A Quebec regional health board north of Montreal reinstated masking across its facilities in response to a jump in COVID-19 cases, however, one doctor believes the decision to be politically motivated, rather than rooted in scientific harm reduction.
The Centre intégré de santé et de services sociaux de Laval made the decision to require staff to wear masks when in direct contact with patients last week, according to an internal memo obtained by CBC News.
However, family and ER physician Dr. Chris Milburn, who has worked in Nova Scotia for over 20 years and has written extensively on masking, said he disagrees with the protocol.
“There were decades of evidence that masks were ineffective for reducing transmission of respiratory viruses. That is why they were never used,“ Milburn told True North.
“Since COVID is more aerosol than droplet transmitted as compared to influenza, one would expect masks to be much LESS effective for preventing transmission, since aerosolized viral particles are smaller than the pore size of even an N95 mask.”
The region’s COVID-19 positivity rate increased from 2.9% in April to 27% in August and across Quebec, the COVID-19 positivity rate is on the rise throughout the province.
According to Milburn, “masks are not benign” and cause social and physical discomfort, which can “reduce job satisfaction for healthcare workers, and perceived quality of care for patients.”
“The Science (TM)” on masks turned on a dime,” said Milburn. “In early 2020 we were told by public health experts not to wear masks because they were ineffective at best and harmful at worst (because we touch our face more). Within a few months, with no new evidence available, the same public health experts told us that we not only should, but MUST wear masks to prevent COVID. Science does not turn on a dime, but politics does.”
Outbreaks are occurring across the province according to the Institut national de santé publique Quebec, which reported that COVID-19 hospitalizations have doubled from June to August.
The INSPQ said that there are over 110 outbreaks in long-term care care facilities and at 54 healthcare centres.
Over 1,200 people have been hospitalized provincewide in recent weeks, with more than 30 people dying with the virus weekly and an averaging positive test rate of 21%.
While cases are up, Milbrun said that health officials should take lessons from the last four years and quit the habit of parsing through the “scientific evidence on hastily-created and unhelpful policies that were rushed in during early 2020.”
Furthermore, he believes reinstating such policies is an attempt by public health officials “to save face.”
“Given the societal divisions, fights, and stress that mask mandates caused, it is politically untenable for politicians or public health officials to now admit “we were wrong,” he said.
“Four years later, we are still following the politics and not following the science. And unless something fundamental changes, masking every time people start to sneeze is “the new abnormal”.
The province’s immunization committee released its recommendations for a vaccine program for the upcoming fall in July, asking that people over the age of 60 and immunocompromised to get a booster ahead of the season change.
Additionally, the committee is recommending that people under 60 wait until the latest version of an mRNA vaccine is available as the most recent one is no longer effective.
When it comes to masking however, Milburn maintains that there never was any “solid scientific evidence to support these mandates at that time, and that lack of evidence remains.”
“Masks have become a mantra, a talisman, a political statement. Like garlic to ward off vampires or a horseshoe above the door to bring good luck, they make people feel like they are doing something but are without logical or scientific support,” he said.