Ottawa transit riders split over mask mandate changes
For two years, public transit was considered a high-risk space for COVID-19 and masks were mandatory, even well after the requirement dropped in the majority of other indoor settings, but Saturday, Ontario dropped that requirement.
“If you care about your health, you wear the thing; if you don’t care, you don’t wear the thing. It’s all personal preference,” Ottawa transit rider Abu Al-Faki said.
“I’m happy to be able to take it off for me personally, but if anybody wants to wear it, that’s cool with me,” he continued.
While some riders, like Al-Faki were eager to leave the mandate behind, others were more reticent.
“I’ll wear my masks anyways. I don’t trust not wearing a mask yet,” Natasha Pauze said.
Health experts say it’s time for people to make their own choices, although there are still some settings where mandating masks makes sense.
“The time is really here for people to be deciding for themselves, especially when we have such low levels of COVID now, compared to prior months,” Dr. Isaac Bogoch, an infectious diseases specialist, said.
“I think mandating is helpful in some very select settings, like a health-care setting where you’re working with vulnerable populations, we should be wearing masks in those settings,” he added.
The shift to public transportation is part of a trio of changes to Ontario’s handling of the pandemic that are taking place in June.
Along with lifting the mask mandate in most indoor spaces, the province will move to weekly covid reporting beginning June 16, and on June 24, the province’s vaccine passport app, Verify Ontario, will be taken offline.
“We’re expected to see a rise in cases in the fall and I think it’s just helpful to have some transparency over some of the data and the reporting,” Dr. Bogoch said.
Still, some riders are questioning the decision to remove the mask mandates, particularly for services like Para Transpo.
“You’re going into the long-term care centres, where there is still a mandate for wearing masks and you’re picking up those customers, so yeah, [the mandate] should be extended to Para Transpo customers,” John Redins, a board member for Ottawa Transit Riders said.
Redins, who is also a city council candidate, says he agrees it’s time for the mandate to lift on most public transportation, but worries about the impact it could have on those who are more vulnerable.
Others say they’ll continue to wear their mask, knowing they’re more vulnerable to the disease.
“I’m wearing it anyways because I’m too old; I’m 65, I’m fragile,” Bernard Gagnon said.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Doctors say capital gains tax changes will jeopardize their retirement. Is that true?
The Canadian Medical Association asserts the Liberals' proposed changes to capital gains taxation will put doctors' retirement savings in jeopardy, but some financial experts insist incorporated professionals are not as doomed as they say they are.
Something in the water? Canadian family latest to spot elusive 'Loch Ness Monster'
For centuries, people have wondered what, if anything, might be lurking beneath the surface of Loch Ness in Scotland. When Canadian couple Parry Malm and Shannon Wiseman visited the Scottish highlands earlier this month with their two children, they didn’t expect to become part of the mystery.
Fair in Ontario, flurries in Labrador: Weather systems make for an erratic spring
It's no secret that spring can be a tumultuous time for Canadian weather, and as an unseasonably mild El Nino winter gives way to summer, there's bound to be a few swings in temperature that seem out of the ordinary. From Ontario to the Atlantic, though, this week is about to feel a little erratic.
What do weight loss drugs mean for a diet industry built on eating less and exercising more?
Recent injected drugs like Wegovy and its predecessor, the diabetes medication Ozempic, are reshaping the health and fitness industries.
He replaced Mickey Mantle. Now baseball's oldest living major leaguer is turning 100
The oldest living former major leaguer, Art Schallock turns 100 on Thursday and is being celebrated in the Bay Area and beyond as the milestone approaches.
What a urologist wants you to know about male infertility
When opposite sex couples are trying and failing to get pregnant, the attention often focuses on the woman. That’s not always the case.
'It was instant karma': Viral video captures failed theft attempt in Nanaimo, B.C.
Mounties in Nanaimo, B.C., say two late-night revellers are lucky their allegedly drunken antics weren't reported to police after security cameras captured the men trying to steal a heavy sign from a downtown business.
Bank of Canada officials split on when to start cutting interest rates
Members of the Bank of Canada's governing council were split on how long the central bank should wait before it starts cutting interest rates when they met earlier this month.
Quebec nurse had to clean up after husband's death in Montreal hospital
On a night she should have been mourning, a nurse from Quebec's Laurentians region says she was forced to clean up her husband after he died at a hospital in Montreal.