Text overlay saying

Want to keep track of our work? Sign up for PoP BC updates, actions, public health information, and announcements.

Write your MLA – Demand the Return of Mask Protections in BC Healthcare Facilities, Long Term Care and Assisted Living Homes

We are all tired of COVID-19 and want nothing more than to move on, and forget about it. Unfortunately, COVID-19 (re)infections are still frequent in BC. The difference now  is that we are not hearing about them.

In fact, since April 2nd, BC has been the Canadian province where people are at the highest risk  of contracting COVID-19. Now is not the time to remove indoor masks protections in spaces where vulnerable British Columbians seek medical care. No one should come to the hospital for one condition and leave with a COVID-19 infection. Or, not leave the hospital, and die from Covid?  A recent leak from the Victorian Health Department in Australia suggested a 10% or more mortality for patients who acquired COVID-19 in hospital between January and October 2022. No reason to think this is not happening in BC. It will only get worse with the removal of mask protections in healthcare.

As repeated, time and again by BC’s Provincial Health Officer, the biggest risk factor for severe acute outcomes from COVID-19 is older age. Removing mask protections in congregate living settings, Long Term Care and Assisted Living homes,  and revoking the requirements for visitors to be vaccinated and have a negative rapid antigen test, will open the door wide for the virus to come in, and spread once again, among our seniors, and those who care for them.

Living with COVID-19 should not mean dying with, or being disabled by COVID-19.  It should mean living safely and responsibly with COVID-19.

Protect our Province BC has provided a draft letter that you can customize to send to your MLA demanding that mask protections be reinstituted in both healthcare facilities, and LTC and Assisted Living homes. In addition, visitors’ vaccination and testing requirements should immediately return to the latter.  

You can find your MLA’s contact information using this tool.

Download a PDF of the letter here to print out, sign, and mail to your MLA

or

click this link to send an email (you will need to type in your MLA’s email address, your name, and your riding)


Date:

To: <your MLA>

Subject: Return Mask Protections in BC Healthcare Facilities, Long Term Care and Assisted Living Homes.

From:

I am a resident of ___________________ and I am writing to you as my government representative, one who has both the duty and the responsibility to ensure that conditions that harm the lives and health of their constituents are minimized to the greatest extent possible. 

I am writing to ask that you demand that the BC Public Health Officer immediately reinstate mask protections in BC healthcare facilities and in  Long Term Care and Assisted Living homes. BC is currently the province with the  highest risk for COVID-19  infections. Mask protections were removed,  just as BC’s SARS-CoV-2 test positivity rate was rising. Patients who seek medical attention should not expect to be exposed to this virus, let alone infected. The same applies for our seniors who continue to have the highest rate of infections, admissions and deaths from COVID-19 in BC.

As B.C.’s Human Rights Commissioner, Kasari Govinder stated:This week’s removal of masking directives in healthcare settings does not uphold a human rights centered approach to public health.”

The role of BC’s Public Health Officer is to protect the health and wellbeing of all British Columbians, including the most vulnerable. This cannot be achieved by letting SARS-CoV-2 spread freely in healthcare facilities nor in the congregate homes where our elders live. 

I look forward  to hearing back from you as to when masks protections will be reinstated in healthcare, along with the other protective measures lifted in Long Term Care and Assisted Living homes. 

Sincerely, 

Name

Postal Code

Phone number

Share This

Archived Briefings from Protect Our Province BC

The standard PoP BC mountain background with the PoP logo and the text:
“If we had an epidemic of people with broken limbs and we saw people in plasters and crutches, it would be more evident. But there is a lot of disability that is happening, which is a hidden disability often, which is why we need to talk about it more, for people to understand what the consequences are. And that will help to make better decisions.” – Lynette
Text in red across the top saying
Date: Wednesday, March 1 2023 at 2:00 PM PST A conversation with Protect Our Province BC doctors about Paxlovid and access to this useful Covid medication in BC Join Dr. Susan Kuo and Dr. Lyne Filiatrault of Protect Our Province BC on Wednesday, March 1, 2023, 2 pm, for a conversation about Paxlovid.  BC is… Continue reading Mar 1, 2023: Paxlovid: Why Should You Care?
Image of Dr. Gandhi on a blue background with the PoP BC logo and text that reads:
Date: Friday, Feb 3, 2023 at 1:30 PM PST Ever get the feeling we’re not getting the real story about COVID?Apparently “the pandemic is over!” yet it seems like everyone you know is ill or has a family member who is, while schools have multiple classes merged together because of so many teachers are out… Continue reading Feb 3, 2023: COVID Reality Check with Dr. Sanjiv Gandhi

More News from Protect Our Province BC

Four healthcare workers dressed in white lab coats. All four are wearing white earloop respirators and have stethoscopes draped over their shoulders. Standing in a row from left to right: a Black man with short black hair and glasses, a taller white man with dark brown hair in behind the other three, a white woman in the front of the group with dark brown hair and gold hoop earrings, and a white woman with long black hair behind the woman in front.
This is the first time I have ever written a letter to my MLA. As a constituent who is a healthcare professional, a parent, and a recent cancer survivor, I feel compelled to reach out after the removal of mask mandates in BC hospitals, and I ask you, as my elected representative, to hear and, I hope, understand how serious this issue is, and how urgently change is needed in our provincial government’s pandemic management strategy.
Our health officer has previously advocated for kindness. But as someone with a disability (long Covid), I need you to know that resting under this rubric of “personal choice”, many of us who are disabled actually experience this framing of the matter as a personal choice, rather, as your government’s complete and abject disregard of the disabled and elderly, for how else are we to understand why our lives and health don’t matter?
Text overlay saying
Now is not the time to remove indoor masks protections in spaces where vulnerable British Columbians seek medical care. No one should come to the hospital for one condition and leave with a COVID-19 infection. Or, not leave the hospital, and die from Covid? A recent leak from the Victorian Health Department, Australia suggested a 10% or more mortality for patients who acquired COVID-19 in hospital between January and October 2022.