Important advocacy alert 📣 Until August 19, you can give input on a game-changing national standard about masks in healthcare settings (and beyond)!

Long story short: CSA Group (a.k.a. the Canadian Standards Association) is updating their guidance about using respirators in the workplace. Some of the key changes include:

😷 Respirators (like N95 masks) need to be worn by healthcare workers at all times in healthcare facilities and where healthcare services are being performed, except in “exempted zones”
😷 Surgical masks aren’t good enough for workers to use as respiratory protection
😷 Respirators are to be supplied free of charge in healthcare facilities to all occupants

This guidance is open for public comment until August 19th. To make it easier to take part, we've created a plain-language explainer on how to participate, including some sample feedback: https://donoharmbc.ca/national-standard-for-n95s/

It's vital that people give feedback - both to support key improvements, and to point out any gaps to help make this guidance even stronger. We know that CSA Group pays attention to feedback, because past comments helped get key improvements into this draft.

Let's do this!

#N95sSaveLives #ProtectHealthCareWorkers #COVIDisAirborne #CovidIsNotOver #KeepMasksInHealthcare #VulnerabilityIsntSeasonal

Breaking news: @protect_bc and @cancovsoc are joining @DoNoHarmBC in our calls to keep and strengthen mask protections in BC healthcare 😷 Patients, healthcare workers, and health advocates are sharing stark accounts of healthcare hazards in some settings right now, which would only be compounded if mask rules were discarded. Read the joint press release now at DoNoHarmBC.ca/press, alongside accounts from people across the province.

Is there a reporter or outlet you think should be covering this story, and spotlighting the reality in BC healthcare? Be sure to let them know! Our press kit is available at https://bit.ly/press-kit-masks-25Mar25

#KeepMasksInHealthcare #VulnerabilityIsntSeasonal #BCHealthcare #CovidIsNotOver #COVIDisAirborne #h5n1 #measles

Join us to demand that BC keep & strengthen mask protections in healthcare! Vulnerable patients and frontline workers need consistent, evidence-based safety measures year round - not policies that change with the weather.

Take action at https://donoharmbc.ca/masks-in-healthcare/ to call for year-round mask requirements, proper implementation, N95s, and closing key loopholes:

📧 Send emails to dozens of policy-makers at once
📞 Flood the lines with calls
📠 Send faxes online (no fax machine needed)
📫 Send #Postcards4PublicHealth (mail to MLAs and Ministers is free)
💬 Share your story at https://bit.ly/have-your-say-masks2025 by Mar 15
📣 Reshare and spread the word

Let's GET LOUD! Take action ASAP, by April 1st.

#KeepMasksInHealthcare #BCHealthcare
#CovidIsNotOver #H5N1 #BirdFlu #Measles
#VulnerabilityIsntSeasonal #COVIDisAirborne

Have thoughts on how BC can improve healthcare mask protections? (We certainly do.)

Share your statement today for our next campaign: https://bit.ly/have-your-say-masks2025

Submit by March 15 if possible, for the best media coverage potential (latecomers welcome). And stay tuned for more ways to take action!

[Image: blue and yellow graphic with a simplified version of post text, and the DoNoHarm BC logo in the corner with a QR code]

#BCHealthcare #KeepMasksInHealthcare #VulnerabilityIsntSeasonal #CovidIsAirborne

New hazard index from @MoriartyLab and COVID-19 Resources Canada: around 1 in 19 British Columbians have COVID-19 right now 😱 That means ~164,200-184,600 people infected THIS WEEK, as modelled using government data such as wastewater. (Methods and inputs are available at www.Covid19Resources.ca)

Compared to the lowest point of the pandemic so far in BC:

🔴 Infections are 28.9X higher
🔴 Long COVID 17.1X higher
🔴 Hospitalizations, ICU 24.8X higher
🔴 Deaths: 22.5X higher

Stay safe out there: ventilate, vaccinate, educate, mitigate 😷 And use our click-to-email tool on our https://donoharmbc.ca/vulnerability-isnt-seasonal/ to remind policy-makers that #VulnerabilityIsntSeasonal, and neither is COVID - so we need masks in healthcare ASAP!

#CovidIsNotOver #COVIDisAirborne #BCpoli

Thank you to The Peak SFU for the shoutout! Check out the recent piece by staff writer Yasmin Hassan, laying out the reasons why B.C. should restore consistent healthcare mask protections ASAP: https://the-peak.ca/2024/05/masks-should-be-mandatory-in-healthcare/

And remember to send an email today to B.C. policymakers, calling to #KeepMasksInHealthcare! https://donoharmbc.ca/vulnerability-isnt-seasonal/

#VulnerabilityIsntSeasonal #COVIDisAirborne

The latest hazard index from COVID-19 Resources Canada and @MoriartyLab: around 1 in 60 British Columbians have COVID-19 right now, with up to 94,700 people infected THIS WEEK.

