Some communities across Canada have started making non-medical face masks mandatory on public transit — or even in businesses or indoor spaces to curb the spread of COVID-19.
Some doctors and epidemiologists are calling for such laws to be more widespread. But others warn about the potential negative impacts and say the scientific evidence isn’t strong enough to warrant such heavy-handed measures. Here’s a closer look at the issue.
What are current public health recommendations around masks for healthy people in public?
The Public Health Agency of Canada recommends wearing a non-medical mask or face covering in public places, especially crowded ones, when physical distancing — keeping a distance of two metres from other people — isn’t possible to do consistently. Such places include stores, shopping areas and public transportation.
The idea is that masks can reduce the spread of respiratory droplets you produce when breathing, talking, coughing or sneezing. The recommendation was put in place due to growing evidence that people can transmit COVID-19 through such droplets before showing symptoms.
Of course, people with symptoms should stay home and not be in public places.
A woman shops at liquor section of the KaDeWe department store in Berlin. Germany made face masks mandatory in public places at the end of April. (Sean Gallup/Getty Images)
Why do some advocates think voluntary recommendations aren’t good enough?
All indoors spaces outside the home such as schools, libraries, community centres, stores and restaurants.
Crowds, both indoors and outdoors, including protests and crowded parks or trails.
Transit.
The letter noted that despite recommendations, a recent poll showed less than half of Canadians are wearing masks when they go out in public. It cited computer simulation studies that showed more than 70 per cent of the population needs to wear masks in public to significantly reduce transmission.
It added that the widespread adoption of other public health measures, such as seat belts and bike helmets, have required laws.
Dr. Amy Tan, an associate professor of family medicine at the University of Calgary and a member of the group, said the goal is to make wearing a mask a universal expectation — “the mindset of ‘no mask, no boarding’ [on transit] or at a store, ‘No mask, no service’ — similar to ‘no shirt, no service.'”
Some businesses, such as the Longo’s grocery store chain, have already implemented policies barring customers without masks.
Tan said laws help increase mask use by giving businesses and transit “cover to say, ‘We need to do this.'”
The masks being recommended for the public are non-medical masks, to save medical masks for health-care workers. (Francois Vigneault/Radio Canada)
How good is the evidence that mandatory mask laws reduce transmission?
A recent study by a German non-profit economic think-tank compared regions in Germany that implemented mandatory mask laws at different times (before the entire country made masks mandatory in stores and transit on April 27). The study, which was published on the group’s website but not in a peer-reviewed journal, suggested mask laws could reduce the daily growth rate of reported infections by 40 per cent.
Advocates of universal mask wearing note that countries with widespread or mandated mask usage such as South Korea, Taiwan, China and Czech Republic, have seen reduced cases and fatalities, although that may be due to other factors.
Watch | Are you making these face mask mistakes?
A face mask is meant to limit the spread of COVID-19. But if it slips below your nose, hovers around your chin, or you touch the outside with your hands, medical experts say that might be riskier than not wearing one at all. 3:55
Most research on masks so far has involved medical settings or households with a person known to be infected, said Dr. Mark Loeb, a McMaster University professor who studies infectious diseases and recently reviewed the evidence on masks and the spread of respiratory illnesses.
When it comes to mask wearing in the wider community, most studies published in scientific journals don’t show a clear impact so far, possibly due to factors like study size, he said.
He added that the Public Health Agency of Canada’s advice on masks is pragmatic and “a wise thing to do.” But he questioned whether the evidence on universal mask wearing is strong enough to make it mandatory in all public places, although he thinks mandating it on transit may be reasonable.
Tan said we don’t have the “luxury of time” to wait for that kind of evidence. “During a pandemic, you need to be looking at the emerging evidence and look at other levels of evidence to say there is more than enough science behind it.”
Where in Canada are masks mandatory so far?
Most mandatory mask regulations in Canada so far concern transportation situations where people may have trouble physically distancing.
Many transit agencies in Ontario have announced that masks will be mandatory on buses, streetcars and trains, including Ottawa, Toronto, Hamilton and Guelph.
In addition, at least two municipalities are implementing mandatory mask laws:
Côte Saint-Luc, Que., a Montreal suburb that had hundreds of confirmed COVID-19 cases and dozens of deaths by the beginning of June, is making face masks mandatory in indoor public spaces starting July 1.
