THUNDER BAY - Despite Thunder Bay District Health Unit medical officer of health Dr. Janet DeMille still encouraging people to wear masks in crowded public spaces after the province-wide mandate is lifted next week, she will not be extending any masking mandates in local schools.
“It really is the purview of the provincial government about the decision around the masking and I think it’s been clear that that is the direction they wanted to go in,” DeMille said.
During a special meeting of the Lakehead Public School Board on March 11, trustees voted 6-3 to extend the mask mandate beyond March 21 until regionally appropriate. The Thunder Bay Catholic District School Board did not make a similar request.
DeMille said she did receive the school board’s request and has responded.
“I do validate the concerns the trustees expressed about the spread of COVID-19 in the school setting because of the absence of masking but I will not be issuing any further instructions or orders to keep that,” she said. “We will continue to work with schools as we always have.”
But DeMille is encouraging people to keep masks on in public settings where a large number of people are gathering, including schools, particularly over the next two weeks after the province lifts masking mandates on March 21.
“I think in terms of the removal of masks, we need to realize that masks have made a difference,” she said. “It is an evidence-based layer of protection that we have had in place. I think everybody masking, especially in those indoor spaces that could be crowded where COVID-19 could spread easily, masks have made a difference in limiting the spread.”
DeMille added that lifting the mask mandate does pose some risk and when people are gathered within close contact of one another, it does provide more opportunities for the virus to spread.
“We know there is still omicron in our communities. We don’t even have a very good picture of how much because of the testing changes that were implemented at the end of December,” she said.
“I will personally continue to wear a mask, especially over the next couple of weeks while we navigate these next steps. My message is I’m encouraging people to actually continue masking.”
Easing of mask mandates is one of many steps the province is taking until the end of April to ease COVID-19 restrictions.
However, provincial data shows that the number of COVID-19 cases in Ontario are not declining anymore. It does note a regional variation and DeMille said cases in the Thunder Bay District have been declining.
“I think maybe we are behind the rest of the province with the curve and the recovery from this latest wave of the pandemic,” she said.
“Our numbers have been more obviously declining in the last four or six weeks. I’m fairly reassured of where we are now given the next steps of lifting public health measures happening a few days from now. I’m fairly reassured where we are now before entering that next step.”
And with the next step of reopening taking place on Monday, more people are coming out to get vaccinated to ensure they are protected.
DeMille said the COVID-19 vaccine clinic at the CLE Coliseum will remain open, though it is now also assisting with student immunization programs that were disrupted during the pandemic, including Hepatis B, HPV, and meningitis shots.
“We are doing more targeted clinics in different areas to make sure people have easy access to getting vaccines,” she said. “We will continue to do that to make sure everybody has those vaccine opportunities available to them.”
DeMille added that vaccination rates among school-age children are slightly lower than the overall average, but she is confident that with high overall vaccination rates in the district and general immunity from infections, students will remain safe from serious illness, but there is still a risk of the virus spreading.
“I think kids overall are protected against serious outcomes, but they still may get the infection and pass it on to others,” she said. “The reality is, with kids getting together like any place where people are getting together without masks, there is a chance of omicron spreading in those environments.”
“I am hoping that even if we see the numbers go up, they will not go up very high and then turn around and start going back down.”
Even if case numbers do rise and quickly fall again, DeMille is reminding the public that COVID-19 is still very much here in the district. Other parts of the world, including several European countries that have lifted many public health measures, are seeing an increase in the number of cases, hospitalizations, and deaths.
This is fueled in large part by the BA.2 subvariant of omicron, which is even more transmissible and has been detected in the Thunder Bay District.
“I think we have to remember that it’s not gone. We want to continue to manage it here. But we know the ways to manage this,” DeMIlle said.
“We’ve learned over the last couple of years through vaccines, staying home when you’re sick, masking, even optional masking, protecting those that are vulnerable, all of these are tools we have and if we apply them here we can navigate this pandemic successfully.”
