mask mandates are taken off in schools, a move that he calls “premature at best.”Along with schools, mask mandates were also lifted in most public settings across Ontario, including shopping malls, restaurants and grocery stores.
The Ontario government has kept the mandates for now in other settings like public transit, hospitals and long-term care, but those mandates and all other COVID-19 health directives are set to drop on April 27.
COVID-19 mask mandate lifts in Ontario for most settings Craig Smith is the president of ETFO’s Thames Valley Teacher Local, which represents about 3,600 members in the Thames Valley District School Board, a board that serves about 80,000 students in London, Middlesex County, Elgin County and Oxford County.He takes issue with the Ontario government lumping schools in with other settings such as shopping malls and grocery stores for its decision on when to lift mask mandates.“I think if (schools) are aligned to anything, it is more like what we find in retirement homes and long-term care settings.
Schools are a congregation of congregated settings,” Smith said.“The masks themselves, if they’re deemed to be necessary for those who are vulnerable in retirement homes, long-term care homes, I think the equation is similar to the schools.”While masks aren’t mandatory, the TVDSB will continue to encourage masking for staff and students going forward.