End of mask mandates hurts vulnerable: BC human rights commissioner

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B.C.’s Human Rights Commissioner has criticized state health officials for ending mask mandates in health care settings, saying it puts the most vulnerable and marginalized at risk.

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Governor Casali made the remarks in a statement Wednesday, which Health Minister Adrian Dix and state health officer Dr. It was a week after he said it was no longer mandatory. Before the COVID-19 Pandemic.

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“We have repeatedly expressed concern about the human rights impact of these policy decisions as mask restrictions are lifted in BC,” the governor said.

The governor said the end of mask mandates “will disproportionately affect marginalized people, the elderly, and the most clinically vulnerable.

“This represents a violation of our right to participate equally in our communities. While masks have minimal impact on wearers, the impact of COVID-19 on vulnerable people is well known. and range from mild to fatal.”

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The governor said medical and long-term care facilities are places where even the most vulnerable feel safe.

BC’s health minister said at a separate press conference on Wednesday that he had yet to see the commissioner’s statement. But Dicks said his 100% of health care workers in the state are now vaccinated, which is an important protection for them and patients.

“There are people who think we should do different things on both sides of the issue about the need for vaccines and the need for proof of vaccination and masks, but our actions in BC are governed by Public Health. said Dicks.

Dix said she disagreed with state health officials’ failure to consider human rights in her policy decisions. I was.

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During the three years of the pandemic, the Human Rights Commissioner’s office has focused on COVID policies from a rights perspective, including guidance on wearing masks, vaccination policies, and an increase in hate-related incidents.

“This week’s removal of masking directives in healthcare settings does not support a human rights-centric approach to public health,” she said.

In a letter to public health officials last April, the governor said it was encouraging that the population-level threat of severe consequences from COVID-19 had been mitigated, but that COVID-19 had serious consequences. It is reassuring that the threat of Percentage of people at risk and rights of marginalized people relevant to human rights analysis…

“Although the social and psychological harm that may result from public health measures such as quarantine should absolutely be considered and minimized, masking should be seen as a protection rather than a restriction.”

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