March 2022

To align with the easing of restrictions by the Province, the City of Ottawa will be amending its Mandatory Vaccination Policy to apply only to employees in identified high-risk settings including long-term care employees, shelter and respite centre workers, and paramedics, effective April 4. The City is having internal discussions regarding the application of the policy to vendors working in these setting and will provide an update as soon as possible. The mandatory masking requirement for indoor settings was lifted on March 21, 2022. Masks will still be required in long-term care homes.

Masks are no longer mandatory in most indoor settings in Ontario.

The Ontario government has lifted the mask mandate for indoor settings, including schools, restaurants, fitness centres and cinemas as of Monday, March 21, 2022. Masks will no longer be mandatory for shopping, bars, gyms, stores, malls, banks, theatres and pharmacies among other locations. Most secondary schools will remove masking madates although some colleges and univesities will keep their policies in place for the time being. Health care facilities, retirement homes, shelters and public transit weill require masking until further notice.

On March 9, 2022, Dr. Kieran Moore, Chief Medical Officer of Health issued a statement lifting mandatory masking as of March 21, 2022. With continued improvement in trends, Ontario will remove the mandatory masking requirement for most settings on March 21, 2022 with the exception of select settings such as public transit, health care settings, long-term care homes and congregate care settings.