BC Government Brings Back Mask Mandate in Health Care Settings

A woman wearing a protective face mask and gloves waits at a COVID-19 assessment centre for staff at Lions Gate Hospital in North Vancouver on March 19, 2020. The Canadian Press/Darryl Dyck

Mask mandates are returning to British Columbia health care facilities to curb the spread of respiratory illnesses amid the seasonal surge, the provincial government announced.

Effective Jan. 6, the mandate applies to anyone entering patient care areas within health authority-operated facilities, such as waiting rooms, emergency rooms, and any area where emergency health services are being provided, including client homes, community care locations, and ambulances, according to the “COVID-19 guidance in B.C.”

Certain groups, such as children under 5 and individuals unable to wear masks due to health conditions, are exempt from the mask requirement. Mask use is also not required in administrative offices, cafeterias, or family rooms at the health care facilities. However, individuals who are required to wear a mask and are able to do so but choose not to are not exempt, the provincial government said.

Visitors to long-term care homes and assisted living facilities must wear masks during indoor gatherings, celebrations, and events, except when eating or drinking. Exemptions are also made for direct visits with individual residents. Residents in long-term care and assisted living settings must wear a mask and other personal protective equipment, as directed by health care workers, the B.C. Health Ministry noted.

The B.C. Health Ministry said that temporary measures like masking in health care settings can “help reduce the spread of respiratory illness this season,” noting that such measures have been “regularly used in health-care settings both pre- and post-pandemic.”

The decision to reinstate the mask mandate follows a seasonal rise in influenza and RSV. According to the B.C. Centre for Disease Control’s latest update for Dec. 29, 2024, to Jan. 4, 2025, influenza and RSV cases are on the rise, while cases of COVID-19 remain “relatively stable at low and moderate levels.”

The mask mandate does not apply to public indoor settings outside health care facilities, where the provincial health authorities said mask-wearing is “a personal choice.” The government also confirmed no province-wide vaccination proof or travel restrictions have been imposed.

In July 2024, the province ended the COVID-19 public health emergency and lifted the related vaccine mandate, more than a year after the World Health Organization declared the global health emergency over in May 2023.

Nearly 2,500 health care workers in B.C. lost their jobs for refusing the COVID-19 vaccine during the pandemic. After the mandate was lifted, a union and employer association reached an agreement in July 2024 allowing these workers to return to their jobs, retaining their seniority and benefits.