I am getting a lot of questions about why I am not using my powers as Medical Officer of Health to make mask use mandatory in public, particularly in light of Windsor-Essex Medical Officer of Health doing so. There are three parts to the answer.
For the record, I support the decision of the Windsor-Essex MOH. Very different pandemic wave because of ties to Detroit. Check out the charts below. Note they have very different scales. Windsor& #39;s case count yesterday (& day before) was 32 - higher than London& #39;s peak count (24).
Reasons:

1. Middlesex & #ldnont don& #39;t have the same rates of illness as Windsor. Rates here are low & declining. Rates there are high & increasing.

We had 3 (three) new cases today. Windsor posted 32 (thirty-two) new cases - more than 10 times as many, on a smaller population.
2. While there is some data showing that wearing masks can help ( @MLHealthUnit strongly recommends using masks), the research is not nearly clear enough to issue a mandatory order. Public health orders have to be clearly justified by data; existing data has lots of holes in it.
2. (more) Studies shows that non-medical masks aren& #39;t particularly protective. Are they better than nothing? Probably. Do I wear them in public facilities? Yes. But current research doesn& #39;t show a big difference . They may be most useful as a signal to give the wearer space.
3. Exiting ethical & legal frameworks are clear: a public health order has to balance information about risk & effectiveness with rights of the individual. Yes, the health of the public comes first. But if evidence isn& #39;t strong and the risk isn& #39;t high, an order isn& #39;t appropriate.
If the rates of #COVID19 infection here in #ldnont & Middlesex were the same as that in Windsor-Essex, or if research were stronger, or if human rights were not a consideration, there would be a stronger case for mandatory masking here.
Rates here are less than 1/10th that of Windsor-Essex, the research is weak, and human rights are important. IMO, it& #39;s not time to issue an order making masks mandatory here.

We will keep watching this issue, and if these factors change, we will certainly consider an order.
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