Ontario Declares Second Provincial Emergency

Today, the Ontario Government declared a second provincial emergency, issued a stay-at-home order and introduced enhanced enforcement measures. Effective Thursday, January 14, 2021 at 12:01 a.m., the government is issuing a stay-at-home order requiring everyone to remain at home with exceptions for essential purposes, such as going to the grocery store or pharmacy, accessing health care services, for exercise or for essential work.

No further restrictions on Massage Therapy practice have been announced. CMTO will review the actual regulations when they are available online and will update RMTs if things change. Currently, regulated health professionals, including RMTs, may continue to operate in accordance with the requirements of Directive 2. RMTs should only be providing in-person treatment when the anticipated benefits of treatment outweigh the risks to the client and the RMT. Learn more about assessing risk during the COVID-19 pandemic.

We thank RMTs for all they are doing to keep Ontarians safe during the COVID-19 pandemic. CMTO is not expecting RMTs to practise if they do not feel it is appropriate or safe to do so.

RMTs should continue to monitor the COVID-19 regional public health measures and restrictions in their area. RMTs can access up-to-date epidemiological information through the Ministry of Health’s website or Public Health Ontario’s COVID-19 Data Tool.

RMTs who are practising are expected to continue to follow directions provided by:

• College of Massage Therapists of Ontario (CMTO),
• Ontario’s Chief Medical Officer of Health,
• Ministry of Health’s Guidance for the Health Sector,
• MOH’s COVID-19 Operational Requirements: Health Sector Restart, and,
• Public Services Health & Safety Association’s sector-specific workplace safety guidelines.

Vaccination Information

Ontario has begun phase one of the COVID-19 vaccine roll-out. Though Ontario is still in the very early stages of the vaccine roll-out, CMTO will be sharing information with RMTs as it becomes available.

As regulated health professionals, it is important that RMTs stay informed and access reliable, accurate and up-to-date information about the vaccine. For more information on the COVID-19 vaccine, please visit the Ontario Government’s COVID-19 vaccines for Ontario webpage and the Ministry of Health’s COVID-19 Vaccine-Relevant Information and Planning Resources webpage.

CMTO is awaiting more detailed information on Ontario’s vaccine distribution plan and will provide this information to RMTs as it becomes available. We know that healthcare workers have been identified as a higher priority group for vaccination and will be strongly encouraged to consider getting the COVID-19 vaccine. Vaccination will help protect you, your clients and community and will be critical to Canada’s recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.

We continue to monitor the COVID-19 pandemic and provide updates as they become available.

For additional information and resources, including the guidance and requirements, please visit our COVID-19 webpage. If you have questions after reviewing the information on our website, please contact CMTO’s Practice Specialist at practicespecialist@cmto.com or by phone at 416-489-2626/1-800-465-1933 extension 4124.