Brampton’s Mayor Brown wants Ontario to look at scrapping school mask mandates

With Quebec planning to drop mask mandates for kids in schools, Brampton’s Mayor Patrick Brown is calling on the province to consider scrapping mask requirements for Ontario students.

On Tuesday, Quebec Public Health announced students at elementary and high schools in many parts of Quebec including Montreal will no longer be required to wear masks in class starting on March 7.

In-class masking will be scrapped when kids return from March break, while students will still be required to wear masks in common areas, when moving between classrooms, and on school transportation.

The decision has been met with mixed reviews from healthcare and child advocates, but Brown said he wants to see Ontario follow Quebec’s lead when it comes to in-school masking.

“I think it’s appropriate to get children back to normal where they can learn in an environment that is easier and more comfortable,” Brown said at a press conference on Wednesday.

“I believe Ontario should strongly look at this,” Brown added, citing the province’s “very strong vaccination rates” which he said have set up “an environment where we can make up these moves to get back to normal.”

In Alberta, schoolchildren are no longer required to wear masks and children 12 and younger don’t have to wear masks in any setting.

The Region of Peel hit a milestone last month by fully vaccinating 90 per cent of eligible residents in Mississauga and Brampton aged 12 and older.

Peel Public Health (PPH) also says 50 per cent of eligible Peel children aged 5-11 have received their first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine.

The most recent numbers from PPH show 94.1 per cent of Peel residents over 12 years old have had at least one shot of a COVID-19 vaccine, while 91.3 per cent have received two doses as of Feb. 18.

More than 90 per cent of all Peel residents over 5 years old have received at least one vaccine shot, 85.3 per cent have received two doses, and more than 566,000 Peel residents have received a third booster dose.

Brown called the vaccination rates in Peel “a tremendous milestone.”

“Our community has stepped up, got vaccinated and hopefully this paves the way to get back to normal,” he said.

Brown said the number of COVID-19 patients in Brampton ICUs dropped again this week. As of Tuesday night Brown said there were 17 COVID-19 patients in Brampton Civic Hospital, four of which were being treated in ICU.

Starting on March 1, the province will drop proof of vaccination requirements for restaurants, bars and other indoor settings without having to provide proof of COVID-19 vaccination.

The province reported 1,106 patients with COVID-19 in Ontario hospitals on Wednesday, down from more than 1,400 patients one week ago, with some 319 of those COVID-19 patients are in intensive care units.

The province said 49 per cent of patients in hospital with COVID-19 were admitted because of the virus while 51 per cent were admitted for other reasons but tested positive for COVID-19.