Compared to the lowest point of the pandemic so far in BC:

🔴 Infections ~5.7X higher
🔴 Long COVID ~6.4X higher
🔴 Hospitalizations ~6.1X higher
🔴 Deaths ~1.6X higher

Stay safe out there: ventilate, vaccinate, educate, mitigate 😷 And remember to tell BC gov that we need to restore & strengthen mask protections in healthcare: https://donoharmbc.ca/vulnerability-isnt-seasonal/

#CovidIsNotOver #COVIDisAirborne #LongCOVID #KeepMasksInHealthcare #VulnerabilityIsntSeasonal

Part of #VulnerabilityIsntSeasonal is about amplifying the voices of vulnerable British Columbians - the very people who’ve been ignored with the decision to drop mask protections in healthcare. Today we’re sharing this statement from EB Karel:

🚨 Content warning: cancer

“As a survivor of cancer, who may be ill again, it is terrifying to enter medical spaces. Please bring back masks in all healthcare facilities.”

👉 Send an email today to tell policy-makers NO to removing healthcare mask protections: https://donoharmbc.ca/vulnerability-isnt-seasonal/ Then leave phone messages, send faxes, send postcards, repeat. COVID hasn’t gone away, and neither will we.

#CovidIsNotOver #COVIDisAirborne #KeepMasksInHealthcare

Today, @protect_bc, DoNoHarm BC and Masks4EastVan are joining forces to call on the B.C. government to restore mask requirements to healthcare.

On April 8, 2024, public health authorities abruptly removed the province-wide rule for healthcare masking - disregarding researcher recommendations, guidance from BC's Office of the Human Rights Commissioner, and over 18,000 pleas from vulnerable British Columbians. Public health officials claimed the move was due to the end of “respiratory illness season”, yet NACI states that “seasonality of SARS-CoV-2 has not been established.”

Read our full press statement here: https://donoharmbc.ca/bc-health-advocates-call-to-reinstate-healthcare-mask-requirements/ We’re calling on BC to ensure year-round protection from airborne pathogens in medical settings - and urging British Columbians to join us by adding your voices to our rebooted campaign, #VulnerabilityIsntSeasonal 2.0.

Last year, we pushed BC into restoring a partial healthcare mask requirement over the fall and winter. This year, we got them to commit to over $3 billion in COVID-19 health funding across three years. Now, our collective advocacy is more crucial than ever.

COVID hasn’t gone away, and neither will we - it’s time to get LOUD 📣

👉 ACT NOW: https://donoharmbc.ca/vulnerability-isnt-seasonal/

#CovidIsNotOver #COVIDisAirborne #COVID19BC

By popular demand – some questions to ask the PHSA! They may limit the number of questions from each person, so it helps to have multiple people asking (& it shows more people care).

Email board.office[at]phsa.ca by 4:30pm on April 15th (not 16th) - and if you get a written response, we’d love to see it!

QUESTION IDEAS:

1️⃣ BC gov says healthcare worker use of masks & respirators will now be based on "risk assessments". Can you please detail what frameworks or policies will be used to make those risk assessments?

2️⃣ Does PHSA or anyone you work with track trends in hospital-acquired illness, especially before and after changes in infection control policy?

3️⃣ Will COVID-positive patients be placed on airborne precautions, and if not, why not, given that WHO & federal government both confirm COVID is airborne?

4️⃣ What steps other than vaccination are you taking to reduce asymptomatic airborne illness transmission in your facilities?

5️⃣ Will healthcare workers wear masks or respirators upon patient request?

6️⃣ Will healthcare workers wear masks or respirators to meet disability accommodations requests, as can be done without undue hardship?

7️⃣ Please provide the scientific and ethical basis for removing required mask protections in cancer clinics.

8️⃣ Can you please clarify how PHSA's organizational values of Compassion and Equity align with the statement issued by BC's Human Rights Commissioner that "removal of universal masking directives in healthcare settings does not uphold a human rights centred approach to public health"?

9️⃣ Can you please respond to poll figures indicating that 85-91% of respondents would delay healthcare due to lack of COVID safety such as mask requirements?

🔟 Can you please provide your response to me in writing?

Have more ideas for questions? Comment below 👇

#VulnerabilityIsntSeasonal #CovidIsNotOver #COVID19BC #COVIDisAirborne