TORONTO – Since Monday, Ontario residents have been able to shop, watch a movie and watch a hockey game without wearing a mask for the first time in about a year and a half. The province has in fact revoked the obligation of this personal protective equipment in most public spaces.

An imposition, this, which also fell in public schools where, even if they were allowed to attend classes with their faces uncovered, many students preferred to continue wearing it.

The joy of finally being able to resume living as in the pre-pandemic period is overshadowed by Covid-19 that continues to circulate and infect people. The pandemic is not over, say those who do not yet want to abandon the mask. One parent, for example, said that his six-year-old daughter, who received two doses of a Covid vaccine, will wear the mask at school for now. “I’ve seen the majority of people at school still wearing masks, so I think that’s positive,” Branav Jalan said.

The facts speak for themselves. Despite the fact that the government has sent back to the sender the request made by numerous school boards to maintain for some time the obligation to wear a mask, parents are reluctant to send children to school with their faces uncovered.

The only schoolboard that has not bowed is that of Hamilton-Wentworth: here the mask will remain in force until April 1. NDP leader Andrea Horwath took his side. “The superintendent is clearly listening to the advice of some public health experts and a coalition of children’s hospitals urging the government to keep mandatory masks in schools for a few more weeks – he said – I think his decision is based on this and I have a certain respect for his position”.

No one has missed the government’s determination to start the elimination of masks from March 21. Protests, advice, medical opinions were worthless. Ford was adamant. March 21 was the appointed day and March 21 was supposed to be, not even a day more. “Superintendents should be able to work with the government to do what is needed in their local community,” said Liberal House Leader John Fraser. The government is adamant about this and I don’t understand why.”

On a war footing is the Ontario Students For Covid Safety that on Monday organized protests in front of various high schools. “Masks have helped us during the pandemic, and overall, I think we should continue to use them,” one student said. “I feel very insecure… I live with my parents who are elderly, I have to protect them too,” added another boy while Sophia Alexanian, one of the organizers of the demonstration said that “ignoring the problem does not make it disappear”.

Then there are also those who make a mustache of the new Ford-Lecce guideline. Robert Burns, who wore a medical mask on his way to a shopping mall in Toronto, said he was “indifferent” to the lifting of the mask requirement, but hoped people wouldn’t act “recklessly.” “Personally, I will continue to wear it. I think it’s safer,” he said.

The use of the mask has become a personal choice. The obligation is no longer there but the anxiety has remained. Chief Medical Officer of Health Kieran Moore said that making masks optional “does not indicate that Covid-19 has disappeared or that the pandemic is over”, but it means that “Ontario has reached a point where it is able to handle the virus”.