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Tracking the number of people in Canada receiving doses
Michael Lee CTVNews.ca writer
As the weather turns cooler and restrictions on COVID-19 continue to be relaxed in certain areas of the country, the Chief Public Health Officer of Canada advises Canadians to choose the best quality and fit masks.
"Just like vaccination provides us with the basic foundation layer of immune preparation protection, masks are an important top layer to prevent virus inhalation and human-to-human transmission," Dr. Teresa Tan said at a press conference on Friday .
"Entering winter, there are many reasons to ensure that our top or outer barrier protection layer is of the best quality and fit. As the highly contagious Delta variant continues to dominate, the risk of surge and disease activity may increase. Spend more time indoors and increase, especially in places where vaccine coverage is low."
With the increase in new COVID-19 cases, Tan warned that there would be a slight "turbulence". Compared with the previous week, an average of about 2,500 new cases were reported every day, an increase of 11%.
Tam pointed to the evolving evidence of how SARS-CoV-2 (the virus that causes COVID-19) works, namely that it can be suspended in the air in poorly ventilated areas, similar to second-hand smoke.
Although the serious illness is stable, Tan suggested that the infection needs to be controlled to prevent an increase, and other protective measures, such as proper hand hygiene and avoiding crowds, should be taken.
When asked about wearing masks on the CTV news channel in recent days, several experts agreed that Canadians should choose medical or surgical masks instead of cloth masks, and make sure to wear them correctly.
The former Director-General of the Emergency Preparedness and Response Centre of the Public Health Agency of Canada, Dr. Ronald St. John’s, told CTV News on Friday that although vaccination rates are still high-approximately 85% of people aged 12 and over have been in the country. Vaccination-this alone is not enough to stop all transmission.
John said that the effectiveness of masks ranges from common light blue medical masks to masks used in operating rooms.
"For ordinary citizens, it is impractical to walk around wearing surgical masks, so our idea is to get the best possible mask, even light blue, but wear it correctly," St. John's Say.
"Make sure that the small metal band is pressed around your nose, it is tucked under your chin, including covering your beard, etc. This will be a major anti-spreading thing. If you can get an N95 mask, That’s better, but it’s harder to breathe with an N95 mask, so it’s balancing the risks.”
Dr. Dale Kalina, an infectious disease specialist at Joseph Brant Hospital in Burlington, Ontario, told CTV News on Friday that he uses disposable hospital-grade masks at work, but also wears disposable masks at home. He said that compared to most fabric-based products, they filter out most pathogens, fit and breathe more easily.
He said that many countries, especially Western European countries, are recommending disposable KN95 masks, which are different from those of N95.
"As many people have said before, including Dr. Tan, it is important to wear a mask that fits your face perfectly and has no big gaps," he said.
For some people who can be traced back to the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, the use and mandatory requirements of masks and their effectiveness have been controversial.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in the United States once discouraged people in good health to wear masks, and the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) also agreed with this recommendation.
Tan himself has talked about the potential negative effects of wearing a mask, such as a false sense of self-confidence.
"But at the same time, it will increase the touch of your face. If you think about it, if you wear a mask on your face, sometimes you can't help it," she said at a press conference on March 30, 2020.
People's understanding of the virus and masks has since changed. There is evidence that the virus can be transmitted through the infected person regardless of symptoms, and most of the transmission occurs indoors. Many jurisdictions also mandate the wearing of masks in certain areas in an attempt to limit the spread of COVID-19.
Health officials also stated that compared with unvaccinated or partially vaccinated people, fully vaccinated people may still be infected and spread COVID-19, although this possibility is much smaller, as is the chance of serious infection. There is also evidence that, in some cases, vaccine protection may be weakened.
However, PHAC now states that “when combined with other recommended public health measures, well-structured, well-fitting, and properly worn masks can help prevent the spread of COVID-19.”
Specifically, the agency stated that masks can help control an individual’s own breathing particles and prevent or reduce the amount of infectious particles a person inhales, especially when the mask is well-made and properly worn.
On Friday, on the CTV news channel, Toronto emergency room doctor Dr. Kashif Pirzada described wearing a suitable mask as similar to a "superpower" that can be indoors where the virus may be scattered Space provides "ultimate" protection.
In terms of masks, Dr. Kwadwo Kyeremanteng, an intensive care unit and palliative care physician in Ottawa, told CTV News on Saturday that people who may still be worried about contracting COVID-19, such as those who are older or have comorbidities, may want to consider him The quality of our masks or the risk of spread may be higher.
Cynthia Carr of Epi Research Inc. in Winnipeg, commenting on wearing a mask on Friday, warned people not to relax their vigilance and just "slap" the mask to loosen it.
“It needs to be a well-fitting mask, it needs to be clean, you need to wear it all the time instead of pulling it under the nose every now and then. This is a risk and we shouldn’t do this,” she said.
Dr. Christopher Labos, a cardiologist and epidemiologist in Montreal, also said on Friday that since supply is no longer a major issue, he said that the best quality masks most people need are surgical masks. Filters may also be a reasonable choice.
On Thursday, November 4, 2021, a man wearing a mask to help contain the spread of COVID-19 walks along Yonge Street in Toronto. Canadian News Agency/Evan Buller
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