Do masks symbolize sickness or protection?
Posted Dec 9, 2022 7:56 pm.
Last Updated Dec 9, 2022 8:01 pm.
Alberta pediatricians like Dr. Tehseen Ladha say Canada is going through a bad sickness spell, and Alberta has been hit the worst.
To help prevent the spread of viral illnesses, pediatricians in the province, represented by the Alberta Medical Association (AMA), have written a letter to the government.
Ladha, who is also an executive member of the AMA’s Section of Pediatrics, says they have requested the government a number of mitigations, including vaccine awareness and masks.
“We have requested a temporary mask requirement in schools for teachers and children, and this is because children spend most of their time in schools. This is where a lot of viral transmissions [are] occurring, and we know that masks work.”
Psychologists like Dr. Brent Macdonald say in times like these, the government is only adding to people’s confusion to mask or not to mask.
“We have a provincial government in Alberta here who’s saying, we’re going to mandate this so that no school can mandate a mask. I don’t know if I should be wearing a mask sometimes or not because the virus is still out there,” Macdonald said.
“[Masking] does become a bit of a statement of value … it’s not a symbol, but it is a representation perhaps of people’s values of health, safety, community.”
It has been seen in Alberta that some people are wearing masks while they are sick, while others are wearing masks to protect themselves from all the viruses around. CityNews asked a couple of Calgarians what they think the mask symbolizes nowadays.
Susan Mott says, “Some people are wearing masks because they are sick and have low immunity. Others are just afraid. I think the pandemic made everybody nervous.”
Gary Howels says, “When I see people wearing masks, I think they’re doing it for their own protection. And I think it’s their individual choice.”
Ladha believes masks have become a symbol of the pandemic and what we lost during the pandemic.
She says that rather than looking at masks as this big symbol, we have to remember they’re simply a public health tool.
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Health officials said Alberta Children’s Hospital in Calgary and the Stollery Children’s Hospital in Edmonton were still operating Thursday at about 100 per cent of their normal capacity, which they have been at or above for most of November and into December.
AHS set up a heated trailer outside the emergency department at the Calgary pediatric hospital last month to help with crowding and frigid weather conditions.
In addition, it also redeployed about 65 full and part-time staff to the hospital earlier this month from Rotary Flames House, a facility that provides respite care for chronically and terminally ill children, as well as five of its outpatient clinics.
-With files from The Canadian Press
