LILLEY: CSA pushes for mandatory masking in all health settings

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Are you ready to wear a mask every time you visit your doctor or go to a hospital? That’s a recommendation soon to come from the Canadian Standards Association backed by several activist groups.

The CSA is conducting public consultations on the issue until Aug. 19.

The proposal would be that patients, staff and medical personnel would be required to wear an N95 respirator mask – not those little blue surgical masks – at all times. Part of the proposal would exempt some areas of a hospital; for example, if it was just in use by administrators and not open to patients.

The activists backing this, though, believe that isn’t good enough and want the exempt areas limited or done away with all together.

The idea is likely to gain support from some groups but don’t expect everyone in the medical community to be on board even though supporters claim this idea is backed by the best science. One specialist in the infectious disease area reached out to express their opposition, adding many doctors don’t like this.

“It has caused massive waves in the infection control community because even they think it’s ridiculous,” the doctor said.

Thankfully, for those who believe in sanity, pronouncements from the CSA aren’t binding on hospitals or doctors’ offices. The CSA is a private organization and while a recommendation from the organization can carry some weight, it’s not backed up by law.

“There are no plans to adopt or implement such a requirement in Ontario,” said Jackson Jacobs, a spokesperson for Health Minister Sylvia Jones.

Alberta’s health ministry also has no plans to make masks mandatory.

“At this time, decisions regarding mask use will continue to be guided by site-level leadership, provincial health agencies, and operational teams based on local context and clinical judgment,” a spokesperson for the province’s Ministry of Primary and Preventative Health Services.

Masks have become very political since the COVID-19 pandemic.

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We all know those people, on both sides of the divide, who can’t let go of those dark days. For many it has resulted in not being able to function in public without wearing a mask.

You can see these people walking along the street, through parks or driving their car all alone with a mask on. It’s more of a security blanket and a political statement than a medical device.

Still, supporters are dressing this idea up as settled science. An international coalition of highly political doctors calling themselves The World Health Network has been organizing a campaign to support making this measure mandatory.

“The World Health Network (WHN) supports the draft CSA Z94.4-25 standard, which establishes a science-based framework for the selection, use, and care of respirators across workplaces, including health care,” the WHN statement reads.

Let’s be clear, the WHN believes that wearing N95 masks all day everyday should extend to other workplaces as well, but they are adamant in their support of a CSA guideline calling for mandatory use in health settings.

“It establishes that all health-care workers must wear respirators (minimum PL1) in health-care facilities and during delivery of care, except in designated low-risk zones determined by qualified airborne transmission risk assessment,” their statement reads.

One of the backers of the WHN is a Calgary-area doctor named Joe Vipond. If that name rings a bell it’s because during the pandemic, Vipond was a strong critic of the Kenney government, supported every stronger lockdowns and opposed any easing of restrictions. He was highly visible in the media without ever exposing his strong NDP ties, including nearly $20,000 in donations to the Alberta NDP.

Now, he and his official sounding group want the CSA to recommend mandatory N95 masks in all health settings and then for governments to use their legal and regulatory authority to make that a reality.

There are people who need to wear masks for health reasons; there is no medical basis for me to wear a mask for a doctor’s appointment or in-patient service in a hospital. There is no need for nurses, doctors and support staff to be forced to wear these devices over a gruelling shift.

Let’s hope medical officials and provincial health authorities take a pass on this idea.