Dear Healthcare Provider, Health Policy Maker,

As a citizen who cares about public health, accessibility and safety, I ask that respirator use be mandated by healthcare providers and facilities, in order to sanctuarize these essential places and mitigate the threat of infection from SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19).

Across the globe, society continues to face the ongoing threats of COVID-19, an airborne illness with life-altering and life-threatening capability. Personal choice mask wearing is ethically unjustifiable for patients and healthcare workers wishing to protect themselves from this virus in a way that only universal masking can provide.

COVID-19 infections can be both fatal and lead to Long Covid. I want to remind you that worldwide at least one person dies every 3 minutes from COVID and that Long Covid is a mass disabling event affecting over 65 million people globally.

According to experts of internal medicine, “it’s not time to take off the masks in healthcare settings”. When contracted in hospital, the risk of death from COVID is greatly increased with a mortality rate between 5 to 10% (8,4% in Corea). In England during May 2023, 30% of COVID cases in hospital were caught in hospitals (NHS Covid19 hospital activity).

The potential for consequences in a maskless facility is as real as the virus itself. Hospitals are now more dangerous to visit than ever before.

A 2023 report by The Mirror found, “More than 14,000 people in England and Wales died with Covid after catching the virus in hospital. The 14,047 people had all gone to hospital for something other than Covid and tested negative on admission.” Globally, any hospital not mandating respirator use is at risk of mirroring these dangerous statistics.

I believe we cannot access healthcare safely - it is an act of discrimination. When you have to protect yourself from negligent choices made by your own healthcare system, a line is being crossed. Heartbreaking testimonies of this situation are multiplying. The avoidance of healthcare to preserve our health represents a barrier to access, for all the persons that want to protect themselves from the virus, and a loss of chances for some. Moreover, the unilateral wearing of a respirator is being stigmatized.

British Columbia’s Office of the Human Rights Commissioner Kasari Govender “repeatedly expressed concern about the human rights implications of these [maskless] policy decisions”.  

In addition to this lack of sanitary rules, we report many additional discriminations, such as: requests to remove the mask, mockery, false claims about Covid19 and its transmission, etc. This collection of elements represents mistreatment, even more so for people who have already suffered from Covid (Long Covid, familial loss).

Furthermore, not everyone will be able to mask due to certain illnesses but will have strengthened protection from infections in facilities that mandate respirator use.

The latest research has shown that with air quality of 800 ppm the risk of infection without a mask in a hospital setting in the event of exposure to SARS-CoV-2 was over 80% and wearing a surgical mask left a 35% risk of infection. Two-way masking with an N95 respirator brought this infection risk down to a level close to 0%. Research such as this supports the enforcement of masks, equal to or greater than KN95 or N95 respirators, in healthcare settings to establish protections from COVID infections and not allow for masking to be a personal responsibility.

More often than can be cited, mask antagonists are using compromised data from lockdown countries like Europe or the U.S. to justify the needlessness of mask use. However, no country globally is practicing safe respirator use to protect each other, apart from a few select Asian countries. A culture of care and protection against dangerous airborne illnesses can be welcomed and practiced without mandates. A society that effectively prevents COVID infections in hospitals is not impossible if everyone is aware of the issues at stake.

I have faith you will take this letter seriously. I ask you to establish respirator mandates before further harm is done. Action is required.