions early as hospitalizations drop

Feb 10 2022, 9:25 pm

Ontario’s chief medical officer of health told reporters that all COVID-19 restrictions are under review and could change as early as next week.

The news comes as reports surfaced that Premier Doug Ford was pushing to move up the timeline. However, Dr. Kieran Moore, chief medical officer of health, emphasized that the province is still taking a data-based approach.

“With encouraging trends in community transmission and our hospitalization and ICU admission trending downwards, we can now see that the Omicron peak is behind us,” Moore said at a press conference on Thursday.

The downward trend has meant that procedures and surgeries considered “non-urgent” are able to resume gradually. Some hospitals were already rebooking these procedures by the end of January.

In addition to hospitals being able to return to a post-COVID-wave workload, the province is eyeing lifting other restrictions ahead of schedule.

“We are actively planning what the future looks like and laying out timelines for what public health measures can be lifted and when,” said Moore.

He added that the pandemic is a different situation now than in 2020 or even when other public health measures were put in place, as such, the province is looking for a way forward.

“It’s clear that the situation Ontario today as it relates to COVID-19 is different than when proof of vaccination and masking requirements were first introduced,” he said. “With this in mind, we are looking at a plan to consider when we can recommend to government what additional measures can be eased.”

Moore emphasized that the easing restrictions will continue to be evidence-based and phased. Though the government does have the final say, Moore makes recommendations.

“We are absolutely committed to removing public health measures in a timely, evidence-based, science-driven manner,” he said. “And we’ll be making recommendations to government next week.”

When asked about updating vaccine passport requirements to have three doses of COVID-19 vaccine, Moore said it wasn’t going to happen. He said that two doses provide protection against hospitalizations, ICU admission, and death.

“We have 6.6 million Ontarians that have come forward that for their third doses, we’re not going to hold back and mandate through proof of vaccination that five more million Ontarians get immunized with third doses,” he said.

While some restrictions look like they may come to an end earlier than anticipated, Moore said that masking in public spaces will likely be the last to go. He said that he anticipates that masking for students, teachers, and staff in schools will remain in place throughout at least the rest of the school year.

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