Canada: People advised to continue wearing mask to reduce risk of contracting Covid

Mask mandates have been removed in several provinces including Manitoba, British Columbia and Alberta, and others. Ontario and Quebec will be following suit soon.

As masks start coming off in Canada, health officials are continuing to advise for keeping them on to reduce the risk of contracting Covid-19.

Passengers wait to be tested after they arrive at Toronto’s Pearson airport after mandatory Covid-19 testing took effect for international arrivals in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada on February 15, 2021. (REUTERS/FILE)

Mask mandates have been removed in several provinces including Manitoba, British Columbia and Alberta, and others. Ontario and Quebec will be following suit soon.

Canada’s chief public health Officer Dr Theresa Tam has said that the world has entered a “period of uncertainty” with regard to the pandemic and the coronavirus is still “undergoing evolution”. Therefore, she said, “getting vaccines plus wearing a mask is still a really good idea”.

The Public Health Agency of Canada is also reviewing vaccine mandates. These have proven controversial and triggered the Freedom Convoy demonstrations and blockades in February, leading to the government taking the extreme step of imposing an emergency, which was lifted after nine days.

However, as Tam said these policies were being “reexamined” by the government and it would adopt “a phased approach of removing some of these policies”, there was little clarity on when and even whether they will be lifted in the near future. The mandates apply to the country’s workforce, to those employed in federally-regulated industries, and for travel.

“As vaccination levels and healthcare system capacity improve, we will continue to consider further easing of measures at the borders-and when to adjust those measures-to keep the people in Canada safe,” health minister Jean-Yves Duclos had said on Thursday.