It’s one that Colin Furness predicts will fail and put children under five, who are currently unvaccinated, at greater risk. “Every government around the world that has relied on a way to control it has failed,” said Furness, an assistant professor at the University of Toronto. “One strategy is not enough.” As COVID cases increase and the coronavirus becomes more prevalent in the community, infants and preschoolers will face an increased risk of infection, he said. “So you have a lot of childhood diseases that could be completely prevented if we worked to reduce the prevalence,” he said. Furness was reacting to comments earlier this week from the province’s chief medical officer, who said a return to mandatory coverage or other protective restrictions was not being considered. “At this point … we’re not having that conversation,” Dr. Jennifer Russell told CBC News. “The message right now is about vaccination, because that’s the thing that will reduce the risk of people having serious outcomes and requiring hospitalisation.” Dr. Jennifer Russell, New Brunswick’s chief medical officer of health, urged people to take whatever precautions are appropriate, and those with risk factors should consider taking additional precautions, such as wearing a mask, physical distancing and hand washing. (Ed Hunter/CBC) On Tuesday, the province announced it is now offering a fourth dose of the COVID-19 vaccine to anyone 18 and older as long as it’s been five months since their last dose. The decision to lower age eligibility from 50 comes as COVID-19 claimed the lives of four more New Brunswickers last week, the number of hospitalized COVID-19 patients has nearly doubled to 95, seven of whom require intensive care and nearly 2,500 new infections have been reported, data released Tuesday show. Furness agrees with expanding eligibility for second boosters, but is disappointed by the shift in public messaging, urging those at high risk to get the extra dose instead of encouraging everyone to get the vaccine to help protect those who can’t. After more than two years of the pandemic, Furness called it a “huge mistake” not to recognize that a “multimodal strategy” was needed. Ontario is taking a similar approach, “I mean, we’re not going to do anything. We’re just going to sit back and watch and hope it doesn’t get too bad, even though we know health care is really strained. And we’re going to suggest that vaccination might be good,” according to Furness. “And not sufficient.”
Masks politicized
Still, Furness isn’t surprised that New Brunswick isn’t considering mandatory masks. Mask orders have become a political decision, he said. “And there doesn’t seem to be any political appetite anywhere to introduce that kind of protection or to reintroduce that kind of protection.” And this, he argues, is wrong. One of the problems, Furness said, is “there’s been so much public confusion and changing science about masks that there’s a lot of room for people to say, ‘Oh, masks don’t work.’ Additionally, while the federal government and many states have recognized that COVID is airborne, they are not aware of a single province that has. “That’s a problem because if you haven’t recognized it, then you’re not educating the population that they actually need to wear respirators” to protect themselves from an airborne pathogen. Provinces need to recognize that COVID-19 is airborne and educate people about using respirators, Furness said. (Nicholas Pfosi/Reuters) “And so, to me, it’s a little bit wrong to limit the conversation to, do we need mask mandates or not, because if we’re going to impose the wrong kind of masks or if we’re going to impose a rule without explaining to people how these things work and why , well, we’ll make it [many] people don’t understand, they don’t get it, pointing out that crappy masks don’t work and therefore masks don’t work,” he said. “You’re increasing the cacophony, the confusion, the resistance, and you’re also missing a real opportunity for people to stay really safe. “So it’s not just, should we mandate masks? We should provide respirators. We should educate people on them. And that’s not happening. And that’s, I think, very short-sighted.” With mask knowledge, mask orders may not be necessary, Furness suggested.
The behavioral scientist weighs in
People will wear masks if they know a good reason to do so, according to Simon Bacon, a behavioral scientist at Concordia University in Montreal. Not surprisingly, many people are not wearing masks despite the resurgence of COVID-19, he said. By removing the mandates and not providing more information about risks and benefits, the government has sent the message that coverage is not important and that everything is fine. “You know, masks have become very politicized. And, you know, we’ve heard a lot of political rhetoric around masks. So, you know, they come with a certain amount of baggage right now,” Bacon said. Simon Bacon, a professor of behavioral medicine at Concordia University who studies how people respond to public health policy, said governments should empower people to make decisions by providing more information about risks. (Concordia University) “So people have to somehow assess their personal risk. They must assess the risk they are putting other people with whom they interact. “Someone can be young and healthy and vaccinated and be willing to roll the dice on whether or not they’ll get it. But they have to think about who they’re interacting with. What would be the consequences if they got COVID? Who’s going to spread it to the ? “You might not end up in the hospital, but a lot of people are kind of knocked out for a week. Well, we’re about [in] during the holiday season. Does anyone want to feel, you know, sluggish and have symptoms and think about going on vacation? Probably not.” As case numbers rise, Bacon expects more people to start wearing masks again and be more careful about hand washing and social distancing. That happened at peaks earlier in the pandemic, he noted.
