New York State is sending masks and COVID-19 rapid tests to school districts that request them for the start of the 2023-24 school year.
Comments closedTag: universal masking
As the school year begins, it is past time to talk about the threat that SARS-CoV-2, the highly transmissible airborne virus that causes COVID-19, poses to the health of students.
Not only can the disease cause acute illness in youth, it can also lead to debilitating lingering symptoms, known as long COVID.
Comments closedTopic: universal maskingView all posts for the topic: universal masking
School mask mandates again? Why some experts believe it’s a good idea
“Children are not going to wear masks unless there’s a mask mandate, because we saw how quickly kids stopped wearing masks when they didn’t have to. The peer pressure that affects children in school, it’s really extraordinary. We’re still going to need to make it a rule for children and young adults to wear masks in school.”
Comments closedTopic: hospital-acquired infectionsView all posts for the topic: hospital-acquired infections
The CDC Doesn’t Care if You Get Sick and Die in The Hospital
“You might’ve heard the CDC is about to make things even more dangerous for patients when they vote on new, lower standards for infection control this November. This decision will hurt everyone. It will hurt doctors and nurses. It will hurt seniors. It will hurt children. It will hurt young, healthy adults (who goes to the hospital when they’re feeling great?) There’s only one small group it will help, and that’s healthcare CEOs and their bottom lines.”
Comments closedTopic: British ColumbiaView all posts for the topic: British Columbia
Four months after healthcare mask mandate dropped, a protest calls for its return
“It’s now obvious we’ve started a COVID surge with a new variant, right when flu and RSV [respiratory syncytial virus] are about to hit. Our healthcare system is on its knees. We have the tools, and we need to use them. Not restoring mask protections to healthcare would be criminal.”
Comments closedTopic: public health measuresView all posts for the topic: public health measures
Lockdowns and face masks ‘unequivocally’ cut spread of Covid, report finds
“When looking at the use of face masks and mask mandates, studies consistently reported the measures were an effective approach to reduce infection. The evidence further indicates higher-quality respirator masks – such as N95 masks – were more effective than surgical-type masks.”
Comments closedTopic: hospital-acquired infectionsView all posts for the topic: hospital-acquired infections
Hospitals are killing patients because they don’t feel like doing infection control
“Disabled, sick, immunocompromised and vulnerable people seeking care at a hospital, have the right not to be exposed to a virus that has killed 1.1 million Americans in 3.5 years. They have the right to seek care without having to fear that their care team will quite literally kill them with a preventable illness. Practitioners, on the other hand, have no right to compare the irritation of having to wear a mask at work with the moral injury of infecting vulnerable people who then go on to die at high rates.”
Comments closedTopic: British ColumbiaView all posts for the topic: British Columbia
British Columbians protest calling to restore mask protections in healthcare
On Monday, August 28th at 12:00 pm, British Columbians will gather outside the MLA office of Health Minister Adrian Dix to demand the restoration of universal masking in healthcare settings, alongside other key safety measures like clean air. Echoing guidance from the WHO and calls from BC’s Human Rights Commissioner (and doctors and researchers worldwide), healthcare workers, patients and caregivers will tell their stories, and demand measures to protect the most vulnerable.
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Everyone Has The Right to Mask
Dozens of studies have shown that not only do N95 masks work on an individual level, but they lower transmission when people actually follow guidelines. Even the strongest critics of mask policies are forced to admit that masks themselves are effective.
Comments closedTopic: hospital-acquired infectionsView all posts for the topic: hospital-acquired infections
‘Worst nightmare’: Family calls for stricter mask policies after vulnerable Ottawa woman contracts COVID in hospital
The family of an Ottawa woman already suffering from pneumonia and lung cancer is calling for stricter masking policies after she became infected with COVID while a patient at The Ottawa Hospital.
Comments closedTopic: pandemic responseView all posts for the topic: pandemic response
Public health reset urgently required
“A hard public health reset is urgently required in Canada to protect the vulnerable and prevent the healthcare system from being overwhelmed by long COVID patients. Policymakers should immediately implement a pandemic action plan to save lives in the coming weeks and months.”
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Parents’ group wants more COVID protections in B.C. classrooms ahead of new school year
Protect Our Province is asking for HEPA filters, mask mandates, and fast-tracked COVID vaccinations.
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Group warns of ‘tripledemic’ repeat without B.C. government action to combat COVID-19 in schools
Comments closedCurrently in B.C., we have no mask protections in schools, no proof of indoor air quality in schools including monitoring of carbon dioxide levels during full class occupancy, no [high-efficiency particulate air] filtration units available in most classrooms, almost non-existent [nucleic acid] testing, and only the occasional provincial public health report (and those reports we do see are of limited value).
Topic: human rightsView all posts for the topic: human rights
A Patient’s Right to Masked Health Care Providers
In May 2023, Mass General Brigham instructed its patients that they “cannot ask staff members to wear a mask because our policies no longer require it.”
Following patient protests, the hospital updated its policies with an imperfect fix, announcing that “patients can ask, but providers determine when and if masking in a particular situation is clinically necessary.”
Comments closedRadio-Canada / La Presse canadienne
July 19, 2023
Comments closedTopic: British ColumbiaView all posts for the topic: British Columbia
Should This Be Back-to-School Wear?
Health-care workers are warning a lack of masking could lead to a new COVID wave come fall.
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Public Health should offer N95 masks
Re: Heavy smoke, smog wallop Ottawa, cancelling Dragon Boat, Indigenous festivals, June 25.
Thanks to climate change, we’re experiencing unprecedented hazardous air quality. Concentrations of pollutants have been an order of magnitude greater than the levels in major cities. And more smoke is on the way.
Ottawa Public Health should follow the example of public health organizations in other cities: it should distribute N95 respirators to Ottawa residents. Huron Perth Public Health is now offering respirators to residents who are at high risk for respiratory issues.
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Calgary doctor to challenge AHS mask policy change in court
Comments closedYou can’t be putting the responsibility for basic measures to protect people with disabilities and chronic disease… on them when a very minor, reasonable, easy-to-do accommodation can be just kept in place.