“things are looking really good in terms of going to step 3,” henry said, adding the official announcement would be made on tuesday.
step 3 will see a return to normal indoor and outdoor personal gatherings, fairs and festivals can be held, casinos and nightclubs can reopen and all indoor fitness classes are allowed.
there will still be restrictions on the numbers of people allowed in casinos and nightclubs and other public safety measures, however masks will no longer have to be worn in public indoor spaces.
“we are at the point where risk in our community is changing dramatically, and particularly for people who are immunized,” henry said.
“it is, in many ways, an incentive for people who have been immunized, have received two doses of vaccine, that masks are no longer that last line of defence that you need, because your risk has changed so much.
“so we are moving from a period where orders were required because we had a lot of transmission in our community and every single layer of protection was incredibly important. now, as we have protection through immunization and decreasing transmission rates, it is really important for us to give that agency back to people. and you wear a mask based on your own risk and based on being immunized and protected, where you protect others through being immunized as well.”