Most regulations include exceptions for children under two years old and people who can’t wear a mask because of breathing difficulties or another medical condition or disability.
A rider wears a mask as they wait for an OC Transpo bus in Ottawa June 15, 2020, the first day wearing one was mandatory on the capital’s public transit service. (Jean Delisle/CBC)
How are mask laws being enforced?
In Côte Saint-Luc, Que, those who don’t follow the bylaw risk fines of up to $500.
Most other authorities, such as the Ottawa and Toronto transit authorities, say they plan to focus more on education than penalties.
That said, both Côte Saint-Luc and Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph are asking businesses to bar people without masks from entering.
Cara Zwibel, director of the fundamental freedoms program at the Canadian Civil Liberties Association, is concerned about that: ” I don’t know if we want our bus drivers and our grocery cashiers to be interrogating people about their health status to try and decide who can get an exemption and who can’t.”
Zwibel said she thinks mask rules put people like transit drivers in “a really difficult position” especially given the confusing language around enforcement in places like Toronto transit.
“If you announce a policy that something is mandatory, it’s a bit odd in the same breath to say that you’re not going to enforce that… I think that kind of announcement confuses people a lot and it’s not really helpful.”
Zwibel is also concerned about people with disabilities such as hearing impairments who need to see people’s faces to read their lips or people on the autism spectrum who may have trouble with masks.
Kate Mulligan, an assistant professor at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health at the University of Toronto who studies health policy and equity, shares those concerns. She added that people with breathing difficulties such as asthma may have trouble with masks, and certain groups, such as Black and Indigenous men, may face discrimination when wearing a mask. “They may be perceived as a safety risk and that could create a safety risk to themselves.”
She said exceptions to mandatory mask policies are needed for that reason. “And I think it takes a lot of capacity to do that kind of enforcement.”
The lack of enforcement capacity has been cited by officials in Quebec and Ontario as a reason why they’re reluctant to make masks mandatory.
STM workers handed out masks at Metro stations in Laval and Montreal in May. There, masks on transit are recommended but not mandatory.
Are there other concerns about mandatory mask laws?
Like Loeb, Zwibel questions whether there’s enough scientific evidence yet to support mandatory mask laws covering a wide range of public places.
She added that there are lots of indoors spaces where physical distancing is possible. “So I think we’re sort of a long way from seeing a really good justification.”
Dr. Isaac Bogoch, an infectious disease specialist at the Toronto General Hospital Research Institute, said if masks are mandated, they need to be provided for free so people aren’t barred from businesses or transit for not having access. “Many people might not have the means to buy a mask or may not have the means to make one,” he told CBC News Network Tuesday.
Watch| Masks and lifting COVID-19 restrictions:
Infectious disease specialist Dr. Isaac Bogoch weighs in on mandatory masks and Ontario’s reopening plan. 1:29
Tan acknowledged that medical and N95 masks need to be reserved for health-care workers and if non-medical masks are made mandatory, vulnerable people need to be given access. She noted that other countries with mandatory mask laws have provided masks to their populations. Some transit services such as Toronto’s are giving masks out to riders.
Are more jurisdictions likely to make masks mandatory in the future?
Mulligan, who sits on the Toronto Board of Health but isn’t part of any group advocating for masks, said she’s been asking about potential mandatory mask policies. So far she’s been told by officials that the evidence doesn’t yet support broader mask laws.
“I expect that to change,” she said. “Given that we’re seeing so much of the city and the province and the country opening up now, I think that we really have no choice but to step up the wearing of masks … because we do want to reduce the risk.”
She thinks governments should have been discussing mask policies as part of their strategy for reopening the economy. She said they need to figure out what policies on masks and other ways to reduce transmission have the greatest benefits versus risks.
If there is a future wave of COVID-19, she expects governments to rely more broadly on masking because the economic impact of the main strategy so far — lockdowns — is so severe.
In the meantime, she suggests people follow public health recommendations to wear masks voluntarily where physical distancing is difficult.
“We do know about the fact that masks reduce the risk to others,” she added. “And so therefore, we have a social responsibility to wear them when we can.”
Montreal Alouettes wide receiver Tyson Philpot has announced he will be out for the rest of the CFL season.
The Delta, B.C., native posted the news on his Instagram page Thursday.
