COVID-19

The Municipality of Sioux Lookout is not moving in step with the rest of the province when it comes to the removal of masking and capacity limits in municipal facilities.

Sioux Lookout leadership says masking and capacity limits will remain in effect for municipal facilities such as the Recreation Centre, Sioux Lookout Memorial Arena and Sioux Lookout Memorial Airport, due to the high number of COVID-19 cases in the region.

With COVID-19 cases continuing to drop across the province to lows that we haven’t seen since prior to the emergence of Omicron, Kenora-Rainy River MPP Greg Rickford says now was the right time to remove Ontario’s mask mandates.

“I think that it’s time for us to move on. It’s time for us to see each other’s [faces],” said Rickford. “We have to build our confidence back up as a society. We’ve taken a very cautious approach, I think the right one, and after two years we have to trust ourselves and our common sense.”

Residents across the province now have the choice to wear a mask or not.

It’s been 586 days.

That’s how long northwestern Ontario residents have been ordered to wear a mask in indoor public settings, with the directive being issued by the Northwestern Health Unit back on August 12 of 2020.

One year, seven months and nine days later, mask mandates in most indoor public settings have ended in Ontario as of this morning. Provincially, the mask mandate issued across Ontario on October 3, 2020, was in effect for a total of 534 days.

Ontario’s COVID-19 Science Advisory Table says the province should be prepared to reinstate mass vaccination clinics, vaccine passports and mask mandates if the new BA.2 variant continues to spread.

The government of Canada is making it that much easier for travellers to come to Canada, with the goal of boosting tourism across the country. 

The federal government announced yesterday that effective April 1, fully vaccinated travellers will no longer need to provide a pre-entry COVID-19 test result to enter Canada by air, land or water.

Public health officials advise 20 deaths in people with COVID-19 are being reported today:

Leadership within the province of Ontario says they are keeping a close eye on the BA.2 sub-variant that is causing havoc in some parts of the world.

Ontario Minister of Health and Deputy Premier, Christine Elliott said in a press conference on Tuesday, the province's top doctor is examining the situation.

“Dr. Moore is studying it. We expect that it may be the 50 per cent of the cases we have in Ontario within the next short period of time,” said Elliott.

**Please note the federal government is expected to give an announcement about the removal of testing before and after travel later this week. 

Although restrictions have lifted in Alberta, it’s still a little bit tricky to determine just what exactly you will need to hop on a plane to visit loved ones or even go on a vacation. Kahla Rakai, Manager at Direct Travel Service in Ponoka answered a couple of questions about travelling during these uncertain times.

Manitoba's top doctor is set to give a provincial update on COVID-19 today.

Dr. Brent Roussin, Manitoba's chief provincial public health officer, will be speaking to the media at 12:30 p.m. on Wednesday.

You will be able to stream the press conference live on this page at that time.