B.C. lifts universal mask mandate in health settings

Face masks will no longer be universally mandatory in B.C. healthcare settings.

Provincial Health Officer Dr. Bonnie Henry announced the change to the mandate Thursday.

“So right now, there’s a combination of ministerial orders and public health officer (PHO) orders that require all visitors, all staff to wear masks at all times in healthcare settings, and there’s recommendations to community providers through the colleges around masking in physicians’ offices, for example. Today, all of those orders are lifted,” Henry explained.

She says settings this change will apply to hospitals and long-term care homes. However, Henry notes there may be special circumstances that require masking.

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“There are many situations in healthcare where masks are used routinely and we do what we call a point-of-care risk assessment. So if there’s a patient who has certain types of droplet-spread diseases and they’re in a certain room, one of the precautions that healthcare workers do is wear masks,” she said.

“Particularly if you have symptoms yourself and are going into a healthcare setting for care, or are in certain settings within the healthcare facility. So there are some units, some parts of our hospitals, for example, that require masking and have for a long time.” 

Henry notes situations that involved outbreaks of respiratory illness are also often managed with mask use.

“Masks are part of what we do to help manage those outbreaks, along with other things, including visitor restrictions etc. So what we’re taking away is the mandatory, all the time, for everybody in the healthcare setting because we no longer need that extra level of protection,” B.C.’s top doctor continued.

While this order has ended, she says she is still speaking with the Infection Prevention and Control and occupational health experts across Canada and B.C.

“We recognize that in healthcare settings, particularly, wearing a mask was very helpful when we had a lot of respiratory illness around. So we’ll be looking at that again for next fall.”

In addition to the end of the universal mask mandate, B.C. is also ending visitor restrictions in long-term care and assisted living facilities. These measures include the requirement to show proof of vaccination to enter such facilities, or the requirement to rapid test before entering LTC.

PHO orders that require healthcare system workers to be vaccinated against COVID-19 remain in place.