‘We need to do better,’ and wear ‘better quality’ masks former CDC head says.
In a recent weekly roundup of health and medical science news, Adam Miller from CBC News discussed the alarming impact on Canada’s public health system as a result of the increasing number of COVID-19 infections across the country. In Miller’s article, Dr. Susy Hota, an infectious disease specialist at the University Health Network and an associate professional of medicine at the University of Toronto warned, “we’re already at a breaking break.” Added concern regarding the introduction of new COVID-19 variants from outside Canada, such as the B117 variant from the UK or others from South Africa or Brazil, give reason for medical professionals to call for a change in how we are handling the pandemic.
While many of the public health guidelines currently in place are considered to be effective in reducing the spread of coronavirus, medical experts suggest we should be doubling down on them. Dr. Tom Frieden, the former director of the CDC told CBC News, “we don’t need to do more of the same – we need to do better of the same.” Frieden went on to say people should be wearing ‘better quality’ masks and have as few in-person interactions with others as possible.
Frieden is the latest health professional to call on people to wear masks with higher filtration efficiency than what is offered by cloth or surgical masks. Imagine if every Canadian made the simple choice to wear a face mask that was approved by Health Canada to protect the wearer from viral infection. The resulting reduction in COVID-19 cases would be significant and come at a time when our public health system needs all the help it can get.