BC currently requires masks in government-run medical settings, but has signaled they plan to drop these protections this spring. Past removal of mask rules drew heavy criticism from patients, doctors, researchers, and BC’s Human Rights Commissioner, and masks have been restored twice so far in two years.

Inconsistent mask requirements mean inconsistent safety. Vulnerability isn’t seasonal, and both patients and frontline workers need a reliable baseline of safety - not policies that shift with the weather. Contagious illnesses remain a risk throughout the year, particularly in settings full of sick people. Constantly shifting rules also lead to confusion, with reports that hospitals fail to follow and enforce changing requirements, and experts criticizing late, ineffective implementation.

This spring, we call on BC policy-makers to keep and strengthen healthcare mask protections with these practical steps:

1. Maintain healthcare mask requirements year-round. Prevention should be proactive, not reactive, especially as COVID-19 has increased over the summer months for three years straight. We’re also seeing an atypical late-season increase in influenza and a surge in measles, alongside other illnesses like norovirus, RSV, and potentially H5N1.

1. Provide clear direction to all health authorities on concrete steps to enact mask requirements. This includes requiring hospital admin to direct managers on implementation; posting signage; making masks available; and designating staff members responsible for informing and monitoring staff, visitors, and patients.

2. Increase usage of N95-equivalent masks or better (a.k.a. respirators), which provide superior protection as the only masks rated to properly protect against airborne illnesses. Clearly communicate the federal and international scientific consensus that COVID-19 is airborne, and use appropriate respiratory protection. Follow the European model in making N95-equivalent masks a default choice for high-risk settings, and ensure all who wish to wear a respirator (or request it of their healthcare providers) can do so.

3. Close gaps in existing rules. This includes requiring patients to mask (with reasonable exceptions and accommodations), including providing N95-equivalent masks for potential airborne illnesses; ensuring mask coverage in shared locations where patients must be, including foyers and hallways (where patients often need to wait); and directing private healthcare settings to meet the same minimum mask requirements as government-run facilities.

Why this matters:

• Patient safety: Gaps in infection control put patients at greater risk, particularly in high-risk settings like ERs, cancer centres, children’s hospitals and long-term care. Hospital-acquired COVID-19 is at least 70 times more deadly than COVID contracted in the community, while a late influenza surge, measles warnings, and Canada’s first hospitalization from H5N1 underscore the rising risks from other communicable diseases.

• Worker protection: Healthcare workers face the highest rates of workplace COVID claims, while a single case of H5N1 potentially exposed 60 healthcare workers. Interior Health was recently fined over $270,000 for exposing workers to a noxious unknown hazard without recommended PPE, highlighting the need for improved communication around appropriate respiratory protection.

• Accessibility: Multiple polls show 85-91% of respondents must delay healthcare due to lack of safety measures. British Columbians have sent tens of thousands of messages so far calling for masks in healthcare - a particularly pressing need for Indigenous, racialized, disabled, 2SLBTQIA+ and lower-income communities, who continue to face disproportionate harm from illnesses like COVID-19.

• A necessary layer: Hand hygiene does not address transmission through the air. Up to 59% of COVID cases spread asymptomatically, meaning symptom checks alone are insufficient. While vaccination is vital, it doesn’t fully prevent COVID infections or long-term health impacts, and offers less protection for many immunocompromised people. Masks are a low-cost, high-impact safety tool that should be used alongside these other measures to help close the gaps.

• An evidence-based solution: Studies show resumption of staff masking is associated with a 33% decrease in hospital-onset respiratory viral infections. N95 masks reduce exhaled viral load by 98%. A study on SARS-CoV-1 co-authored by BC’s current Provincial Health Officer found that “Consistently wearing a mask…was protective for the nurses”, and that “[r]isk was lower with consistent use of a N95 mask than with consistent use of a surgical mask.”

• Protecting our healthcare system and reducing costs: Preventing healthcare-acquired infections can help reduce surgery delays and longer, far costlier hospitalizations. It also avoids unnecessary staff shortages caused by acute or long-term illness. Canada’s Office of the Chief Science Advisor emphasizes that preventing COVID infection is also key to preventing Long COVID: a long-term condition that is not only life-altering for many COVID survivors, but causes profound impacts to health systems and economies.

“If there is one space that all vulnerable people should be able to rely on to prioritize their safety, it is in healthcare settings… removal of universal masking directives in healthcare settings does not uphold a human rights centered approach to public health.”

• BC Human Rights Commissioner, April 3, 2023

Other ways you can help:

👉 Flood the lines with calls - phone calls and messages can have a massive impact! Use our phone script to make it easier.
👉Share your story for our campaign (by March 15 if possible)
👉 Send free faxes online - use our template letter here.
👉 Send postcards (mail to Ministers and MLAs is free!)
👉 Request a meeting with your MLA (can be done via phone or Zoom). Use our fact sheets or share the stories of other British Columbians! We also encourage people to speak up through open board meetings, political surveys, and more.