'Mask mandates work': advocate calls Dr. Henry comments unfair

One of the BC parents calling for a return of the mask mandate amid rising respiratory illnesses has labelled as ‘unfair’ comments made by the province’s top doctor and says decisions have become political.

Vancouver-based Tracy Casavant, with Safe Schools Coalition BC, was responding to Dr. Bonnie Henry who said Wednesday the mandate was not needed, in part, because school children have become better educated on when they should be wearing a mask.

“That’s so unfair, adults have trouble making that risk assessment,” Casavant, who is immuno-compromised and has a background in chemical engineering and environmental studies, told Kelowna10. “We should not put that risk assessment on our children; they count on us to set the boundaries and keep them safe.”

Casavant, and others, wrote an open letter to senior officials calling on the province to reintroduce the mandate to lessen the burden on the health care system, citing a surge in respiratory cases that saw, for example, pediatric ICU beds at the Ottawa Children’s Hospital reach capacity. The group said a return to masking would highlight the seriousness of the surge in respiratory illnesses, help reduce the spread of sickness, and limit further disruption to children’s’ schooling.

BC’s health minister Adrian Dix said the province is opening more hospital beds in preparation for the flu season, but the situation isn't as desperate as in other provinces.

“It’s all fine to say we aren’t exactly as bad as Ontario. But we know from eight waves [of COVID] we’re always a couple of weeks behind Ontario, and we’re already bursting at the seems here,” Casavant said, noting the increasing school absenteeism in the Lower Mainland and surge in emergency cases at BC Children’s Hospital.

She said she’s perplexed the government will not reintroduce a mask mandate for all indoor public spaces and figures it has more to do with politics than science.

“The facts are masks work, mandates get more people wearing masks…[and] the fewer viral transmissions we’ll have,” she said.

“Even in the absence of a mandate, for political reasons I don’t understand, it’s puzzling to me there isn’t an all-out soft push to educate people about how masks work.”

Henry, the Provincial Health Officer, told a media briefing Wednesday that masks are an important tool, but they should be used in situations where it makes sense, including in health care settings. She said the classroom did not need a mask mandate.

“We’re not in a situation right now where I think every single child and adult in a school setting has to wear a mask all the time; that’s what a mask mandate is. We’re not in that situation,” she said.