Ontario lifted almost all remaining mask mandates at 12:01 a.m. June 11.
The mandates expired in most medical facilities and public transit, but continue in high-risk areas including long-term care homes.
Nevertheless, officials are urging those who take the TTC to continue wearing masks.
Mayor John Tory agrees.
“I hope people will continue to wear a mask as often as they can on the TTC because I think it just provides an extra measure of safety for them as we continue to battle the hopefully later stages of COVID but it is not done yet, COVID is not gone,” Tory told reporters during a media conference.
Ontario’s Medical Officer of Health Dr. Kieran Moore stated masks are still required in long-term care and retirement homes to “continue providing an additional layer of protection for the most vulnerable, masks will still be required.”
He said masks are recommended in higher-risk living settings, such as shelters and group homes.
“With high vaccination rates and Ontario’s COVID-19 situation continuing to improve, most of the province’s remaining provincial masking requirements, including on public transit, will expire as of 12:00 a.m. on June 11, 2022,” he said.
Many riders who take the TTC have mixed feelings about the mask mandate ending on the TTC.
“This is very good news, for a lot of people ” said Abdulkadir Farah, a youth outreach worker who uses the Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) to get to and from his job everyday.
“I think everybody should still be very cautious,” he said.
TTC rider Ubah Mohammed thinks the mask mandate should have been lifted a long time ago.
“Many people have not been wearing masks to begin with,” Mohammed said. “We should have been given the choice if we wanted to wear them or not.”
The TTC was one of the first transit agencies in the province to make masks mandatory in July 2020.
TTC employees will not be required to wear a mask, except for those operating Wheel-Trans vehicles.
Masks also will not be required on GO Transit or UP Express as of tonight, but the mandate will remain in place for Metrolinx employees.
ATU Local 113 welcomed the mask mandate ending for employees and said in a statement that workers should have the choice of whether to wear a mask.