Ontario's Chief Medical Officer is scheduled to provide an update on the province's response to COVID-19 tomorrow, Wednesday, amid speculation that the government may move to ease or completely lift mask mandates in the coming weeks.

Dr. Kieran Moore was originally set to provide an update Thursday afternoon, but in a press release sent Tuesday evening, the province said he will speak Wednesday morning instead "to provide an update on Ontario's plan to live with COVID-19."
 

Moore is set to give his update an hour after Ontario Premier Doug Ford makes a local announcement alongside Health Minister Christine Elliott in Brantford, but the Premier's office said the two announcements are unrelated.

On the other hand, Ford said last week he expects updated guidance on mask-wearing from Moore soon.

Moore said last week he is confident Ontario will be able to lift its mask mandate in most indoor settings by the end of March.

COVID-19 hospital cases have steadily declined in Ontario over the past few weeks, although health officials said there is still a significant amount of community transmission.

Due to changes in testing requirements, it is difficult to get a clear indicator of case counts across the province.

Municipalities have been monitoring virus levels in wastewater, and Moore said last week that most sampling sites in the province still show a downward or stable trend in COVID levels.

While some areas have shown early signs of increasing trends, Moore said the province is "closely monitoring" those areas.

Notably, on March 1, Ontario dropped many COVID-19 restrictions, including capacity limits in most venues.

Ontario health officials said it no longer makes sense to continue applying the vaccine passport system as previously interpreted. However, Ontario's COVID-19 Science Table scientific director, Dr. Peter Juni, warned that a three-dose vaccine passport system might be needed at some point in the future to combat a subsequent wave of infections.