The British Columbia Health Ministry has introduced a mandatory masking policy in healthcare facilities, effective on Jan. 6.
This policy applies to hospitals, long-term care, assisted living, outpatient clinics, and ambulatory care settings during the respiratory season
According to the provincial government, the mandate will remain in place until spring 2025 or until public health experts decide that COVID-19 and RSV risk levels have decreased.
Patients must wear medical masks and other personal protective equipment during direct care if medically tolerated. Patients are also required to wear masks in emergency departments and waiting rooms.
Visitors must also wear masks during indoor group activities in long-term care and assisted living facilities unless eating or drinking.
However, they are not required to mask when visiting a single resident in specific settings like patient-care areas or multi-bedrooms. Residents of these facilities are required to mask during direct care if medically tolerated.
The new policy focuses on areas where patients actively receive care, differing from last year’s broader requirement that covered all facility areas.
Health officials say that the new mask mandate was prompted by rising cases of respiratory illnesses, including flu, RSV, and COVID-19, in British Columbia health-care facilities.
British Columbia had one of the longest COVID-19 vaccine mandates for healthcare workers in Canada.
First introduced in Oct. 2021, it expanded to private practices in Mar. 2022, and was only lifted on Jul. 26, 2024, after the public health emergency was declared over.
