Article content continued
However, she called it an “ecological study,” pointing out that other factors could have played a role in the apparent success of indoor mask wearing in health regions.
“There were many other things that were put in place at the same time, and it’s sometimes hard to tease apart which ones are the ones that make the most difference,” she said.
“We are not at a space here in B.C. where we have that level of community spread, but I do absolutely recommend all of us should be wearing masks when we can’t maintain our distances, particularly when we’re in places like transit, when we’re inside enclosed spaces where we need to be there for a period of time and we can’t move around (like a ferry or airplane). Those are things that can make a difference.”
Henry said there have been 10,036 cases reported since late January, and in reality many more that were not identified in the early part of the pandemic.
There were 1,394 active cases of COVID-19 in B.C., of which 76 were in hospital including 17 in intensive care. Health Canada is now supporting the use of the steroid dexamethasone as a treatment in critically ill patients.
Henry said there had been no new health-care or community outbreaks. There remain 17 active health-care outbreaks in B.C.
Cases at the Delta Hospital grew by three to 35, with three deaths recorded.
She said that the majority of flu vaccines ordered for B.C. would arrive over the next two weeks.
On Tuesday, the B.C. Teachers Federation released a poll of teachers that showed seven per cent of almost 9,000 teachers polled last month did not think health and safety measures at schools were completely adequate.
