#MasksBackBC TOOLKIT + TEMPLATE
Yarrow Intergenerational Society for Justice and Masks4EastVan are organizing in response to the removal of British Columbia’s mandatory mask mandate as of March 2022. In light of flu season and the emerging swarm of new COVID sub-variants, we demand that BC reinstates the mandatory mask mandate to protect us against infectious diseases including COVID.
Show your support by writing a letter to our provincial leaders by Wed, 2 Nov 2022. We’ve created a letter template below, but feel free to shorten and/or customize it to your preference. Usually, the higher volume of unique letters that reach public officials, the more they will take notice of the demands being made.
Please Cc us in your email (campaign@yarrowsociety.ca) and reply to the email thread with your mailing address if you would like to receive a thank you card from Yarrow.
Premier David Eby
premier@gov.bc.ca
Dr. Bonnie Henry, Deputy Provincial Health Officer
Bonnie.Henry@gov.bc.ca
Your MLA
Find their contact info here: https://www.leg.bc.ca/learn-about-us/members/
Subject:
Reinstate the Mandatory Mask Mandate in B.C. Now
OR
Bring Back the Provincial Mask Mandate Now
OR
Write your own custom subject line, the more unique the better!
Dear Premier David Eby, Dr. Bonnie Henry, Honourable Adrian Dix, [INSERT YOUR MLA HERE],
As a constituent of [INSERT YOUR ELECTORAL RIDING HERE] OR [INCLUDE INTRODUCTION ABOUT YOURSELF AND HOW IT’S RELEVANT TO THE ISSUE AT HAND], I am incredibly disappointed by the decision of the B.C. NDP government to remove the mandatory mask mandate in the province.
Since the announcement of the changes to public health orders (PHOs) on 10 March 2022, I have feared for the lives of people around me. The removal of the mandatory mask mandate in British Columbia (B.C.) continues to leave elders, children, disabled, and immunocompromised people at great risk of contracting COVID-19. COVID-19 is an airborne disease and the data has shown that Omicron BA.4 and BA.5 continues to circulate at a high rate in B.C., and a swarm of new immune-evasive variants of concern is emerging worldwide. If we do not act now to protect the people of this province, more people will needlessly fall ill and die. I implore you to not only maintain current masking mandates in healthcare settings but to also reinstate the indoor mask mandate in BC now.
[INSERT YOUR CONNECTION TO VULNERABLE POPULATIONS AFFECTED BY THE REMOVAL OF THE MASK MANDATE]
EXAMPLE:
As a social service worker in Chinatown and the Downtown Eastside, the low-income Chinese seniors I work with have expressed the need for continued use of face masks indoors since they are more susceptible to the negative consequences of contracting COVID-19. As people who regularly access social services indoors and use public transit as their primary mode of transport, the risk of contracting COVID-19 for seniors in light of the new PHOs is high. They are concerned for their own well-being and the well-being of their peers, especially in the face of language barriers when accessing health care. Nurses who choose not to wear masks indoors for their daily activities may also contract COVID and transmit the virus to patients. Escalating transmission risk impacts all people, particularly families who have a family member receiving end-of-life care.
Since COVID-19 is airborne, wearing face masks and cleansing the air of indoor spaces is the best way to prevent the spread of the virus. Not everyone can be vaccinated, but everyone can benefit from wearing face masks. While vaccines prevent hospitalization and severe illness, breakthrough infections and reinfections are still possible. Additionally, an increasing number of people are affected by Long COVID. In B.C. alone, approximately 4200 have been referred to Long COVID treatment clinics. With the reinstatement of the mask mandate, we can prevent the spread of COVID-19 and eliminate the risk of infection and Long COVID.
FLU SEASON
In addition to the currently unmitigated COVID spread, we are facing additional dangers from the incoming flu season. Based on recent observations in the Southern Hemisphere, experts have predicted that the winter flu season this year is likely to be more severe–greatly increasing the risk for infection, disease and death in the midst of an uncontrolled pandemic. As the weather grows colder, more people will be indoors for longer periods of time, greatly contributing to the spread of air-borne diseases. Without a robust province-wide indoor masking policy, people (especially those who are immunocompromised) will be left very vulnerable to respiratory infections including the common cold, the flu, and COVID-19. Coupled with children being back at school, maskless, increased respiratory infection rates will contribute greatly to the risk of public health. The medical system is currently over capacity, with staffing shortages in hospitals, emergency room closures and ambulance wait times becoming fatally long; any increase in need for medical care will overwhelm the health system. Fortunately, measures such as masking and social distancing can limit the spread of both the flu and COVID-19. For these reasons, we see the vital need to implement a mandatory mask campaign to curb the spread of all airborne diseases and to prevent the healthcare system from collapsing.
