The number of mandatory masking spaces in Guelph continues to grow smaller, and it will draw considerably smaller again on Canada Day when the University of Guelph ends all its masking mandates. Once delayed by the U of G administration, the masks will be able to finally come off while people are indoors on campus, but it comes with a caveat that masks might need to go back on sometime in the future. Continue reading “University of Guelph Pauses Mask Mandates as of July 1”
Mask mandates come to a predictable and unceremonious end this Saturday with only a couple of exceptions. Just a few days after the election, and announced with a simple media release on Wednesday, the Chief Medical Officer of Health says that outside long-term care and retirement homes, masks in Ontario will be optional as of June 11, but at least one Guelph institution says that the masks will stay on for now. Continue reading “Most Mask Mandates End on Saturday, But Not at Guelph General Hospital”
While there was no word on bringing back mask mandates this Friday, there was an announcement concerning the ones that remain. All remaining masking requirements in Ontario were scheduled to be lifted on April 27, but in the wake of the increased number of cases without a more general mask mandate, and the spread of the BA.2 variant, the Provincial government is now waiting till June 11 to get rid of those other mandates. Continue reading “Government of Ontario Extends Last Mask Mandates to June”
Remember mask mandates? We had them just a few weeks ago, and mysteriously, once they were removed by the Government of Ontario as of March 21, COVID-19 cases started going up again. Using this advanced scientific reasoning, Ontario’s three main opposition party leaders spend their Thursday calling on the provincial government to bring back mask mandates in some form. Continue reading “Opposition Parties Unite… To Call For Mask Mandates”
As you may have heard, mask mandates in Ontario are coming to end on March 21 in almost all settings, and that includes City of Guelph facilities. City Hall confirmed as much today, and so did the Upper Grand District School Board who confirmed that masks will become optional in their schools after March Break, and that they have no power to change that even if parents want them to. Continue reading “Mask Mandates: City Changes Rule and School Board Has No Power to Contest”
When Ontario students return from March Break they won’t be mandated to wear masks in the classroom anymore, and neither will anyone else. In an anticipated announcement from Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. Kieran Moore, the provincial mask mandate will be lifted on March 21 with some limited exceptions. Keeping each other safe from COVID-19, Moore said, is now in our own hands. Continue reading “Confirmed: The Mask Mandate is Mostly Over March 21”
There was a lot of good news this week about the rollout of vaccines, but on Friday it was clear that there’s still some work that needs to be done to get us to the end of the pandemic. On Friday, Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph Public Health announced that they are updating mask requirements to address the growing concerns of variants, while also trying to assuage doubts about the efficacy the latest vaccine. Continue reading “Public Health Changing Mask Orders, Still Promoting AstraZeneca”
We were promised a resurgence of COVID-19 in the fall, and it appears that local health authorities are already planning ahead. Medical Officer of Health for Wellington, Dufferin, and Guelph Dr. Nicola Mercer has amended her Section 22 order and has expanded mask mandates starting later this week, while the Region of Waterloo passed an extension of their own masking bylaw. Continue reading “Mask Mandates Expand in WDG and Waterloo Regions”
As we inch closer to the school year, parents and educators (and students as well) are wondering what in-class learning will look like when the kids start going back the day after Labour Day. As Guelph and area’s separate school board works out the details, the Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph Medical Officer of Health is offering her two cents and endorsing the call to have students mask up. Continue reading “Mercer Endorses Mask Mandate at Upper Grand School Board”
In Toronto, starting next week, if you’re in a public building, you’re going to have to wear a mask. With more and more medical professionals recommending the wearing of masks as one of the best ways to mitigate the spread of COVID-19, Canada’s biggest city has now made it the law of the land to wear a face covering in all indoor public spaces for the foreseeable future. Continue reading “Toronto Makes Mask Mandatory, Other Municipalities to Follow?”
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