Mask policies at Vancouver Coastal Health (VCH) hospitals are being called into question as communities adapt to face the highly-transmissible Omicron variant.
Amid this wave of COVID-19, KN95 and N95 masks have become increasingly more common outside of healthcare settings due to a larger supply and heightened concerns over the high transmissibility of Omicron. Though KN95 masks are not certified with the same standards as N95s, both offer higher levels of protection compared to a surgical or cloth mask provided they are well-fitting.
However, the current rules at VCH hospitals require all visitors to remove their mask when they arrive and replace it with the provided surgical mask.
Linnet, a graduate student at UBC’s School of Information, became concerned about the practice when she visited UBC Hospital.
“I know that urgent care is often full of people with COVID[-19] symptoms so I went with an N95 and a surgical mask on top of that, so when they gave me a surgical mask, I just put it on top, you know, I figured I [would] just follow their rules,” Linnet said.
“I was told by the staff [who] gave me the masks that I should take off any other masks I [have and] just wear the surgical mask.”
Linnet said this policy warrants attention and said enforcing this should not be health care workers’ priority.
“I just feel like [enforcing the policy] is not the area they should be focusing on … if people are already coming in with a better mask than what they're offering. I think [it is] just setting sort of a dangerous precedent,” Linnet said.
Michael Brauer, a professor at UBC’s School of Population and Public Health, said masks with higher effectiveness are even more important with the Omicron variant, but he understands why VCH has implemented this policy.
“You don't have mask experts at the entrance to a hospital. So somebody can easily say … This is an N95 and it may or may not be, there's a lot of … counterfeit N95 or KN95 masks,” Brauer said.
However, Brauer said his recent experience while getting a COVID-19 booster shot could serve as an example he’d like to see followed at hospitals.
“They said to me, ‘Oh that KN95 that you're wearing, you can leave that on, just put the surgical mask over it’ … That surgical mask isn't doing anything more for me, but at least … I [still] have a surgical mask and if I'm more comfortable … with a KN95 then I've still got that on.”
An email received by The Ubyssey from VCH stated that the health authority has been closely following the rules laid out by provincial authorities.
“VCH has been consistent in its approach to PPE, aligning strongly with the most current provincial guidance. For respiratory protection within acute care, VCH follows the provincial policy communique … all healthcare workers (including physicians) must wear, at a minimum, healthcare-approved medical masks for all patient care.”
Current BC guidelines and information on masks can be found here.
This article was edited on January 31, 2024 to remove a source's last name in accordance with our anonymity policy.