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Doug Ford reaches for his crystal ball to lift COVID mask mandates

Doug Ford gazed into his crystal ball on Wednesday and told Ontarians what they already knew.

“People are exhausted,” Ford said. “But we have to move forward.”

The premier was in Brantford to announce plans for a hospital expansion, part of his government’s efforts to build “resilience” in the health care system, he said. Turns out it may be 10 years before shovels are in the ground on the project.

But the announcement afforded a paradoxical backdrop for the assembled press more interested in talking about news leaked Tuesday night that the province will be lifting mask mandates effective March 21 for most indoor facilities and schools. Under the plan, masks will not be required at all after April 27 on public transit or in health care and long-term care settings.

The premier said he didn’t want to “steal Dr. Moore’s thunder” – Ford was referring to the province’s chief medical officer of health, Kieran Moore, who would confirm the details in a press conference at Queen’s Park half an hour later. But “When you look all around the globe,” Ford said, “we’ve been super cautious, some might say we’ve been too cautious.”

The head of the province’s science advisory table on COVID-19 doesn’t think so. For Peter Jüni, news that mandates would be lifted on masks was more akin to a bolt of lightning than thunder.

Jüni told CBC Radio’s Metro Morning that he was in the dark on the province’s decision. He says the science table was not consulted and offered that the move is “too soon.” The Children’s Health Coalition agrees. It has also recommended the mask mandates stay in place until at least two weeks after March break. Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario president Karen Brown was more blunt. She said the lifting of the mask mandates now is a recipe for “more chaos” in the school system. No doubt, it would also contribute to community spread.

Ford was asked about Jüni’s comments but offered flatly that he takes his advice from Moore, who seemed to dismiss Jüni’s concerns at the same time as he stressed that “the pandemic is not over.”

Moreover, it’s unclear what data – outside of hospital cases – the province is relying on to make its decision to lift mandates, since it stopped most testing and tracing for COVID-19 months ago.

Moore says the COVID-19 numbers from hospital reports “are stable or declining,” in most areas of the province. But, it’s only been a week since the last stage of the province’s reopening, and the virus continues to make up 45 per cent of all hospital admissions.

Moore admitted, in fact, that “we might have to go back to masks,” in the event of another wave. Don’t look now but BA.2, the latest variant, is already beginning to wreak havoc in Denmark and the UK and, reportedly, New York State.

The toing and froing has become a familiar feature of Moore’s press conferences. Which is why it’s hard not to see the province’s lifting of mask mandates as anything but with an eye to the June 2 election. To wit, Moore also announced plans to end mandatory vaccination policies for school, child-care, hospital and long-term care staff and employees. Isolation rules are also being relaxed.

Both Ford and Moore stressed that Ontarians can continue to wear their masks if they choose to. Moore said he may continue to wear his when he visits the Eaton Centre or a Big Box store, for example. He said he “hopes” that others who choose not to wear masks will be “kind and considerate to those who do.”

That would seem like wishful thinking given the stink left by the “Freedom Convoy” and its recent occupation of Ottawa to end all COVID restrictions. The political reverberations from that are still very much lingering in the air, including for Ford. Some of those who tuned in to the premier’s press conference via Facebook, for instance, were filling in the comment section on the bottom of the screen with the same vitriol heard from convoy supporters about COVID mandates. Many made reference to the “diaper” Ford was wearing on his face: “Take off your mask!” Others posted conspiracies about vaccines.

Yes, everyone is exhausted. It’s not the minority of folks who refuse to wear masks – and that are posing a risk to public health – that the government should be tailoring its policies to, but here we are.

There is still plenty to fear when it comes to COVID-19. More than 36,000 Canadians have died from the virus. An estimated 1.1 million people in Ontario are currently infected. The increased transmissibility of the virus during the recent Omicron wave has led to a higher death toll so far than 2021.

Wearing a mask shouldn’t be a difficult thing to do. It’s not just about protecting yourself. It’s also about protecting others around you, like your kids or older folks who remain more susceptible to serious illness. It’s not the flu, although that seems to be a popular misconception because serious illness doesn’t tend to occur in most people.

But clearly, it does – and it has – in enough cases over successive waves to overwhelm hospitals, which have had to operate beyond capacity for the last two years. It’s also not recognized enough that at least one-third of people who have contracted the virus continue to experience side effects six months and up to a year later.

The Ford government is inviting more trouble with its latest decision. At the very least, a line could have been drawn on elementary schools, where many kids are still not fully vaccinated.

After two years, the government should have learned something about abiding by the precautionary principle when it comes to dealing with a global pandemic. On the contrary, it’s not only failed to put the money needed in health care to deal with future variants, it’s also dismantling policies that afford basic protection. First vaccine passports. Now masks and mandatory vaccines for certain sectors of the population.

When Ford was asked about the possibility of another wave, he offered that the province has “invested strongly in our health-care system” and that “we’re in much better shape.” He used the example of PPE, which was in short supply early in the pandemic and is now being manufactured in Ontario.  

Actually, our hospitals are not equipped to handle another wave. On the contrary, many face staff shortages because of burnout, not to mention the province’s decision to cap pay increases for nurses at 1 per cent. But sure, let’s take off our masks and put them over our eyes to blind ourselves from reality.

@enzodimatteo

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