Manitoba premier spurns mask mandate calls as Children's Hospital buckles under respiratory virus strain

Manitoba's premier says the province isn't looking at bringing back rules around wearing masks, as a surge in kids with respiratory viruses clogs Winnipeg's Children's Hospital.

That spike in patients has led the Health Sciences Centre Children's Hospital to ask staff to work extra shifts and open contingency areas to handle more patients, the organization that oversees health-care delivery in Manitoba says.

The hospital is also offering overtime and pulling staff from other areas to work in its over-capacity pediatric intensive care unit, or PICU, a Shared Health spokesperson said in an email on Thursday.

Eleven kids were sick enough to have ended up in that unit on Thursday afternoon. That's two patients above the PICU's baseline capacity of nine staffed beds, though the spokesperson said the unit has regularly had to expand beyond that capacity since spring.

Premier Heather Stefanson said telling people to start wearing a mask again isn't where the province is focused this flu season.

"We've been out talking about getting vaccinated and getting flu shots," Stefanson said at a news conference about adding health-care professionals to the public system.

"For right now, we're not looking at any mask mandates."

The crowded emergency department has led to long waits for families like Star Spence's.

Spence said they've been in the hospital for a week with her six-year-old daughter, Clare, who she said has a cyst on her pancreas.

When they got to the emergency room last Thursday evening, Spence said they ended up waiting between four and five hours to get into a room and about 24 hours before they were admitted to a ward.

"There were a lot of sick, crying babies," Spence said.

"They started only allowing one parent with each child in the waiting room and the other parent would have to wait either outside or out of the hospital until the child was called into the room."

Respiratory illnesses spreading 'like wildfire': doctor

Federal Chief Public Health Officer Dr. Theresa Tam is among those calling for people to start wearing masks again as hospitals nationwide cope with a surge of respiratory viruses.

So is Winnipeg emergency room physician Dr. Doug Eyolfson, who said the need for mask mandates is especially clear after the medical director of the city's children's hospital's emergency department said it has reached the point of crisis.

"It basically means that lives are in danger," said Eyolfson, who does not work at Children's Hospital.

Virologist Julie Lajoie has also called for the return of rules around wearing masks in Manitoba. She said taking steps like staying home when you're sick, getting up-to-date on COVID-19 and flu shots and improving ventilation are also important.

And while people can choose to wear masks on their own, Lajoie said she hopes to see the province reintroduce rules around mask wearing.

"If we talk about recommendation, it's better than nothing. But we also have seen in the past that only recommending it's not enough — it's not strong enough," she said.

Dr. Marni Hanna, president of the Manitoba Pediatrics Society, said whether or not official mask rules return, it's common sense that covering your face helps reduce transmission of respiratory illnesses.

"Honestly, we shouldn't have to wait for the government to tell us to do that. It helps," Hanna said.

"There's multiple viruses going around right now and they're spreading like wildfire.… This is the worst that we've seen in the last three years."

The busy emergency department at Children's Hospital is being propelled by a spike in the number of kids with respiratory illnesses — including influenza and RSV, or respiratory syncytial virus — showing up to emergency over the last two weeks, Shared Health said.

This month's daily patient total is already up 23 per cent from last month, and up 45 per cent from this time last year, the organization's spokesperson said.

Care teams are also seeing kids with more than one respiratory virus at the same time. And the sickest kids now make up an increasing proportion of those in emergency, which interrupts normal patient flow because they need more care for longer, the spokesperson said.

Better leadership needed: ER doc

The province didn't make Chief Provincial Public Health Officer Dr. Brent Roussin or Dr. Jazz Atwal, deputy chief provincial public health officer, available for an interview about the surge in respiratory viruses on Thursday.

When asked if there's anything the province can do to help the strained Children's Hospital, Health Minister Audrey Gordon pointed to the province's RSV prophylaxis program, which aims to protect babies and toddlers at risk of getting sickest and was started early this year.

She added that it's also important to wash your hands and wear a mask if you're sick.

For Eyolfson, the province's responses don't seem sufficient considering the circumstances.

"It's appalling," said Eyolfson, who was previously a Liberal MP. "I think we need leadership now that this is getting worse, and that leadership doesn't appear to be there."