Masking likely wouldn’t have eased respiratory virus surge in the fall: PHO document – CBC

Ontario’s chief medical officer of health says he does not see a mask mandate now or in the future

Feb 06, 2023

Introducing a mask mandate when respiratory viruses surged in the fall may not have eased the crush on pediatric hospitals, a Public Health Ontario science brief obtained by The Canadian Press concludes.

The brief — which was not proactively made public, unlike the reports done by the now-defunct science table predecessor — provides a glimpse of the evidence on which Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. Kieran Moore made his decision to go no further than a “strong” recommendation on masking in mid-November.

The effects of masking on the transmission of COVID-19 are strong, the brief from late November notes. Mandates may not have produced more of a benefit than recommendations, its research suggests.

But with influenza and respiratory syncytial virus, or RSV, circulating at the time as well as COVID-19, the benefits of mask mandates became less clear for the group of experts.

Read more: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/ontario-masking-rsv-surge-fall-2022-1.6738122