Expand mandatory masks
Masks and face coverings are now mandatory in York Region, but this only applies to certain residents and businesses. Condos and apartment buildings are exempt.
How will this stop the spread of COVID-19, when a large part of the population is exempt?
For residents of condos, it will be left to their board to decide if masks are to be worn, and tenants of rental buildings will have to rely on responsible owners to encourage residents to wear a mask.
I find the exemption of condos and rental buildings absurd. More traffic comes and goes in these places than in businesses. Dorothy Low, Richmond Hill
Re Family Circus comic, July 22 Kudos to Jeff Keane for employing personal protective equipment in his recent Family Circus comic strip.
I have always enjoyed Keane’s brilliant incorporation of children's’ naivete in his comic strips. His understanding and visual representation of a young family’s daily adventures are hilariously realistic.
Considering the controversy surrounding mask wearing, I consider his recent comic, where the father and son each don masks, an effective message to those who fail to consider the value of doing such.
Well done, Jeff, and keep up the outstanding comics. Maurice Sacco, Toronto
Based on what is known about the transmission of COVID-19, refusing to wear a mask in a crowd is not equivalent to refusing to wear a seatbelt in a car; it is more akin to driving dangerously on a busy highway.
When did that become a right? John Small, Ancaster, Ont.
I don’t understand the reluctance to wear a face mask to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
Nor do I understand the provincial government’s reluctance to make wearing a mask indoors mandatory.
Seatbelts are mandatory when you are in a moving automobile. There doesn’t seem to be reluctance to wear those, nor a problem with enforcement in that regard. Seatbelts save lives. Masks save lives. What’s the problem? Stephen Bloom, Toronto Re Worse look than a mask? Ford’s mixed message, July 21
In addition to providing protection against the COVID-19 virus, mandatory masks have two important psychological effects:
á They act as a constant reminder to people less inclined to take proper precautions.
á They increase the confidence of people most concerned about becoming infected to re-engage with the community. Gary Mooney, Prince Edward County
Canada’s labs have the capacity to perform 60,000 tests for COVID-19 per day. Meanwhile, countries in Africa struggle to obtain the resources to perform tests.
As of July 21, there are 721,563 confirmed infections and 383,195 recoveries reported in Africa. But that number is likely an underestimate.
Many countries in Africa were experiencing humanitarian crises before the pandemic. COVID-19 threatens to worsen the conditions in these countries, creating a double threat they are unequipped to deal with without foreign aid.
I am asking my MP, Majid Jowhari, to advocate for investing one per cent of Canada’s COVID-19 response to the emergency global fund. This investment must be part of a permanent increase in Canadian aid to help in achieving progress toward sustainable development goals.
Let’s ensure that everyone, regardless of location, has access to the services they need, and that no one is left behind in the fight against COVID-19. Jackie Nguyen, Richmond Hill
Re Ontario vs. COVID-19: What have we learned? July 18
Unbelievably, this comprehensive article doesn’t mention the cause of this virus. It’s all well and good to learn lessons about how to deal with a pandemic, but isn’t it even better to identify and eliminate the cause of the outbreak in the first place?
Until big changes are made to how animals are housed, raised and slaughtered, whether at wet markets or factory farms, we are doomed to have more viruses that pose a threat to the global population, such as SARS, swine flu, mad cow disease and COVID-19.
Do we really want to do this again? Kirk Simon, Toronto
This otherwise comprehensive report overlooks a weakness in Ontario’s response to the pandemic: the absence of an infection rate.
Politicians are making life-or-death decisions about opening businesses and schools without accurate data.
According to the Federal government’s website, “Of all people tested, 2.9 per cent have been found to be positive.”
But 2.9 per cent is not the infection rate for the general population, only the rate among people tested.
Not knowing the infection rate when battling a pandemic is like treating a fever without taking a patient’s temperature or driving a car that has no speedometer. Marc Zwelling, North York
Re Stop promising, start acting, July 17 The Star has reviewed how the Ford government has failed miserably to protect the frail elderly residents of long-term-care homes. Very little has been mentioned about the chief medical officer of health, who is responsible for public health in the province or the role he should have played.
Because long-term-care homes have such vulnerable residents, there are often outbreaks of infections and there are protocols to deal with them.
The Ministry of Health should have known by what was happening in China and Europe that COVID-19 was much more serious than the usual infections.
The ministry should have ensured that there was enough protective wear for staff in every home, that they knew how to use it and that they were aware of the protocols to keep themselves and their patients safe.
Based on what has happened in other places, we can expect that when Toronto moves to Stage 3, there will be an increase in COVID-19 cases and that there will also be a second wave in the fall. What is being done now to ensure the current and future safety of longterm-care residents? Marilyn Nefsky, Toronto
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