The Chief Medical Officer of Health in Ontario is “strongly recommending” to mask in all indoor public settings including schools and child care centres.
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.
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 (CHEO) 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.
(The Canadian Press)
