Moore ‘strongly’ recommends masks, stops short of mandate

Ontario’s chief medical officer of health is “strongly recommending” Ontarians mask 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 as part of an update on the pediatric respiratory virus season, which has seen kids’ hospitals overwhelmed in recent weeks by a massive influx of very sick patients.

Some major children’s hospitals have had to cancel 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 the most susceptible.

In order to manage the crush on the health system, the government says experts have been meeting daily and emergency departments are being instructed to plan for an “extreme surge.”

The Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario has opened a second pediatric ICU, SickKids hospital is cancelling non-urgent surgeries, and children 14 and older needing critical care are being sent to adult ICUs.