The Sarnia-area provincial health-care group says masking requirements will remain in effect at local doctors’ offices, clinics and community health centers after the mandate is lifted in most settings across Ontario next week.
The province’s chief medical officer of health said the mandate will end Monday in public settings, such as restaurants, gyms and schools, due to a drop in COVID-19 cases and the Omicron variant’s wave easing, but it will continue in high-risk settings such as hospitals and long-term care homes.
The Sarnia-Lambton Ontario Health Team said local doctors’ offices, walk-in clinics, nurse practitioner-led clinics such as Twin Bridges, and community health centers in North Lambton and Grand Bend are also considered high-risk settings.
“Masking requirements will remain for patients, companions to appointments, and all staff,” the health team said in a statement. “Primary-care providers care for some of the most vulnerable people in our community and, as health-care providers, we have an obligation to keep these patients and our staff as safe as possible.”
Ontario’s top doctor has said all COVID-19 mandates are expected to be lifted by the end of April.