B.C. mask debate: Divide between frontline doctors and public health amid concerns of politicized office
CTV
Soaring respiratory infections among children have frontline health-care workers pleading for the revival of mask usage, something the provincial health officer remains lukewarm on.
Soaring respiratory infections among children – with an unprecedented number of B.C. youngsters dying just weeks into the flu season – have frontline health-care workers pleading for the revival of mask usage, something the provincial health officer remains lukewarm on.
Some doctors are calling for mask mandates in the most high-risk public settings, such as enclosed, close-quarters buses. Others are pleading for Joe and Jane Public to do what public health won’t require: voluntarily mask up to curb the spread of all respiratory viruses.
“I would absolutely love it if everybody took the time to think of kids who are suffering, kids who are sick, and put a mask on,” said Vancouver family physician Dr. Anna Wolak.
Provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry didn’t voice particularly strong support for masks on Monday, suggesting they’re only needed in “certain situations." And she repeated her long-held stance on mandates.
“A mandate is a rather heavy-handed measure that we do as a last resort when it’s something that is absolutely needed everywhere all the time,” she reiterated, recommending vaccinations and staying home when sick as the primary lines of defense.
Her counterpart in Ontario, Dr. Kieren Moore, was unequivocal last month in "strongly recommending that all Ontarians, not just those at high-risk, wear a mask in indoor public settings.”
While recent polling showed 79 per cent of Canadians would support the return of face masks to some extent, there are no province-wide mask mandates anywhere in the country, and it’s unlikely any jurisdiction wants to be the first to faced renewed opposition.
