THUNDER BAY – The medical officer of health for the Thunder Bay district says she’s not sure she wants to make mask wearing mandatory – but she’s not ruling it out.
It may be a moot point.
Dr. Janet DeMille, who heads the Thunder Bay District Health Unit, on Wednesday said it won't surprise her if the province mandates them in indoor spaces across Ontario, despite previous suggestions from Premier Doug Ford that he won't take this course of action.
DeMille said a community-by-community approach just doesn't work well, with rules changing from district to district. Earlier this week Ottawa and Toronto each enacted their own mask bylaws, requiring them in all indoor public spaces. On Wednesday, Thunder Bay Mayor Bill Mauro said he wants to get the go-ahead from council on July 20 to work with the health unit to enact local legislation to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
"I believe we will be seeing that across the province in very short order," DeMille said.
For now, she's hoping the public will take it upon themselves to do their part to keep COVID out of Northwestern Ontario and wear a mask, something the health unit hadn't necessarily been encouraging in the past.
“Our recommendation is we are very much encouraging people to wear masks when they go into enclosed public spaces,” DeMille said.
“If we’re all using masks, or a good proportion of us are using mask, this is an added measure we can take, in addition to all of the other measures that we’re taking, to reduce the spread of COVID in our area. I think that is a fundamentally very important thing.”
As of Wednesday, there are only two active cases of COVID-19 in the district, out of a total of 92 confirmed cases that have been reported. Of those, 89 have recovered and one person died.
Wearing a mask isn’t about losing freedoms. It’s about preventing community spread and minimizing risk.
DeMille reminded that if the virus takes hold in Northwestern Ontario, the reality is many reopening measures may have to be rolled back.
“We really are all in this together and this isn’t just about ourselves and our families. It’s about our communities. It’s about allowing our businesses to potentially stay open, our schools to stay open,” she said, “especially if we experience an increase in cases.
“Collectively we are controlling this virus, and one of the ways we can contribute to that effort is the wearing of a mask.”
DeMille welcomed Mauro's push, saying having elected officials calling for masks to be mandatory, lends a loud voice to the discussions.
It would be beneficial, and less confusing, she added, if there was one regulation for all of Ontario, rather than different rules from district to district, especially as people start moving about the province more freely.
DeMille said she’ll take a wait-and-see approach about a rumoured move to Phase 3 of Ontario’s reopening strategy, which Ford last week said would likely be coming soon. The region has done a great job to date with the reopening, which gives her confidence moving forward.
“I think if we were to be able to enter a third stage, were further businesses would be able to open up, it just comes down to all of those basic measures that we all take – that physical distancing, staying home if you have any symptoms and frequent hand washing, for example,” DeMille said.
