Masking required at all B.C. health-care facilities once again

Masks must again be worn in health-care facilities across B.C., according to the province's Health Ministry.

In an email to CBC News, the Ministry of Health said the requirement came into effect on Jan. 6, and everyone in health-care facilities, including staff, patients, visitors and volunteers, must wear medical masks "in areas where patients are actively seeking care."

The move is in response to what the ministry says is a rise in influenza and RSV infections in B.C. COVID-19, it said, is "stable but showing early signs of an increase."

Masking was required at all health-care facilities up until April 2023 during the COVID-19 pandemic, but the ministry says even prior to then, putting in "temporary measures" such as masking requirements was common practice.

The mask mandate was reinstated in October 2023 for the flu season.

Jennifer Vines, interim medical director for public health response at the B.C. Centre for Disease Control told CBC News on Tuesday that the centre was seeing a steady climb in the number of respiratory illness cases.

"We're at about the same place we were last year as far as people seeking medical attention," she told Gloria Macarenko, host of CBC's On The Coast.

"The main thing for people to do is know that it's not too late to get your influenza vaccine," she added. "You can consider getting your COVID vaccine at the same time if you haven't had that one yet." 

Vines said the centre wouldn't know when the peak of the respiratory illness season had occurred, as it can be unpredictable — but as of Tuesday, the season was looking similar to last year.

The new requirements apply to all facilities operated by B.C. health authorities or those which are contracted by those authorities, including hospitals, long-term care and assisted-living spaces and outpatient clinics.

Exceptions include people who are eating or drinking or visitors to rooms where there is only one patient.

The ministry expects the requirement to remain in place until spring 2025.

Dr. Pargat Singh Bhurji, a consulting pediatrician in Surrey, B.C.,  said she has been seeing a spike in respiratory illness cases among children since the middle of December.

"The school just started yesterday or the day before, so we will see much more in the next week or two," she told CBC News. "So once the children go from holiday break to the school, there is a lot of mixing, lot of virus spreading."

Bhurji said the temporary mask mandate in health-care facilities was justified, as it was an added layer of protection that worked at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.

She said she's pushing the province to give monoclonal antibody shots for infants to help ward against RSV — something that's currently being offered for free in Ontario and Quebec.