Ford Just Said Canadians Will Probably Be Wearing Face Masks For 'Years' To Come

You might want to get used to having your face covered. Ontario may be confident enough to start moving into stage three this week, but Premier Doug Ford doesn't think face masks are going away any time soon. In fact, he suggests they could be sticking around for "years" to come.

Ford told Global News' Travis Dhanraj on Tuesday, July 14 that he thinks widespread mask-wearing will "continue on for a number of years here in Canada and across the world." 

"That’s what I believe," the Premier added. "I could be wrong but we’re going to be producing enough masks here."

Ford also noted how Ontario has equipped itself well with supplies of PPE after the shortage the province faced early on during its state of emergency.

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He also reiterated his previous vow that Ontario will never again rely on another country for emergency help. The PC leader had previously made that assertion after U.S. President Donald Trump blocked shipments of N95 masks to Canada.

This news comes after Ford announced yesterday that most of the province is heading into stage three as of July 17, except for the GTHA and a couple of other select regions.

Health guidelines are still in place and a large proportion of Ontarians are now required to wear masks or other face coverings in many places. Most cities have made wearing masks mandatory in indoor public spaces, including Toronto.

For now, the 6ix's temporary bylaw regarding masks is set to run until September, but it could be extended.

As well as face masks, it seems Ford expects the province's current emergency orders to stretch well into 2021 as well.

Meanwhile, Toronto Mayor John Tory had stated a few months back that the city's "best-case scenario" is to recover from the virus within nine months.

Although it seems like forever ago that Ontario went into a province wide-shutdown, cases have proven that we're heading in the right direction.

Health staff attribute much of the province's improved situation to the wearing of masks, which began to be adopted relatively early on.

Covering our faces has become the new normal, and if Ford's prediction is anything to go by, that doesn't sound likely to change anytime soon.