Ontario’s chief medical officer of health is “strongly recommending” Ontarians mask-up in all indoor public settings, including schools and child-care centres, but is stopping short of mandating it.
Dr. Kieran Moore made the recommendation today (nov14) as part of an update on pediatric respiratory virus season, which has seen kids’ hospitals overwhelmed by a massive influx of very sick patients.
Some major children’s hospitals have canceled non-urgent surgeries in order to redeploy staff to the emergency department and intensive care units that are operating over capacity.
Moore says adults can transmit respiratory viruses to kids, and young children under the age of five are most susceptible.
In order to manage the crush on the health care system, the government says experts have been meeting daily and emergency departments are being instructed to plan for an “extreme surge.”