“To Be Continued. Shoutout my team, the fans of the CFL and the whole city of Montreal! I can’t wait to be back healthy and write this next chapter in 2025,” the statement read.
Philpot, 24, injured his foot in a 33-23 win over the Hamilton Tiger-Cats on Aug. 10 and was placed on the six-game injured list the next week.
The six-foot-one, 195-pound receiver had 58 receptions, 779 yards and five touchdowns in nine games for the league-leading Alouettes in his third season.
Philpot scored the game-winning touchdown in Montreal’s Grey Cup win last season to punctuate a six-reception, 63-yard performance.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 12, 2024.
MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. (AP) — Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa sustained a concussion for the third time in his NFL career, leaving his team’s game Thursday night against Buffalo after running into defensive back Damar Hamlin and hitting the back of his head against the turf.
Tagovailoa remained down for about two minutes before getting to his feet and walking to the sideline after the play in the third quarter. He made his way to the tunnel not long afterward, looking into the stands before smiling and departing toward the locker room.
The Dolphins needed almost no time before announcing it was a concussion. The team said he had two during the 2022 season, and Tagovailoa was diagnosed with another concussion when he was a college player at Alabama.
Dolphins coach Mike McDaniel said Tagovailoa would get “proper procedural evaluation” and “appropriate care” on Friday.
“The furthest thing from my mind is, ‘What is the timeline?’ We just need to evaluate and just worry about my teammate, like the rest of the guys are,” McDaniel said. “We’ll get more information tomorrow and take it day by day from here.”
Some players saw Tagovailoa in the locker room after the game and said they were encouraged. Tagovailoa spoke with some players and then went home after the game, McDaniel said.
“I have a lot of love for Tua, built a great relationship with him,” said quarterback Skylar Thompson, who replaced Tagovailoa after the injury. “You care about the person more than the player and everybody in the organization would say the same thing. Just really praying for Tua and hopefully everything will come out all right.”
Tagovailoa signed a four-year, $212 million extension before this season — a deal that makes him one of the highest-paid players in the NFL — and was the NFL’s leading passer in Week 1 this season. Tagovailoa left with the Dolphins trailing 31-10, and that was the final score.
“If you know Tua outside of football, you can’t help but feel for him,” Bills quarterback Josh Allen said on Amazon following the game. “He’s a great football player but he’s an even greater human being. He’s one of the best humans on the planet. I’ve got a lot of love for him and I’m just praying for him and his family, hoping everything’s OK. But it’s tough, man. This game of football that we play, it’s got its highs and it’s got its lows — and this is one of the lows.”
Tagovailoa’s college years and first three NFL seasons were marred by injury, though he positioned himself for a big pay bump with an injury-free and productive 2023 as he led the Dolphins into the playoffs. He threw for 29 touchdowns and a league-best 4,624 yards last year.
When, or if, he can come back this season is anyone’s guess. Tagovailoa said in April 2023 that the concussions he had in the 2022 season left him contemplating his playing future. “I think I considered it for a time,” he said then, when asked if he considered stepping away from the game to protect himself.
McDaniel said it’s not his place to say if Tagovailoa should return to football. “He’ll be evaluated and we’ll have conversations and progress as appropriate,” McDaniel said.
Tagovailoa was hurt Thursday on a fourth-down keeper with about 4:30 left in the third. He went straight ahead into Hamlin and did not slide, leading with his right shoulder instead.
Hamlin was the player who suffered a cardiac arrest after making a tackle during a Monday night game in January 2023 at Cincinnati, causing the NFL to suspend a pivotal game that quickly lost significance in the aftermath of a scary scene that unfolded in front of a national television audience.
Tagovailoa wound up on his back, both his hands in the air and Bills players immediately pointed at him as if to suggest there was an injury. Dolphins center Aaron Brewer quickly did the same, waving to the sideline.
Tagovailoa appeared to be making a fist with his right hand as he lay on the ground. It was movement consistent with something that is referred to as the “fencing response,” which can be common after a traumatic brain injury.
Tagovailoa eventually got to his feet. McDaniel grabbed the side of his quarterback’s head and gave him a kiss on the cheek as Tagovailoa departed. Thompson came into the game to take Tagovailoa’s spot.
