Masks are back at Nunavut health facilities
Rise in COVID-19, respiratory illnesses prompts Health Department to impose mask requirements
Nunavut Health Minister John Main wears a mask while speaking in the legislative assembly in September 2020, in this file photo. Masks are once again mandatory at health facilities across the territory, the Government of Nunavut announced Tuesday in light of increasing numbers of COVID-19 and other respiratory illnesses. (File photo by Dustin Patar)
Masks are mandatory once again in all Nunavut health facilities due to increasing cases of COVID-19 and other respiratory illnesses that have been detected, the territory’s Health Department said Tuesday.
The mask mandate will be in effect at all health facilities, including elders’ centres and the Akausisarvik mental health facility in Iqaluit, the department said in an advisory issued Tuesday afternoon.
The new rule took effect “immediately,” the advisory said.
“The Department of Health is taking the necessary steps to reduce the risk of transmission of respiratory illness in our facilities and protect our more vulnerable populations,” the one-page statement said.
The Health Department calls masks “a proven tool” to prevent the spread of COVID-19 and other respiratory illnesses.
It did not say how many COVID-19 cases are in Nunavut or identify the other respiratory illnesses that prompted the return to mandatory mask wearing.
Nunatsiaq News was not able to reach a department spokesperson to ask when the increase in cases was detected and whether there are plans to expand the new mask mandate.
People entering health facilities, including patients, visitors and staff, will be screened for symptoms of COVID-19 when they arrive, the department said.
The advisory urged people to answer questions that are part of the screening “honestly and respectfully.”
Nunavut hasn’t required people to wear masks since April 11, 2022, when the public health department ended the public health emergency it had declared more than two years earlier, in March 2020.
While the government dropped masking requirements in most public places, they were still mandatory in GN offices, health-care and elders’ facilities, Akausisarvik’s outpatient clinics and at Iqaluit public health.
Some communities, including Iqaluit, continued to require masks in their own buildings through the spring of 2022. But by July 2022, most COVID-19 restrictions — including mask requirements — had been eased both GN offices and City of Iqaluit buildings.
Good grief.
Think… not turn off minds.
Maybe you should try thinking of the elders and young kids and people with chronic illnesses in our communities who are more at risk from all respiratory illnesses, not only COVID.
Give the Cochrane Review Study a read. Start with Physical interventions to interrupt or reduce the spread of respiratory viruses
Cochrane reviews are regarded as the highest quality scientific evidence available.
oh yeah great study there buddy
https://www.factcheck.org/2023/03/scicheck-what-the-cochrane-review-says-about-masks-for-covid-19-and-what-it-doesnt/
Put your energy elsewhere I’m sure it’ll help you being irrationally angry at the world for no reason.
You’d have to be a lot more specific because there are over 215,000 COVID-19-related articles on Cochrane’s website, but here is a random sample obtained by searching for ‘mask’ in the COVID-19 register:
https://covid-19.cochrane.org/studies/crs-20589950 Uncertainty analysis of facemasks in mitigating SARS-CoV-2 transmission:
“Subsequently, the uncertainty analysis of the protection efficiency of N95 and surgical mask were conducted with Monte Carlo simulations, with three main findings: (1) the uncertainty in infection risk is primarily apportioned by respiratory activities, virus dynamics, environment factors and individual exposures; (2) wearing masks can effectively reduce the SARS-CoV-2 infection risk to an acceptable level (< 10-3) by at least two orders of magnitude; (3) faceseal leakage can reduce protection efficiency by approximately 4% when the infector is speaking or coughing, and by approximately 28% when the infector is sneezing. "
https://covid-19.cochrane.org/studies/crs-14730600 Trends in COVID-19 Incidence After Implementation of Mitigation Measures – Arizona, January 22-August 7, 2020:
" Statewide mitigation measures included limitation of public events; closures of bars, gyms, movie theaters, and water parks; reduced restaurant dine-in capacity; and voluntary resident action to stay at home and wear masks (when and where not mandated). The number of COVID-19 cases in Arizona peaked during June 29-July 2, stabilized during July 3-July 12, and further declined by approximately 75% during July 13-August 7. Widespread implementation and enforcement of sustained community mitigation measures informed by state and local officials' continual data monitoring and collaboration can help prevent transmission of SARS-CoV-2 and decrease the numbers of COVID-19 cases"
https://covid-19.cochrane.org/studies/crs-20313281 Widespread use of face masks in public may slow the spread of SARS CoV-2: an ecological study:
"Whilst these results are susceptible to residual confounding, they do provide ecological level support to the individual level studies that found face mask usage to reduce the transmission and acquisition of respiratory viral infections."
https://covid-19.cochrane.org/studies/crs-22606902 Infection and transmission risks of COVID-19 in schools and their contribution to population infections in Germany: a retrospective observational study using nationwide and regional health and education agency notification data:
"CONCLUSION: In this study, we observed that open schools under hygiene measures and testing strategies contributed up to 20% of population infections during the omicron wave early 2022, and as little as 2% during vacations/school closures; about a third of students and teachers were infected during the omicron wave in early 2022 in Germany. Mandatory mask wearing during class in all school types and reduced attendance models were associated with a reduced infection risk in schools"
https://covid-19.cochrane.org/studies/crs-19013906 SARS-CoV-2 Transmission to Masked and Unmasked Close Contacts of University Students with COVID-19 – St. Louis, Missouri, January-May 2021:
"These findings reinforce that universal masking and having fewer encounters in close contact with persons with COVID-19 prevents the spread of SARS-CoV-2 in a university setting."
blah blah, get a life bud@
Should bring back mask to all office building’s and store’s too. Lot of sicknesses going around and elders at risk
lol
with this whole thing, all of sudden people are researchers and have medical degrees and they can understand it!
Masking in public places can be a good thing but have vaccinations is even better. Where are the vaccinations GN? What are you waiting for?
Instead of asking here, have you asked the health centre? THEY are the source of the information you are asking for.
They are in your local health centre. Wander on over and get yourself one.
In reality, mask should be mandatory at all health care facilities. This is were people with communicable disease to to get medical help.
Form the common cold, to the flu, to bronchiolitis, COVID etc. are all spread easily from one patient to another and someone who is suffering from a heart attack, stoke, broken bone, cancer etc. are at higher risk of contracting a communicable disease as their immune system are already compromised.
And due to limited health care professionals people are spending longer and longer times waiting for medical care which makes them contracting a communicable disease even high.
Here’s my thought on this. If masking means the difference between saving someone vulnerable or not, give me the mask. I’ve heard that it does nothing; ok, but as long as the medical community recommends it, I’ll do it. This isn’t about freedom, in my opinion, it’s about doing the right thing.