Should B.C. bring back masking guidance?

Mask use has dropped significantly since the end of COVID-19 mandates in B.C., but Ontario’s top doctor is now recommending face coverings once again, prompting questions if this province should do the same.

Ontario Chief Medical Officer Dr. Kieran Moore made the recommendation Monday, pointing to the pressures COVID-19, RSV, and the flu are putting on that province’s health care system.

But the head of the Vancouver Infectious Diseases Centre, Dr. Brian Conway, isn’t pushing for broad language that would recommend mask use everywhere in B.C.

“I think it underscores the need for everyone to get their COVID shots, their flu shots, and to stay home if they are sick,” Conway told CityNews. “On top of this, wearing a mask is prudent in certain circumstances, and the guidance from Ontario supports this.”

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The masking guidance in Ontario comes as more than half of the children who are being tested for influenza in hospitals and emergency departments in that province are testing positive. Over 20 per cent of children under the age of one are testing positive for RSV in hospital settings.

“It’s not COVID that’s affecting our children, it’s RSV and influenza combined that are driving our children to have to be admitted to hospital,” said Ontario’s Moore. He adds half the children in the ICU have RSV and the other half have Influenza.

Conway notes that in some settings in B.C. — medical clinics, healthcare centres, and the like — the mask mandate was never removed.

“It is probably prudent if you know that in certain environments, there’s more cases of respiratory infections, that masks be worn over the period of time that you know that this is the case,” he said.

Conway’s understanding of the mask guidance in Ontario is that the province is “reinforcing” the recommendation that is already in place.

“I think some people have stopped considering masks as an option altogether,” he said. “It is first a call for us all to remember to have a mask on our person at all times in case it’s necessary to put it on. And in certain circumstances, masks are always worn, as in our clinic, in other circumstances where there are outbreaks of respiratory infections, be they the flu, RSV, or COVID, then the guidance is to wear a mask.”

The wording of making guidance needs to be clear, Conway says, encouraging public health officials to reassert masking recommendations and language.

“First and foremost, don’t store your masks away.

“The best protection you have against respiratory infections is to get vaccinated and to stay home if we’re sick, and if your friend shows up to work or school sick send them home. Masks are an additional layer of protection,” he said.