COVID-19 AND VULNERABLE POPULATIONS
Since the beginning of the pandemic, outbreaks have been most severe inside of institutions like prisons, long term care facilities, and inpatient hospital settings, where residents are at high risk of not only contracting and spreading COVID-19 because of the congregate living conditions, but also more extreme symptoms, Long COVID, and death. Other crowded shared settings that vulnerable populations inhabit include social housing (where a significant percentage of residents are disabled and at high risk) and rundown SRO buildings, primarily in Vancouver’s Downtown, Downtown Eastside, and Chinatown neighborhoods – the site of numerous outbreaks over the past two years. Similarly, COVID outbreaks are far too common in crowded work conditions (such as in meat packing facilities) that are impossible to social distance in, and are mostly staffed by immigrant and migrant workers who cannot afford to take time off to quarantine. The five-day sick leave for COVID infections is not long enough, and will cause the spread of COVID for our community’s most exploited workers. In light of this, the lack of a mask mandate is unacceptable. If B.C. does not reinstate the mask mandate immediately, we will see an increased shortage in workers due to incapacitation not just from COVID and Long COVID, but other disabling conditions that our healthcare system currently does not have capacity to treat. Bringing back the mask mandate now is necessary in order to avoid putting our community’s most vulnerable members at risk of death and disease.
COMMUNITY LED MASKING INITIATIVES
For those who are multiply marginalized (especially disabled, high risk, and unhoused folks), COVID outcomes are largely influenced by social determinants of health, which must be addressed in the implementation of a mask mandate. Unhoused people, such as in the DTES, are at astronomical risk of contracting COVID, which is particularly dangerous considering the compounding effects of stress, poverty, lack of access to housing or care, institutional and police violence. Street sweeps have led to unhoused community members having their PPE, medications and access devices thrown out on a regular basis, a dehumanizing practice which contributes greatly to the spread of COVID in these vulnerable spaces. To protect the most marginalized members of our community, we recognize that the reinstatement of the mask mandate must not be enforced by police, rather, funds should be dispersed to community-lead initiatives to provide N-95 or equivalent masks and accessible education on masking and other protective measures. The implementation of a mask mandate without provision of fulsome social and medical support will endanger our community’s most vulnerable.
CONCLUSION
In light of the many compounding factors surrounding COVID transmissions left unaddressed, we believe B.C. has the responsibility to protect the most vulnerable. Wearing face masks is more than a personal choice; it is a collective responsibility. In a letter to Dr. Bonnie Henry, B.C. Human Rights Commissioner, Kasari Govender, stated that “the hasty end to the provincial mask mandate will have profoundly unequal effects across society”. Since March 2022, we are still feeling these severe effects in our communities.
There is still time to reverse this decision to protect not only the most at risk populations, but all residents in B.C. Several U.S. counties and cities have previously reinstated its mask mandates amidst the rise of COVID-19 cases, such as Alameda County and Philadelphia. Before it is too late, I urge you to reinstate the mandatory wearing of face masks in all indoor public settings and on public transit now. Any delay on this decision will cause more preventable illness and death.
Thank you for taking the time to read my letter and I look forward to your reply addressing my concerns.
With concern,
[NAME]
[POSTAL CODE]
Masks4EastVan: Masks4EastVan (@masks4eastvan on Twitter and Instagram) is a grassroots mutual aid project that distributes N95 or equivalent masks to neighbours in East Van that began in May 2022. We aim to make information about the importance of high quality pandemic protections accessible to the general public. We hand deliver and have pop-up distribution events. Masks4EastVan is run by two disabled and neurodivergent queer trans people of colour.
Yarrow Intergenerational Society for Justice: Yarrow Intergenerational Society for Justice 世代同行會 supports youth and low-income immigrant seniors in Chinatown and the Downtown Eastside. We build power in our community through intergenerational relationship building, and by helping seniors overcome language and cultural barriers to services that meet their basic needs. We combine service provision and grassroots organizing, with a core belief that service work is political and that as a community, we have the tools we need to take care of one another. We empower seniors and youth to work together to improve their communities and tackle the difficult problems of oppression and violence. Our vision is of a Chinatown that is intergenerational and thriving, with accessible and culturally relevant services and an environment that cherishes our seniors and youth.