In two weeks, no setting in Ontario will be mandated to require proof of vaccination from those entering their premises.
However, they may choose to implement the safety measures if they choose.
Mayor Cam Guthrie and Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph Public Health voiced their support of the lifted restrictions announced by Premier Doug Ford Monday morning, that included lifting capacity limits in all remaining indoor public settings and lifting proof of vaccination requirements for all settings starting March 1.
Starting Feb. 17, the province will also ease other restrictions such as increasing social gathering limits to 50 people indoors and 100 outdoors and removing capacity restrictions in restaurants, bars, and gyms.
“We're obviously going to follow the provincial direction, and we would also be supportive of organizations for whom proof of vaccination works,” said WDG Public Health spokesperson Danny Williamson. “We would support people keeping that in place if that's a need and an action that works for them.”
Williamson clarified that the province lays out safety requirements and it is their direction to change those requirements.
“In general, the province has sort of indicated where things are headed, and we're going to support that locally, but also understand that every business, every organization, every family is different. People need to take the additional steps that make sense for them to continue to protect themselves even as the province starts to look at reopening,” said Williamson.
Ford also announced that masking requirements would remain in place and a specific timeline to lift them will be announced later.
“Thank goodness we're Guelph because we're close to 95 per cent vaccinated, so even if restaurants or other businesses chose to still maintain the passport, the amount of people in Guelph that have taken steps to become vaccinated— looking out for their own health and the health of others — it will be a such a high percentage of Guelphites that would be having that passport available anyways,” said Mayor Cam Guthrie.
He said he expects many businesses to remove the vaccine passport requirement because it required them to add new processes such as increasing the number of staff at the front doors verifying vaccine passports and others conducting contact tracing.
“Those were all extra things that were added to businesses already struggling for those things to be removed,” said Guthrie.
“But I am appreciative of the government saying that it's still up to the decision of those businesses.”
