🙌 The Tyee has done amazingly well with this piece. And again, this is NOT a historic roundup - COVID-19 has ongoing community transmission and is impacting people's lives and health, today, right now.

People are tired of the COVID pandemic. There is a desire to move on. But even today, as we write this, there continue to be outbreaks in hospitals and long-term care facilities in Alberta and elsewhere in North America.

7/7 🧵

https://thetyee.ca/Analysis/2026/03/27/Human-Cost-Failing-Name-COVID-Airborne/

#COVIDIsAirborne #SARSCoV2 #COVID #COVID19 #SafeWorkplace #workplaceSafety #WorkSafeBC #CDNPoli #PublicHealth

And the need for airborne protection, now, is not hypothetical, it's not in the past. This week:

In Canada, government data shows that in the week ending March 8, 2026, 34 per cent of COVID patients in hospital acquired the virus while in hospital.

And yes, there is enough science to place the blame squarely on insufficient airborne protection for those people:

How many either communicated the COVID virus to a poorly protected health-care worker or received the virus from a health-care worker who was left without adequate defences, such as properly filtered air or an N95 mask, to ward off the virus? We know, because studies have shown that respirator masks are better than other medical masks at preventing an infected person from infecting someone else.

6/n 🧵

https://thetyee.ca/Analysis/2026/03/27/Human-Cost-Failing-Name-COVID-Airborne/

#COVIDIsAirborne #SARSCoV2 #COVID #COVID19 #SafeWorkplace #workplaceSafety #WorkSafeBC #CDNPoli #PublicHealth

Now, technically it's true that

It’s difficult to know why the word “airborne” is avoided so consistently, but the impact is clear: without that word, occupational health and safety requirements can be evaded.

but ;lobbying is the reason for almost every decision that hurts all of Canadian citizens and the Canadian economy and Canadian international strength, so personally I think I only need one guess

5/n 🧵

https://thetyee.ca/Analysis/2026/03/27/Human-Cost-Failing-Name-COVID-Airborne/

#COVIDIsAirborne #SARSCoV2 #COVID #COVID19 #SafeWorkplace #workplaceSafety #WorkSafeBC #CDNPoli #PublicHealth #N95

And the Public Health Agency of Canada has been outright misleading us for years:

So how is it still possible that the Canadian OHS laws don’t apply, requiring the appropriate PPE for airborne spread?

PHAC, to this day, has never used the word “airborne.” It’s merely implied

Now, they still technically advised safe behaviour:

For years, the advice to the public was to wear the “best made, best fitting mask,” terminology that only describes a respirator-style N95 mask, essential for mitigating airborne transmission

But by not outright admitting the actual threat, they let Average Canadian, and Average Canadian Healthcare Worker keep falsely thinking that baggy blues are effective protection.

4/n 🧵

https://thetyee.ca/Analysis/2026/03/27/Human-Cost-Failing-Name-COVID-Airborne/

#COVIDIsAirborne #SARSCoV2 #COVID #COVID19 #SafeWorkplace #workplaceSafety #WorkSafeBC #CDNPoli #PublicHealth #N95

Protection means N95s or better  and not baggy blues

medical masks were never designed as respiratory PPE

while

Respirator masks, which are explicitly referred to in OHS legislation as the appropriate PPE for airborne hazards, are designed specifically to prevent inhalation of threats like asbestos or COVID-19

3/n 🧵

https://thetyee.ca/Analysis/2026/03/27/Human-Cost-Failing-Name-COVID-Airborne/

#COVIDIsAirborne #SARSCoV2 #COVID #COVID19 #SafeWorkplace #workplaceSafety #WorkSafeBC #CDNPoli #PublicHealth #N95

It has never been impossible to improve worksite protections:

U.S. records showing a 60 per cent drop in workplace fatalities, and a 40 per cent drop in injury and illness, in the 30 years after the Occupational Health and Safety Act was enacted, despite a doubling of the country’s population of workers.

And the law already requires employers to protect employees and others on site:

In reading the legislation, it is clear that the employer has a responsibility to protect health-care workers ... from bioaerosol hazards.

2/n 🧵

https://thetyee.ca/Analysis/2026/03/27/Human-Cost-Failing-Name-COVID-Airborne/

#COVIDIsAirborne #SARSCoV2 #COVID #COVID19 #SafeWorkplace #workplaceSafety #WorkSafeBC #CDNPoli #PublicHealth