“If you can avoid getting infected, you should avoid getting infected,” Isaac Bogoch, an infectious disease specialist at Toronto General Hospital, told the Roy Green Show.
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While masks aren’t perfect at the population level, they reduce the risk of infection, according to Bogoch. “Our hospitals are stretched, especially pediatric hospitals and [masking] it reduces the risk of transmission in the community,” he said. Story continues below ad 2:16 Rise in sick children prompts calls to roll back mask mandate In Ontario, where the number of children needing intensive care in hospitals exceeded the number of available pediatric hospital beds late last week, new recommendations are expected soon from the province’s top doctor. On Monday, Ontario’s Chief Medical Officer of Health, Dr. Kieran Moore is reportedly planning to make an announcement recommending that the public wear masks regularly. Also Monday, SickKids Hospital will begin canceling non-emergency surgeries as it redeploys staff to deal with a flood of very sick children in the emergency department, pediatric wards and intensive care. 1:50 Inflation, COVID-19 holding Canadians back from holiday travel, poll finds Many children enter the hospital sick with RSV, officially known as respiratory syncytial virus. The virus is a common fall and winter illness that saw an unusual appearance in late summer this year and continues to plague hospitals today. Current trend
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Story continues below ad Symptoms of the virus can include fever, cough and shortness of breath, according to Bogoch. “It’s a nasty virus,” he said. “It has been known to cause problems in young children and older adults for a long time.” Earlier this month, as flu cases continue to spread across the country, flu activity also passed the seasonal mark, Public Health Canada announced. Although flu outbreaks occur on an annual basis, according to Bogoch, this flu season is emerging faster than most. During the first two years of the COVID pandemic, influenza activity remained low. But the rate of positive flu tests now is “much higher” than typically expected, Bogoch recently told Global News about this year’s flu season. During a virtual briefing late last week, Canada’s chief public health officer, Dr. Theresa Tam, said the “increased growth” of the viruses indicated the need for “intimate precautions.” “Although public health measures, including our individual prevention practices, have kept COVID-19 and seasonal respiratory viruses at bay for the past two-plus years, this third winter of COVID-19 comes with some precautions,” he said. Tam. Tam did not ask for mask orders, but recommended that they be used indoors. While there appears to be a “plateau” in the recent increase in COVID-19 cases, Tam said the emerging Omicron variants BQ.1.1 and BF.7 are on the rise. Story continues below ad Along with the mask, experts like Tam and Bogoch also recommend Canadians stay vaccinated. “It’s important to get these vaccines,” Bogoch said. “The real key here is that it’s time sensitive. There is a lot of COVID going around right now. There’s an increasing burden of flu going around right now.”
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And when it comes to using “immunity debt” as an explanation for the significant increase in respiratory illnesses in Canada, Bogoch said the term is “polarizing.” “The short answer here is that there is no definitive answer,” he said. “Regardless of what’s driving it, you can reduce your risk of serious illness by getting a flu or COVID shot and wearing a mask if you go indoors.” — With files from the Canadian Press © 2022 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
