Advocacy group calls for stronger mask requirements in B.C.

DoNoHarm BC, a grassroots group advocating for public health measures, is campaigning to keep mask protections in the healthcare industry year-long.

In a release, the organization says healthcare workers are not required to stay masked everywhere. Last April, they were able to stop masking in various settings, including in ERs, children’s hospitals, and cancer centres.

“B.C. currently requires masks in hospitals and long-term care for staff, contractors, visitors, and volunteers – but not for patients,” DoNoHarm BC said in a news release.

“While policy-makers have only guaranteed this measure for a “few months” over the winter, DoNoHarm BC notes the last time BC discarded healthcare masking, multiple medical facilities suffered COVID outbreaks.”

The group says worker safety is essential. It says WorkSafeBC reported the healthcare sector has experienced the highest rates of claims for COVID-19.

Vulnerable B.C. residents are also calling for better mask protection.

“A single COVID infection completely upended my life two years ago,” says Kayli Jamieson, a 25-year-old Long-COVID patient and researcher.

“Unless everyone is wearing a mask if they can do so, my vulnerable family members and I can’t safely access healthcare. We all share the same air and we should be preventing healthcare-acquired infections year-round.”

Dr. Karina Zeidler, family physician and co-founder of Protect Our Province BC, says removing mask requirements is an “unforced error.”

“Not only is COVID transmission ongoing, but there is also a resurgence in other highly infectious airborne diseases like measles and increases in tuberculosis,” she said.

She says the BCCDC is warning of life-threatening invasive strep in kids and “now is not the time to be downgrading healthcare safety.”

“Instead we should be improving it with wider use of respirators, which are the only masks designed to protect against airborne disease,” Zeidler said.

The organization shares a study that reports nearly 60% of COVID cases spread asymptomatically, vaccinations don’t fully prevent the infection rates or long-term health impacts, and only 26.5 per cent of residents in B.C. were vaccinated this fall.

They also state that COVID safety is also a matter of health equity.

“Multiple polls have shown that 85-91% of respondents must delay healthcare due to lack of masks and COVID safety. Moreover, both COVID and Long COVID disproportionately impact Indigenous, racialized, disabled, 2SLBTQIA+, and lower-income communities, underscoring how COVID safety is a fundamental matter of health equity,” the organization said.

The advocacy group is demanding B.C. hospitals enforce masks year-round for medical staff, contractors, visitors, and volunteers, restore mask requirements for patients, improve airborne precautions, and ask private and public healthcare settings to achieve the same mask coverage.

“Masks are a low-cost, high-impact tool to reduce the spread of many illnesses. The Government of Canada, the World Health Organization, and many others continue to support their use,” it said.

DoNoHarm is asking people to write to policy-makers by highlighting stories of B.C. residents impacted by mask guidelines.

The campaign launched province-wide on Friday, March 15th on Long COVID Awareness Day.

Editor’s note: a previous version of this story had stated that while healthcare workers were all required to mask, patients were only required to wear masks in the winter. In fact, patients are not required to wear masks at all, at any time, and healthcare workers are not required to mask in various settings including ERs, children’s hospitals, and cancer centres. We apologize for the confusion.