“I love Tua on and off the football field,” Bills edge Von Miller said. “I’m a huge fan of him. I can empathize and sympathize with him because I’ve been there. I wish him the best.”
Tagovailoa’s history with concussions — and how he has since worked to avoid them — is a huge part of the story of his career, and now comes to the forefront once again.
He had at least two concussions during the 2022 season. He was hurt in a Week 3 game against Buffalo and cleared concussion protocol, though he appeared disoriented on that play but returned to the game.
The NFL later changed its concussion protocol to mandate that if a player shows possible concussion symptoms — including a lack of balance or stability — he must sit out the rest of the game.
Less than a week later, in a Thursday night game at Cincinnati, Tagovailoa was concussed on a scary hit that briefly knocked him unconscious and led to him being taken off the field on a stretcher.
His second known concussion of that season came in a December game against Green Bay, and he didn’t play for the rest of the 2022 season. After that, Tagovailoa began studying ways where he may be able to fall more safely and protect himself against further injury — including studying jiu-jitsu.
“I’m not worried about anything that’s out of my hands,” McDaniel said. “I’m just worried about the human being.”
NEW YORK (AP) — When her husband turns on the television to hear news about the upcoming presidential election, that’s often a signal for Lori Johnson Malveaux to leave the room.
It can get to be too much. Often, she’ll go to a TV in another room to watch a movie on the Hallmark Channel or BET. She craves something comforting and entertaining. And in that, she has company.
While about half of Americans say they are following political news “extremely” or “very” closely, about 6 in 10 say they need to limit how much information they consume about the government and politics to avoid feeling overloaded or fatigued, according to a new survey from the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research and USAFacts.
Make no mistake: Malveaux plans to vote. She always does. “I just get to the point where I don’t want to hear the rhetoric,” she said.
The 54-year-old Democrat said she’s most bothered when she hears people on the news telling her that something she saw with her own eyes — like the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol — didn’t really happen.
“I feel like I’m being gaslit. That’s the way to put it,” she said.
Sometimes it feels like ‘a bombardment’
Caleb Pack, 23, a Republican from Ardmore, Oklahoma, who works in IT, tries to keep informed through the news feeds on his phone, which is stocked with a variety of sources, including CNN, Fox News, The Wall Street Journal and The Associated Press.
Yet sometimes, Pack says, it seems like a bombardment.
“It’s good to know what’s going on, but both sides are pulling a little bit extreme,” he said. “It just feels like it’s a conversation piece everywhere, and it’s hard to escape it.”
Media fatigue isn’t a new phenomenon. A Pew Research Center survey conducted in late 2019 found roughly two in three Americans felt worn out by the amount of news there is, about the same as in a poll taken in early 2018. During the 2016 presidential campaign, about 6 in 10 people felt overloaded by campaign news.
But it can be particularly acute with news related to politics. The AP-NORC/USAFacts poll found that half of Americans feel a need to limit their consumption of information related to crime or overseas conflicts, while only about 4 in 10 are limiting news about the economy and jobs.
It’s easy to understand, with television outlets like CNN, Fox News Channel and MSNBC full of political talk and a wide array of political news online, sometimes complicated by disinformation.
“There’s a glut of information,” said Richard Coffin, director of research and advocacy for USAFacts, “and people are having a hard time figuring out what is true or not.”
Women are more likely to feel they need to limit media
In the AP-NORC poll, about 6 in 10 men said they follow news about elections and politics at least “very” closely, compared to about half of women. For all types of news, not just politics, women are more likely than men to report the need to limit their media consumption, the survey found.
White adults are also more likely than Black or Hispanic adults to say they need to limit media consumption on politics, the poll found.
Kaleb Aravzo, 19, a Democrat, gets a baseline of news by listening to National Public Radio in the morning at home in Logan, Utah. Too much politics, particularly when he’s on social media sites like TikTok and Instagram, can trigger anxiety and depression.
“If it pops up on my page when I’m on social media,” he said, “I’ll just scroll past it.”
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Sanders reported from Washington. David Bauder writes about media for the AP. Follow him at http://x.com/dbauder.
The AP poll of 1,019 adults was conducted July 29-August 8, 2024, using a sample drawn from NORC’s probability-based AmeriSpeak Panel, which is designed to be representative of the U.S. population. The margin of sampling error for all respondents is plus or minus 4.0 percentage points.
