(Alexandra Mae Jones/ CTV News) — As sniffling season falls upon us amid an uptick in COVID-19 cases across the country, should we be bringing masking back in health-care settings and reaching for them more often in our daily lives?
Some hospitals are bringing back stricter masking rules again, and although we’ve probably seen the end of broad masking mandates from governments, some experts say the general public should also be making more use of this tool in our arsenal of measures to fight illness.
Last spring, universal mask mandates in health-care settings were lifted in regions across Canada, with some provinces leaving it up to individual hospitals to decide the specifics. Broadly, this meant that patients and visitors were likely not required to wear masks outside of high-risk areas of hospitals, and staff were not required to wear them except in situations where they would have worn a mask before the pandemic, such as operating rooms.
The number of Canadians hospitalized with COVID-19 has been increasing since mid-August, with 2,848 Canadians currently in hospital as of Tuesday. (…)