Mandatory Masking to End in Alberta Hospitals, Health-Care Facilities

Respiratory therapist Flor Guevara repositions a patient suffering from COVID-19, with the help of other health-care workers, at Humber River Hospital's intensive care unit in Toronto on April 29, 2021. Cole Burston/AFP via Getty Images

After more than three years of mandatory continuous masking in Alberta hospitals, long-term care facilities, labs, and other health-related government-managed sites, Alberta Health Services (AHS) has rescinded the requirement.

The decision to end masking was announced on June 15, with AHS stating that as of June 19, continuous masking will no longer be required at AHS facilities, including Continuing Care and contracted sites.

Patients, families, visitors, and staff, including doctors, midwives, students, volunteers, and contractors, will no longer be required to wear a mask. This brings an end to one of the last remaining, longest-standing COVID-related restrictions in place in the province.

“The decision to rescind the current requirement for continuous masking was made based on a number of factors, including declining COVID-19 cases, testing positivity rate, wastewater data and hospital admission rates for respiratory illnesses in Alberta,” said AHS.

The agency said it had consulted with stakeholders including patients, families, advisory councils, clinicians, and frontline managers in making the decision. AHS said those who want to voluntarily wear a mask can continue to do so. It’s also encouraging staff to stay home when ill, “as always,” and to continue practising good hand hygiene.

The decision to rescind continuous masking follows an earlier decision in March that made masks optional for health-care workers in areas not accessible to patients, although masking was still required for all visitors, staff, doctors, and volunteers in spaces where they may come into contact with patients.

AHS had also ended the COVID-19 front-door screening program effective April 1, so that visitors would no longer be greeted by screeners asking health questions at the entrances of AHS hospitals and other sites.

A red (COVID-19-positive) intensive care unit is shown at the Health Sciences Centre in Winnipeg on Dec. 8, 2020. The Canadian Press/Mikaela MacKenzie

Dr. Noel Gibney, professor emeritus at the University of Alberta in critical care medicine, said at the time that the gradual changes were reasonable. “If you look back at where we were, that’s really a very different place,” he said, noting hospitalizations attributed to COVID had dropped significantly. Albertans have “moved on,” he told CBC in early April.

The president of the United Nurses of Alberta union, Heather Smith, said health-care workers have “mask fatigue” after three years of continuous use.

“For some, I think that there is a level of fatigue and they welcome [the change], particularly if their point of care assessment would say they are not at risk and their patients are not at risk,” she told CBC on June 15.

Personal Choice

Alberta is behind other provinces, including British Columbia, Manitoba, and Saskatchewan, which had already lifted certain masking requirements in health-care facilities in recent months, according to CBC, noting that masking rules have been left to individual hospitals in Quebec and Ontario.

In a statement, Alberta’s new health minister, Adriana LaGrange, said the government supports the move.

“Albertans are ready to move forward, and Alberta’s government supports AHS returning to pre-pandemic policies when it comes to masking,” she said in a statement.

AHS, in its June 15 news release, says that anyone with symptoms of respiratory illness should wait 10 days after symptom onset before visiting loved ones.

“Staff are required to continue to use the Infection Prevention and Control Risk Assessment to make personal protective equipment (PPE) decisions and AHS Routine Practices to prevent the spread of infections,” said the news release.

The agency said masks and PPE equipment will continue to be available in all settings for both patients and health-care workers.

AHS prepared an FAQ page, dated June 16, to accompany the policy change. It notes that continuous masking will be required when directed by “an outbreak protocol” or if a staff member is attending work with COVID symptoms or a positive COVID test.

“AHS continues to respect the choice to voluntarily wear a mask in all areas and encourages those who want to wear a mask to continue to wear one,” said the FAQ.

One of the FAQ questions asks what a health-care provider should do if a patient requests that a mask be worn. According to AHS, “health-care providers are asked to mask when requested by patients to do so.”

A poster put out by AHS says that patients and visitors are “entitled to request that your health-care team wear a mask.”

The FAQ advises staff to discuss with their managers if an issue arises. AHS also has advice if there are different beliefs about masking within a team.

“Having a difference of opinion is a normal and expected part of working together, and each of us has personal values and beliefs that influence how we act and respond to situations,” it said.