Thought of the Day - June 22 - Masks Revisited

Way back at the end of March I talked about the need for the use of masks by the general public in battling this pandemic (https://clifffraser0.wixsite.com/covid-19/post/thought-of-the-day-wear-a-mask). After months of misleading the public and putting pressure on the WHO not to talk about the effectiveness of masks, the "PPE shortage" debacle has finally been addressed. Both Tam in Canada and Fauci in the US have acknowledged that wearing a mask is better than not, and that the delay in communicating this fact was out of fear that PPE would be taken away from medical workers (see the Timeline: https://clifffraser0.wixsite.com/covid-19/timeline-all).

Federally and in most Provinces there was little timely preparation in sourcing PPE. I believe the main exception was Alberta, who started preparing early and made a huge buy of equipment back last December that included 500,000 N95 masks. Indeed, Alberta was asked to supply Ontario, Quebec and BC who were still having trouble in April. It is good to see that the procurement processes across our country have finally caught up. I can imagine hurdles that had to be overcome, such as the bureaucratic process to qualify alternate suppliers, and the effort needed to reeducate management that supply-demand principles also apply to government departments.

The sad thing is while the ends may have justified the means we missed a bunch of opportunities:

• mask-making enterprises got a very late start in Canada versus many countries - who would make something that the public was told they don't need;

• workers in many institutions and non-governmental front-line (e.g. home care) settings were put in a compromising position for months;

• we also missed the opportunity for the Canadian population to get used to wearing masks during the first wave, and so will have a longer ramp-up time for the second wave (and don't forget routine mask use can also cut down the spread of cold and influenza);

• finally, the entire etiquette of mask-wearing got very little attention.

This last point has led to a number of consequences here in BC:

• you may have noticed there are now discarded masks left on the streets and in the parks. Like the folk that leave their steaming dog-shit bags hanging from a branch, this is a disgusting habit. If we are not careful we will hit a tipping point where this practice becomes common, just like dropping gum, cigarette butts and coffee cups. In the Trudeau "the senior" era Canada was world-renowned for its public "education" efforts such as ParticipACTION and anti-litter (the UK even brought in experts from Canada to craft their HIV/AIDS education program in the 80s). Guess we may need to relearn some old skills;

• as business reopen a lack of common protocol means we are confronted with a mishmash of mask use best practices;

• unlike Montreal and Toronto, Vancouver does not insist on mask use on public transport.

Cheers

Cliff