Masking rules set to continue at Thunder Bay hospital, despite Ontario lifting provincial mandate

Masks will remain mandatory at the Thunder Bay Health Sciences Centre, despite a directive from Ontario's top public health official that most remaining mask requirements will expire on Saturday.

Hospital spokesperson Marcello Bernardo confirmed in a statement that mask requirements for patients and visitors will remain in place, "for the foreseeable future" and COVID-19 screening at the hospital entrance will also continue.

"While COVID-related hospitalizations and critical illness are declining, vulnerable populations continue to be at heightened risk of infection," Bernardo wrote in the statement. "We serve the most vulnerable of our community, and remain committed to doing everything possible to keep patients and staff safe, including maintaining best practices in infection, prevention, and control."

On June 8, the provincial Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. Kieran Moore cited high vaccination rates and improving COVID-19 infection figures as a justification for lifting the remaining mask restrictions.

Masks will still be required in all Ontario long-term care homes. Moore has shifted mask requirements to recommendations in shelters and group homes. Those managing hospitals, medical clinics, and mass transit systems can choose to continue or discontinue mask mandates.

Thunder Bay District Health Unit medical officer of health Janet DeMille wasn't available Thursday to comment on whether she has issued any recommendation to area hospitals as to whether they should continue to require masking. 

A statement from health unit spokesperson Lance Dyll said DeMille would be, "reviewing the provincial communication and guidelines that are expected to be released and anticipates being in alignment with that."

Officials in Thunder Bay are not the only local decision-makers to continue mask mandates beyond Saturday. Hospitals in cities like Hamilton, London and Waterloo have all announced they will continue to require masks going forward. 

Meanwhile, Dr. Fahad Razak, the new scientific director of Ontario's COVID-19 science advisory table, told CBC Radio's Metro Morning the provincial requirement could have been extended for at least four more weeks to help relieve some of the pressure on hospitals that will now have to enforce their own mask rules.

"I'm heartened to see many hospitals have already announced that they will continue to require them," Razak said Thursday. "I suspect you'll see most institutions will require it."

Local First Nations leaders make decisions regarding public health measures in far north, fly-in communities. Three of the 33 fly-in First Nations in the Sioux Lookout First Nation Health Authority (SLFNHA) catchment area are currently experiencing COVID-19 outbreaks and there are still 378 active cases across the region.

Emily Paterson is SLFNHA's director of approaches to community well-being. She says a mask is a simple intervention that can make a difference in ebbing the "quite high" number of active COVID cases. 

"We haven't changed our mask recommendation, even when other mask mandates went earlier in the province. We'll continue to do that," Paterson says. "We'll also continue to recommend that when community members leave their communities, they wear masks in public settings in an effort not to bring COVID back into the community."