Canadian province abolished the requirement to wear masks in most public places

This Monday, the province officially abolished the requirement to wear masks in most public places. Residents of Ontario were able to go to the store, go to a hockey game or see a movie at the theater without masks for the first time in 1.5 years. Public school students were also allowed to attend classes without masks, though many chose to continue wearing them.

Several school boards wanted more time to comply with the mask regulations, but the chief medical officer denied those requests. The Hamilton-Wentworth County School Board said it still plans to keep the restrictions in place until April 1.

Masks will remain mandatory in some places, such as public transportation, medical facilities, nursing homes, and collective care facilities until the end of April, but masks will no longer be required for most other public places, including restaurants, bars, gyms, retail locations, movie theaters, theaters, sports facilities, and meeting and event venues.

Nevertheless, Ontario has allowed individual businesses to retain the requirement for their customers to wear masks locally. They will also be able to continue to use the vaccination confirmation system, which was abolished across the province as early as March 1.

Provincial politicians and high-ranking health officials say the province's public health indicators have improved enough to allow the mandatory mask-wearing regulations to be lifted. These requirements have already been eliminated not only in many provinces across Canada, but worldwide. However, many epidemiologists and infectious disease doctors still insist that the restrictions should still have been maintained for a few weeks longer, especially in educational institutions.

Kieran Moore, Ontario's chief medical officer, said the elimination of masks does not mean COVID-19 has disappeared or that the pandemic is over. It only indicates that the province has finally reached the point where it can cope with the virus.