TORONTO — Ontario’s chief medical officer of health is strongly recommending residents of the province showing signs of respiratory illness mask up around children in all social settings.
Dr. Kieran Moore said he will not mandate masks in public spaces at this time, though acknowledged the province are looking at mandatory masking in schools and monitoring the situation, which has seen Ontario emergency rooms flooded with pediatric cases, mostly due to influenza and respiratory syncytial virus – along with lingering COVID-19 cases.
“I certainly hope Ontarians will heed the call,” Moore said on Monday, calling on the public to consider masking around children four and younger, especially anyone showing signs of respiratory illness.
Asked how far he’s willing to go with restrictions should the situation not improve or gets worse, Moore said the province is taking it day-by-day at this point.
“The principal tool at hand, if we had to go there, would be a mask mandate. Clearly, for social gatherings I’m asking today that we be very careful around our children four or younger. A cold, or a minor respiratory symptom, a sinus infection to you, could be RSV or influenza to (the) younger members of our community and cause significant respiratory stress in them,” Moore said.
“It’s hard to mandate those social environments.”
Moore said it’s his job to educate the public on the seriousness of the situation.
“This is a change. This isn’t COVID that’s affecting our children, although it obviously can,” he said. “It’s RSV and influenza combined that are driving our children to have to be admitted to hospitals and we do have the tools at our disposal that can help protect our children and help protect our families. My concern is this is spreading in families and in social settings outside the large public venues.”
Dr. Chris Simpson, the executive vice-president and chief medical officer at Ontario Health said the total number of children requiring admission to hospital for treatment and assessment of respiratory illnesses is unusually high.
It’s having an impact, he said.
“While our hospitals have been preparing for this triple threat, we along with much of North America and many places around the world, are seeing high numbers of these seriously ill children and seeing them earlier in the season than had been expected,” Simpson said.
“Although this situation is unlike anything we’ve seen in the pediatric population than in recent memory, we have strong systems and structures that have been put in place during the pandemic for our adult community that we’re now utilizing for child and youth care. We’re taking action to ensure these sick children get the care they need.”
Hospitals around Ontario have started postponing some surgeries in order to reallocate resources for children.
Moore said he has no jurisdiction over school boards and what mandates they put in place and advised boards speak to local medical officers of health about the potential of re-instituting mask mandates in schools. He reminded parents that siblings can bring illness home to their younger brothers and sisters, and asked parents to act accordingly.
“We need to decrease the burden of illness, to slow the chain of transmission of these viruses to ensure we can care for all of our children in our communities.”
He later said mask mandates in school are being discussed.
Moore said getting back to basics, including hand hygiene and cleaning surfaces, is another important tool to fight viral infections. Getting a flu vaccination is another recommendation.
