(Quebec) Public Health of Quebec recommends that citizens resume wearing a mask in busy public places, in the context where a “trio of respiratory viruses” circulating in the province is already exerting increased pressure on hospitals in the approaching the holidays.
Unlike measures that were announced during previous waves of COVID-19 infections earlier in the pandemic, wearing a mask is not mandatory. In addition, Public Health does not recommend at this stage that children who attend schools or daycares wear a mask, given the difficulties associated with the application of such a measure.
The three recommendations of Public Health
- In busy public places, wear a mask (except in schools and daycares).
- Wash your hands to avoid the spread, especially of influenza.
- In the presence of fever, stay at home. If symptoms are present, wear a mask.
“But be careful: when a child is sick and has a fever, he must stay at home. When he comes back […] he wears a mask while he has symptoms. These symptoms usually continue for five to six days. That, we recommend, ”said the national director of public health, Dr.r Luc Boileau. He said he had consulted pediatricians to come to this decision.
“After, you know, the children [peuvent] cough and runny nose for a long time. The idea is not to keep the mask on for three months. This is when the period is active,” he added.
In a press briefing in Quebec, the Dr Luc Boileau, however, said that he expected “a spicy cocktail for the next few weeks, if not for the next few months”, because in addition to COVID-19, the flu season has begun. The influenza virus will circulate more and more in the coming weeks, he warned. Quebec is also facing a significant number of cases related to the respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), which particularly affects children.
It’s as if our three viruses are added one above the other.
Christian Dubé, Minister of Health
“We still have 700 to 800 hospitalizations left because of COVID. You add to that the layer of influenza, which is still weak for the moment, and then you add the [VRS]and that is what makes the total charge of this trio of viruses”, illustrated the Minister of Health, Christian Dubé.
PHOTO JACQUES BOISSINOT, THE CANADIAN PRESS
Christian Dubé, Minister of Health, and Dr.r Luc Boileau, national director of public health
In this context, Quebec is encouraging citizens to wear a mask in the coming weeks when they visit public places, such as shopping centers, when, among other things, Christmas shopping will begin.
“When you realize that you are surrounded by people you don’t really know, in queues to enter a shopping center or a store […], [quand] we go to the cinema, we go to the theater, we are surrounded by other people, we wear the mask. And it will prevent us from catching viruses. It will save us from giving it away, ”said the Dr Boileau.
Although workplaces are not affected by this recommendation, the Commission for Standards, Equity, Health and Safety at Work (CNESST) nevertheless suggests wearing a mask among its “additional proposed measures”. , although it is not among its “basic minimum measures”.
The Norm Factor
It remains to be seen whether the population will respond to this call when the mask has become rarer since the obligation to wear it was lifted last spring.
“We measure the frequency of wearing a mask in certain situations and we are always around a quarter or 20% [des gens] who say they always wear it at work or on public transport”, underlines Ève Dubé, medical anthropologist at the National Institute of Public Health of Quebec (INSPQ).
However, “a big factor that plays into the fact of adopting this behavior is the norm,” she adds.
When a large number of people around us wear the mask, obviously we will be encouraged to wear it.
Ève Dubé, medical anthropologist at the National Institute of Public Health of Quebec
Priority to vaccination
As the holidays approach, Public Health also recommends that citizens get a new dose of a vaccine against COVID-19, and that against influenza for groups at risk of complications related to the flu. Christian Dubé affirmed that the government is consulting the Committee on Immunization of Quebec (CIQ) regarding the possibility of extending free influenza vaccine to the entire population. However, the CIQ does not recommend doing so at this time. “The context can change,” he said.
“Our challenge, […] we don’t want to have the perfect storm. This is why we are asking Quebecers to act upstream and protect themselves as much as possible to limit the combined effect of these three viruses, ”said the Minister of Health.