Ontario’s COVID-19 guidelines will no longer require a five-day isolation period, the province’s chief medical officer announced Wednesday, as part of a plan he unveiled that includes providing booster shots. in children aged 5 to 11 years. The changes to the isolation period, which Dr. Kieran Moore said other provinces such as Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Quebec have already made, mean that even people who test positive for COVID-19 could return to work or school, provided their symptoms improve. He said immunization levels meant the risks posed by the virus were lower than before. Speaking to reporters at Queen’s Park, Dr. Moore said parents will be able to make appointments for a booster shot for children who have been at least six months since their last shot, starting at 8 a.m. Thursday — just days before school starts across the province. The move comes just two weeks after Health Canada approved the booster shot for children, and after other provinces announced similar plans. Dr Moore said the delay was necessary to prepare health instructions and vaccine supplies. The new guidelines of Dr. Moore scrapping five-day isolation period for people who test positive for COVID-19 still recommends people with respiratory or other symptoms for coverage for 10 days after symptoms first appear and avoid high-risk areas such as long-term care homes and the elderly or immunocompromised. The pandemic isn’t over and ending Ontario’s scientific COVID-19 advisory panel won’t help matters Under the new guidelines, anyone with a cough, fever, runny nose or stomach upset — with or without a positive COVID-19 test — should stay home until the fever goes away and other symptoms improve for 24 hours, or 48 hours if gastrointestinal symptoms. According to the government’s media release, the new guidelines also advise anyone who has been in contact with someone who tests positive to wear a mask for 10 days when in public. The Chief Medical Officer of Health said the measures were also intended to curb flu and other respiratory diseases that circulate in the fall and put pressure on the health system, not just COVID-19. He urged Ontarians to get their COVID-19 shots, wear a mask “when it’s right for you” and stay home when sick. While he said mask orders or isolation rules could return if future waves of the virus put the health system at risk, he did not foresee any need to return to capacity restrictions or shutdowns for retailers. “Our collective efforts are helping us move from a crisis phase to a more sustainable approach to the long-term management of COVID-19,” said Dr. Moore. Critics have said the end of the five-day lockdown comes too soon, with the return of classes, where face coverings are optional, likely to cause a spike in cases this fall. Adil Shamji, the Liberal MPP for Don Valley East and an emergency room doctor, said he was “deeply concerned” about the removal of the five-day isolation period without a plan to increase other measures to stop transmission in schools. “I know [the removal of the isolation period] it has happened in some jurisdictions around the world. But my advice would be different if we were not in a crisis,” Dr Shamji told reporters. “We have ERs closing, ICUs closing, almost 1,400 people hospitalized right now with COVID-19.” Dr. Moore also took questions Wednesday about the government’s recent move to disband the independent COVID-19 Scientific Panel and establish a new advisory body within the Public Health Ontario (PHO) agency. Critics charged that the move was intended to silence the table, which has clashed with the government several times during the pandemic over plans to ease COVID-19 restrictions. Dr Moore said he had “full confidence” in the PHO, which he said intended to provide an “independent voice to government”. Andrew Morris, a senior infectious disease physician at Toronto’s Mount Sinai and University Health Network hospitals and a member of the scientific panel, said in an interview that the new regulation will lead to less independent scientific advice. He also said it was hard to say whether the province’s announcement Wednesday was the right move in the absence of more data on the impact of “long-term COVID” on the workforce and economy. “I think it’s very clear that this government is taking the approach that attention to COVID is no longer in their best interest,” Dr Morris said. The Morning Update and Afternoon Update newsletters are written by Globe editors, giving you a concise summary of the day’s most important headlines. Sign up today.
