Following in the footsteps of several other health units across Ontario, Southwestern Public Health is now making face coverings mandatory inside all businesses and on public transit in Oxford and Elgin counties.
Dr. Joyce Lock, the region's medical officer of health, has issued an instruction order under the Reopening Ontario Act, formerly a regulation under the Emergency Management and Civil Protection Act. It requires all businesses and public transit to ensure customers and employees are wearing face masks while in enclosed public spaces.
While the instruction mandating masks comes into effect at 11:59 p.m. on Thursday, the health unit is giving businesses a one week grace period to prepare. As such, businesses and organizations have until August 6 to comply.
“Our response has evolved throughout this pandemic, yet it has always been centred on measures equal to local risks,” Lock said in a statement. “Our confirmed cases have increased, most public spaces are open, and we have more opportunities to interact with each other. Face coverings will help manage these risks.”
Enforcement of the new mandatory mask instruction by the health unit and the municipalities will largely centre around an education-first approach. However, those who continue not to comply could be hit with fines ranging from $750 to $100,000. Fines for corporations that ignore the instruction can go as high $10,000,000 for each day the offence occurs or continues.
“Our hope is the community will share the responsibility of containing COVID-19 by following these policies,” said Lock. “It is an incredibly caring act to wear a face covering because it protects other people from your germs. My mask protects you, and your mask protects me.”
The mandatory mask instruction does come with exemptions for some individuals including children under the age of 5, people with health conditions that make it difficult to wear one, people in situations where a face covering would limit the ability to breathe, and people who cannot put on or remove a face covering without help.
Businesses are not permitted to ask anyone for proof of their exemption.
"Please be understanding if someone cannot wear a face covering due to health conditions,” urged Lock.
Businesses will have to post signage reminding visitors to wear a mask, having employees provide verbal reminders, and have alcohol-based hand sanitizer at all entrances and exits.
In enclosed employee spaces where the public is not permitted, businesses are required under the instruction to maintain physical distancing where possible and require masks when it is not, perform routine screening for COVID-19 symptoms, advise ill workers to stay home and be tested for COVID-19, and increase cleaning and disinfecting of surfaces.
Lock stressed that face coverings do not replace physical distancing and clarified that a face shield is not an acceptable form of face covering.
Masks acceptable under the instruction include medical or non-medical masks and bandanas, scarfs, or a cloth that covers the mouth and nose.
The health unit is also recommending each of the municipalities under its umbrella pass a mandatory mask bylaw to ensure consistency across the region.
Elgin and Oxford counties have reported a total of 136 cases of COVID-19 since the start of the pandemic. Over the past week, Southwestern Public Health has seen a jump in the number of confirmed day-to-day cases that are not all connected to one specific event or source of transmission.
In nearby London and Middlesex County, face coverings became mandatory in all indoor public spaces on July 18 after that region's medical officer of health issued a similar instruction order.
