Masks likely around ‘for a while’ in Hamilton as Ontario sets March for review of mandate

Hamilton’s COVID-19 emergency operations team expects bylaws requiring face coverings in the city’s indoor settings to remain for some time despite the province’s chief medical officer beginning a review of Ontario’s mask mandates in March.

Mayor Fred Eisenberger says masks will be around “for a while” since the Omicron variant continues to put pressure on Hamilton’s hospital system.

“I’d like nothing more than to have all of these restrictions go, but we don’t want to throw away two years of effort to protect people in our community,” Eisenberger said in an update on Tuesday.

Dr. Kieran Moore made remarks on the review during his weekly COVID-19 update on Thursday.

READ MORE: Vaccine policies ‘no longer necessary,’ Ontario top doc wants to remove them March 1

Moore said he anticipated an analysis will be done in the second or third week of March, allowing for data to be checked after the province lifts capacity limits and the proof of vaccination requirement on March 1.

“If and when we transition, it would be from a mandate to mask, to a recommendation to mask,” Moore said.

“I would certainly hope that vulnerable members of our community that are at risk for this virus, that are immune suppressed or transplant patients, in public spaces would continue to mask.”

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Medical officer of Health Dr. Elizabeth Richardson said the province’s initiative is to undertake an “evidence review” which will investigate how masks might fit in a longer-term plan after the easing of more restrictions set for March 1.

“It’s a pretty dynamic environment right now around masking,” Richardson said, “how it best will work for us when it comes to COVID-19; how it will work in terms of respiratory viruses as we go forward; and where it’ll sit with public policy… (it’ll) be something to very much watch over the coming weeks.”

Once March arrives, Ontario’s mandatory proof of vaccination system will be scrapped but will still be allowed on a voluntary basis for businesses who want to continue to use it. Capacity limits in all indoor public settings will also be eliminated.

However, the mask mandate will remain in place until further notice.

Infectious diseases expert Dr. Isaac Bogoch told Global News he believes there will be a day mandatory masks will be lifted but suggested now is not the time since it’s still winter – a season where the onset of respiratory infections is more likely.

“Yes, things are getting better … hospitals are decompressing, ICUs are decompressing, deaths are going down,” Bogoch told 900 CHML’s Good Morning Hamilton.

“The cases are going down, but it’s still winter and there’s still a lot of COVID around.”

Richardson said despite Hamilton being “past the peak” and “in the decline” of a COVID wave fueled by Omicron, she does anticipate the risk of transmission will remain high through March as measures are lifted.

However, she also believes high immunization rates across the community will provide a strong line of defense for the reopening but still urges residents to continue measures to prevent virus spread and pressure on our health-care system.

“We should continue to follow the well-established measures, such as wearing a well-fitting mask, properly maintaining physical distance, being mindful of your number of contacts and staying home when you’re unwell,” said Richardson.

Bogoch expects voluntary mask-wearing to be prevalent in the future and insists it’s not going away with society learning to live with COVID.

“We’ll probably see fewer and fewer people wearing masks with the caveat that this virus isn’t going anywhere,” said Bogoch.

“We might see surges in the colder months and we might see people putting masks back on. We might even see governments asking people to put masks back on when we see future surges of this.”

As of Tuesday, Hamilton only had half as many confirmed institutional outbreaks across the city compared to a week ago.

Public health reported just five with one suspected surge at the YWCA Hamilton — Garth Place involving a single case.

Seven days ago, the city had 14 outbreaks involving close to 500 total cases.

Seniors’ homes still represent the largest group carrying outbreak cases in Hamilton as of Feb. 22 — 114 from four surges.

Two long-term care homes – Alexander Place and St. Peter’s Residence at Chedoke – combine to account for 109 cases.

Week over week, Hamilton has had 11 more COVID-related deaths moving the city’s pandemic total to 517. There were six more reported on Tuesday which Richardson characterized as “significant.”

Eight of the deceased were people over the age of 80. Twenty-nine of 56 who have died in the last month have also been aged 80 or over, according to public health data.

The number of patients requiring care from Hamilton’s hospital networks continues to decline with just 79 total COVID patients in the city’s facilities as of Tuesday with nine people in intensive care units.

There are 44 fewer patients compared to the same day last week and at least 200 fewer than the same time last month.

The city’s MOH says the average admissions per day is down to two with just one new ICU admission each day.

“Despite these decreases, our hospital partners do continue to report strain on their services due to the ongoing staffing and occupancy pressures,” Richardson said. “Although they are decreasing – that strain is decreasing.”

Hospital staff isolating for COVID-19 has also dropped significantly in recent weeks with just 231 off work as of Tuesday. Hamilton Health Sciences has the bulk of the cases with 183.

On this date in January, there were close to 400 staff at both networks in isolation protocol.

Richardson says the city has been “encouraged” by the uptake of COVID vaccinations in local school communities with more than 1,400 doses administered through the school-based clinics since Jan. 28.

As of Tuesday, at least 51 per cent of children aged five to 11 have have at least one dose of a vaccine in the city, with second doses at just over 28 per cent. The numbers are on-par with the provincial rates in that age group which stand at 54.3 per cent and 26.3 per cent respectively.

Around 82 per cent of eligible youth aged between 12 and 17 have now been fully vaccinated, while 85 per cent have had at least a single shot.

About 1,250 youth aged 12 to 17 took the city up on a booster dose between Friday and Monday. The age group became eligible for those shots as of five days ago.

More than 1.2 million first doses of COVID-19 vaccine have been administered in Hamilton with about 465,000 second doses and 282,000 third shots given out as of Monday.

Hamilton is still slightly behind the provincial average in first doses for those aged 12-plus — 90.2 per cent compared to Ontario’s 92.5 per cent. Second dose coverage for Hamilton is at 87.7 per cent in those over 12, also behind the province’s 90.4 per cent.

The province has administered 6.8 million booster shots as of Feb. 22.