TORONTO — A plea by health officials to resume masking in Ontario and Quebec is a tall order that is unlikely to take hold without a significant culture shift, say observers who point to pandemic fatigue, mixed messages and divisive politics as likely hurdles.
The fact that a renewed push for personal protective measures remains voluntary means many people will consider it optional, and possibly even unnecessary, says behaviour expert and York University associate professor Rebecca Bassett-Gunter.
She notes that many people abandoned masks altogether after most pandemic precautions were lifted earlier this year.
It’s not clear that weeks of warnings from overwhelmed hospital staff over the “triple threat” of viral infections is enough to get those same people to put their masks back on.
“Without mandating it, I think people are hearing a message that it must not be as bad as it was,” says Bassett-Gunter, whose research at the school of kinesiology and health science has included a look at how to get people to comply with COVID-19 precautions. “That’s a really hard implicit message to override, unfortunately.”
Add in pandemic fatigue and a yearning for festive holiday gatherings to return after two seasons of restraint, and public health officials face a tough psychological wall to break through, adds Dr. Eddy Lang, professor and department head for emergency medicine at the Cumming School of Medicine at the University of Calgary.
While his province isn’t seeing a surge in respiratory syncytial virus and influenza cases to the same degree as Ontario and Quebec, he noted cases are expected to increase as cold and flu season progresses.
“When we look at the wastewater analysis, RSV is still on the rise, which suggests that the worst of it may still be yet to come,” Lang said.
Already, a wave of viral illnesses among young students has pushed hospital capacity to dangerous levels. But given Alberta Premier Danielle Smith’s stated opposition to a school mask mandate, Lang doubts a masking plea is imminent or that there is much public support for more precautions.
“People are just so tired of public health directives,” says Lang. “Until we really see a cultural shift … I don’t think this is going to work particularly well or give us much of an impact against hospitalizations.”
Health authorities in Canada’s two most populous provinces issued strong recommendations on Monday for people to mask up indoors to mitigate the spread of respiratory viruses that have overwhelmed hospitals and pediatric centres.
Ontario’s chief medical officer of health, Dr. Kieran Moore, stressed the vulnerability of babies and children younger than five to unseasonably high rates of RSV and rising rates of influenza. At the same time, he warned of emerging COVID-19 variants.
Quebec’s college of physicians made a similar appeal that the public don masks on a “voluntary and preventive basis” in public places, crowded private spaces and on public transit.
Last week, Canada’s top doctor stressed the need for “stepped-up precautions” while warning that COVID-19, RSV and the flu were challenging the health system in several parts of the country.
Turney McKee of the Montreal-based consultancy group Decision Lab was skeptical that “a mere recommendation” would be enough to drive the adoption needed to mitigate public health risks.
“Sure, our attitudes or values may align with one course of action, but then when actually put in the situation to either comply or not to comply, I think it’s very likely that we see a disconnect,” says McKee.
He sees politics as less a driver than fatigue, convenience and social pressure.
“When the mandate is no longer there, if it is no longer convenient, we’re probably going to stop,” says McKee, whose firm uses applied behavioural science to guide advice for organizations and government clients. “And when we see everyone else around us starting to stop, the social influence can be very potent.”
However, that’s not to say this public health plea is completely powerless.
It sends a clear signal that stronger measures could follow and that the public should brace for a potential mandate, says McKee.
“It primes people to expect that maybe some more heavy-handed measures are around the corner,” he says.
Moore said a mask mandate could be possible if Ontario’s health-care system continues to see an increase in pressure due to respiratory illnesses, though he said that would be “the furthest we’d have to go.”
Cassandra Szklarski, The Canadian Press
VANDERHOOF, B.C. – British Columbia Conservative Leader John Rustad has been re-elected in his riding of Nechako Lakes.
Rustad was kicked out of the Opposition BC United Party for his support on social media of an outspoken climate change critic in 2022, and last year was acclaimed as the B.C. Conservative leader.
Buoyed by the BC United party suspending its campaign, and the popularity of Pierre Poilievre’s federal Conservatives, Rustad led his party into contention in the provincial election.
The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.
VANCOUVER – Predictions of a close election were holding true in British Columbia on Saturday, with early returns showing the New Democrats and the B.C. Conservatives neck and neck.
Conservative Leader John Rustad was elected in Nechako Lakes, and 20 minutes after polls closed, his party was elected or leading in 46 ridings, with the NDP elected or leading in 45.
Among the early winners were the NDP’s Ravi Kahlon in Delta North and Niki Sharma in Vancouver-Hastings, as well as the Conservatives’ Bruce Banman in Abbotsford South.
It was a rain-drenched election day in much of the province.
Voters braved high winds and torrential downpours brought by an atmospheric river weather system that forced closures of several polling stations due to power outages.
Residents faced a choice for the next government that would have seemed unthinkable just a few months ago, between the incumbent New Democrats led by David Eby and Rustad’s B.C. Conservatives, who received less than two per cent of the vote last election
Green Leader Sonia Furstenau has acknowledged her party won’t win, but she’s hoping to retain a presence in the legislature, where the party currently has two members.
Elections BC has said results are expected quickly, with electronic vote tabulation being used provincewide for the first time.
The election authority expected most votes to be counted by about 8:30 p.m., and that the count would be “substantially complete” within another half-hour.
Six new seats have been added since the last provincial election, and to win a majority, a party must secure 47 seats in the 93-seat legislature.
There had already been a big turnout before election day on Saturday, with more than a million advance votes cast, representing more than 28 per cent of valid voters and smashing the previous record for early polling.
The wild weather on election day was appropriate for such a tumultuous campaign.
Once considered a fringe player in provincial politics, the B.C. Conservatives stand on the brink of forming government or becoming the official Opposition.
Rustad’s unlikely rise came after he was thrown out of the Opposition, then known as the BC Liberals, joined the Conservatives as leader, and steered them to a level of popularity that led to the collapse of his old party, now called BC United — all in just two years.
Rustad shared a photo on social media Saturday showing himself smiling and walking with his wife at a voting station, with a message saying, “This is the first time Kim and I have voted for the Conservative Party of BC!”
Eby, who voted earlier in the week, posted a message on social media Saturday telling voters to “grab an umbrella and stay safe.”
Two voting sites in Cariboo-Chilcotin in the B.C. Interior and one in Maple Ridge in the Lower Mainland were closed due to power cuts, Elections BC said, while several sites in Kamloops, Langley and Port Moody, as well as on Hornby, Denman and Mayne islands, were temporarily shut but reopened by mid-afternoon.
Karin Kirkpatrick, who is running for re-election as an Independent in West Vancouver-Capilano, said in a statement that her campaign had been in touch with Elections BC about the risk of weather-related disruptions, and was told that voting tabulation machines have battery power for four hours in the event of an outage.
West Vancouver was one of the hardest hit areas for flooding, and Kirkpatrick later said on social media that her campaign had been told that voters who couldn’t get to a location to cast their ballot because of the extreme weather could vote through Elections BC by phone.
— With files from Brenna Owen
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 19, 2024.
The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.
VICTORIA – Green Party Leader Sonia Furstenau has lost her seat in the legislature after changing ridings to Victoria-Beacon Hill.
Furstenau lost to Grace Lore, the minister of children and family development in the previous NDP government.
The Green leader was first elected 2017, when her party played a key roll in helping the New Democrats form government with a confidence and supply agreement between the two parties.
The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.
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