FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
DoNoHarm BC, Protect Our Province BC and the Canadian Covid Society warn the province’s decision endangers patients, healthcare workers, and the healthcare system
March 31, 2025 (British Columbia) – BC patients and health advocates are speaking out against the provincial government’s decision to drop healthcare mask requirements, at a time when there are multiple illness outbreaks in medical settings. Public health groups DoNoHarm BC, Protect Our Province BC, and the Canadian Covid Society warn that the move endangers vulnerable patients and frontline workers, while harming the sustainability and cost-effectiveness of BC’s healthcare system.
The groups are spotlighting community members across the province who are speaking out. “No one should have to choose to not get a surgery because a day in a busy unmasked hospital is too high risk for our damaged systems, but that’s what we’re faced with,” says Grae Salisbury (they/them), a high-risk patient in Victoria whose partner already has Long COVID. “We’re more terrified of nosocomial [healthcare-acquired] infection than the transplant,” says Rose* (she/her), a Vancouverite whose loved one needs a double lung transplant.
Bri**, a local healthcare worker, confirms the danger of dropping mask requirements: “I’ve seen doctors going around all day, unknowingly COVID positive or knowingly sick with something, unmasked, in enclosed spaces with people with severe disabilities, pregnant people, and immunocompromised people.”
Medical experts warn that discarding mask protections flies in the face of all scientific evidence. “The numbers don’t lie: when staff mask in hospitals, it cuts down respiratory illness transmission by a third, while N95 masks can eliminate 98% of exhaled viruses,” says Dr. Karina Zeidler (she/her), co-founder of the independent public health group Protect Our Province BC. “The fact that BC is actively choosing to have MORE germs and infections in medical settings is both absurd, and deeply unethical. This will lead to more patients missing care, more staff shortages due to illness, and longer, far costlier hospitalizations from healthcare-acquired infections.”
A province-wide campaign at DoNoHarmBC.ca calls for the immediate restoration and strengthening of mask protections in healthcare settings, including:
- Year-round mask requirements in all medical facilities
- Clear, consistent implementation across all health authorities
- Increased use of N95-equivalent masks or better (respirators), as the only masks rated to properly protect against airborne illnesses like measles, H5N1, and COVID-19
- Closing gaps in prior rules by requiring masking for patients (with reasonable exceptions), in hallways, and in privately-run medical settings.
Advocates note that BC’s Human Rights Commissioner has also heavily criticized the removal of masks in medical settings – and that past removal decisions have been reversed twice so far in two years.
*pseudonym to protect patient identity
**legal name withheld due to concerns of employer reprisal. Private verification available for journalists
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DoNoHarm BC is a non-partisan action group based in British Columbia, Canada. Their mission is to demand evidence-based safety measures in high-risk settings; to advocate for effective and equitable public health policies; and to help lead grassroots collective action promoting safety, equity, accessibility, and resilience in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. DoNoHarmBC.ca
Protect Our Province BC is a grassroots group of physicians, nurses, health scientists, health policy specialists and community advocates. They work together to help people in BC stay safe by sharing accurate information about the COVID-19 pandemic in BC, and advocating for science-based policies. ProtectBC.ca
The Canadian Covid Society is a national organization whose mission is to inform the public about the health consequences of Covid infections, to advocate for science-based measures to reduce the transmission of the virus, and to empower and support people with Long Covid. CovidSociety.ca
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