Ontario lifts vaccine, testing mandates at hospitals, schools, LTC homes

Ontario is lifting more COVID-19 measures with just one week to go until masks will no longer be mandatory in most indoor public settings.

As of Monday, mandatory vaccination and testing policies lift for workers in schools, child-care settings, hospitals and long-term care. The province says individual organizations will have the authority to keep their own requirements in place, and most hospitals have said they will continue their strict vaccine mandates.

The province is also further loosening restriction in long-term care settings this week. Individuals under five years old will be able to resume visits and the number of visitors at a time for each residents will increase from three to four.. All residents regardless of their vaccination status will also be able to resume overnight social trips.

Next Monday, masks will no longer be required in schools, grocery stores, malls and most other indoor areas. Masking requirements will remain for public transit, long-term care, retirement homes and other health-care settings, congregate care settings, shelters, jails and homes for individuals with developmental disabilities

All remaining mask rules will be lifted on Apr. 27 and remaining emergency orders and directives will be removed, or expire.

The province changed its COVID-19 isolation requirements last week, including dropping a requirement for non-household contacts who are unvaccinated or immunocompromised to isolate.

For people who don’t live with someone who has tested positive for COVID-19 but were identified as a close contact, no one will need to self-isolate.

Ontario ended most of its primary COVID-19 public health measures on March 1.

Proof of COVID-19 vaccination is no longer required at most Ontario restaurants, gyms and movie theatres, while nightclubs, sporting and concert venues have now eliminated capacity limits, and restrictions have been lifted on social gathering sizes.