Health-care workers, hospital visitors no longer required to wear a mask: B.C.’s top doctor

UPDATE: B.C.’s provincial health officer, Dr. Perry Kendall says, as of April 1, health-care workers and visitors to health-care facilities are no longer required to wear a mask if they are not vaccinated against influenza. 

Kendall says 80 per cent of health-care workers reported that they were vaccinated this year.  

He has now officially lifted the province’s Influenza Protection Policy for the 2014-15 influenza season. 

Previous story: 

VANCOUVER – The provincial government says as of Dec. 1, all visitors to provincial health-care facilities, including long-term care homes, must be vaccinated against influenza or wear a mask while visiting. This is to protect the most vulnerable from influenza.

This is the second year the policy will be in place and masks will be available free of charge for those who have not been given the flu shot.

The provincial government says the best way for visitors to protect their loved ones is to get vaccinated. Anyone who visits their loved one in a hospital, long-term care facility or any other health-care facility is eligible for a free flu shot. Visitors will be asked to comply with his policy on the honour system.

The flu shot is already offered free in B.C. to people including children, seniors, pregnant women, Aboriginal people, those with chronic health conditions and those who work with higher-risk groups.

Each year about 3,500 Canadians die from influenza or its complications.

For more information about influenza and vaccination clinics, visit: www.immunizebc.ca.