Masking Requirements Continue in Select Indoor Settings
As Ontario continues to effectively manage the sixth wave of COVID-19, the Chief Medical Officer of Health is maintaining existing provincial masking requirements in select higher-risk indoor settings until June 11, 2022. Provincial masking requirements which were set to expire on April 27, 2022 are being extended in current settings, including:
- public transit;
- health care settings (e.g., hospitals, doctors’ offices, clinics that provide health care services, laboratories, specimen collection centres, and home and community care);
- long-term care homes;
- retirement homes; and
- shelters and other congregate care settings that provide care and services to medically and socially vulnerable individuals.
The Chief Medical Officer of Health will also maintain the CMOH Directives currently in effect until June 11, 2022, after which the ministry will issue guidance on personal protective equipment recommendations for infection prevention and control in health care settings.
To further expand the tools available to protect Ontarians and reduce hospital visits, the province will start to receive supplies of Evusheld, an antibody treatment for immunocompromised individuals who are not positive for COVID-19 at the time of administration. Following two single-dose injections, the treatment provides protection from COVID-19 for six months.
Based on advice from the Canadian Agency for Drugs and Technologies in Health (CADTH), Evusheld will be available to the individuals with the highest-risk of a serve outcome from COVID-19 in the coming weeks, including:
- solid organ transplant recipients;
- stem cell transplant recipients;
- CAR-T therapy recipients;
- and other hematologic cancer patients undergoing treatment.
News Release:
English: https://news.ontario.ca/en/release/1002098/masking-requirements-continue-in-select-indoor-settings
French: https://news.ontario.ca/en/release/1002098/masking-requirements-continue-in-select-indoor-settings
Web Resources:
COVID-19 Antiviral Treatment
COVID-19 Clinical Assessments and Testing
COVID-19 Antiviral Treatment Eligibility Screener
Get a Free Rapid Test Kit
Provincial Booking System for COVID-19 Vaccines
What to do if You’ve Been Exposed to COVID-19
COVID-19 Public Health Measures and Advice