'Don't like it, but I will': Londoners react to province's mask recommendation
It's time to mask back up, according to the Ontario government and London's healthcare leaders.
"It is important that all of us try and mask more," said Dr. Alex Summers, Middlesex-London's medical officer of health.
"As we hear about stressors on healthcare capacity across the province, we have to know that impacts us here too. Regardless of what our wait times are, or regardless of what our bed situation is here," added Summers.
Wearing a mask more often and getting vaccinated against circulating respiratory viruses like the ones causing COVID-19, RSV and the seasonal flu will reduce the surge of cases showing up at hospitals right now, according to Summers.
In particular, it will help slow transmission among young children, currently filling up emergency departments across the province, said Summers.
He added, "The reason we're talking about kids right now is not that the individual risk for any particular kid is that high from any of these viruses. The challenge is that they're all getting sick all at once."
That message was echoed in a statement issued from the Medical Officer of Health for Southwestern Public Health, Dr. Ninh Tran.
"I ask that everyone in this community recommit to using layers of protection that we know guard our community," said Tran. "I strongly recommend that everyone wear a mask in indoor settings if you work with, care for, or socialize with the very young, the elderly, or those who are immunocompromised."
"I put a mask on usually," said Sandy Gignac, a London resident CTV News London spoke with. "There's a lot of flu out there, and a COVID uptick again, so just to be safe."
"I will use it," added Edward Lipski, another Londoner. "Don't like it, but I will."
The province stopped short of making indoor masking mandatory at this point, but suggested a mandate may come if deemed necessary.
"I have a grandson in public school, and he's had everyone sick for three weeks," said London resident Kathy Vansickle. "I wish they would have started the masking right from the very beginning this year."
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Parents of infant who died in wrong-way crash on Ontario's Hwy. 401 were in same vehicle
Ontario’s Special Investigations Unit has released new details about a wrong-way collision in Whitby on Monday night that claimed the lives of four people.
Three Quebec men from same family father hundreds of children
Three men in Quebec from the same family have fathered more than 600 children.
B.C. mayor stripped of budget, barred from committees over Indigenous residential schools book
A British Columbia mayor has been censured by city council – stripping him of his travel and lobbying budgets and removing him from city committees – for allegedly distributing a book that questions the history of Indigenous residential schools in Canada.
OPP's mandatory alcohol screening during traffic stops 'not acceptable': CCLA
A spike in impaired driving-related collisions has caused Ontario’s provincial police to begin enforcing mandatory alcohol screening (MAS) at all traffic stops in the Greater Toronto Area -- a move one civil rights group says is ‘not acceptable.’
Maple Leafs down Bruins 2-1 to force Game 7
William Nylander scored twice and Joseph Woll made 22 saves as the Toronto Maple Leafs downed the Boston Bruins 2-1 on Thursday to force Game 7 in their first-round series.
Jurors in Trump hush money trial hear recording of pivotal call on plan to buy affair story
Jurors in the hush money trial of Donald Trump heard a recording Thursday of him discussing with his then-lawyer and personal fixer a plan to purchase the silence of a Playboy model who has said she had an affair with the former president.
Southern Alberta store broken into by burly black bear
Staff at a small southern Alberta office supply store were shocked to find someone had broken into the business last week, but they were even more confused when they discovered the culprit was a bear.
Captain sentenced to 4 years for criminal negligence in fiery deaths of 34 aboard scuba boat
A federal judge on Thursday sentenced a scuba dive boat captain to four years in custody and three years supervised release for criminal negligence after 34 people died in a fire aboard the vessel.
New scam targets Canada Carbon Rebate recipients
Fake text message and email campaigns trying to get money and information out of unsuspecting Canadian taxpayers have started circulating, just months after the federal government rebranded the carbon tax rebate the Canada Carbon Rebate.