Ontario is expanding eligibility for COVID\u002D19 PCR testing and the antiviral treatment Paxlovid
The province says anyone 70 and older, people 60 and older with fewer than three doses of a COVID-19, and people 18 and older with fewer than three vaccine doses and at least one risk factor such as a chronic medical condition can now be tested and assessed for treatment.
Moore says he will not be bringing back mandatory masking right now, though Ontarians should be prepared for that to return if a new variant of concern emerges, if the health-care system is threatened due to rising cases, and potentially during the winter months.Access to Paxlovid has largely been limited to clinical assessment centres and primary care providers, but the province says participating pharmacies will start dispensing Paxlovid this week.
“The full impact of lifting masking and other measures may not yet be observable, given limited PCR testing eligibility and lagging hospitalization data,” the report says. The BA.2 subvariant is now the dominant strain in the latest wave of the pandemic, the document says. The proportion of samples identified as BA.2 rose from 12.3 per cent the week of Feb. 13 to 54 per cent the week of March 13, it says.Article content
“The situation is not all that different from region to region, we’re in this sixth wave across the province. And I think that ideally, the response would be at a provincial level as well,” he added.
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