A B.C. professor says he found comments made by the premier on Monday 鈥渜uite startling and disappointing.鈥�
Scott Lear, a health science professor at SFU, said that Monday鈥檚 press conference speaks to both how important proper messaging is and reveals how B.C.鈥檚 leadership is still not understanding how to communicate with the population.
Lear said the press conference, where officials unveiled a series of new restrictions, saw 鈥渁 lot of talking but not a heck of a lot said.鈥�
Premier John Horgan placed the blame for a recent spike in COVID-19 cases squarely on the shoulders of millennials.
鈥淭he cohort from 20 to 39 are not paying as much attention to these broadcasts and, quite frankly, are putting the rest of us in a challenging situation,鈥� Horgan said.
鈥淚鈥檓 asking, I鈥檓 appealing to young people to curtail your social activity.鈥�
Horgan then continued with: 鈥淢y appeal to you is do not blow this for the rest of us. Do not blow this for your parents and your neighbours and others who have been working really, really hard, making significant sacrifices so we can get good outcomes for everybody.鈥�
Lear, who is also the Pfizer/Heart and Stroke Foundation Chair in Cardiovascular Prevention Research at St. Paul鈥檚 Hospital, said the comment came across as tone deaf.
鈥淥n what planet would that actually work?鈥� he asked
鈥淪ure, there are people, young adults in that age group, who may be skirting the message guidelines鈥�. that鈥檚 also prevalent in all age groups, as well. We just don鈥檛 hear hear about it as much.鈥�
And for many other young people, Lear said, the reality is that they鈥檙e not able to simply stay home.
鈥淭hey鈥檙e also the people who are in jobs that have very little financial stability, they鈥檙e in jobs that have actually been keeping the service industry and the economy afloat during this pandemic.鈥�
Many of these jobs do not have paid sick leave and younger people, who are less likely to show serious or easily identifiable COVID symptoms, are forced to make a choice between staying home and getting a paycheque.
And even those who can stay home may be making difficult choices about whether or not to send their kids to child care or school, increasing the chances that they鈥檒l expose their entire household to COVID.
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That approach, Lear said, doesn鈥檛 end with the premier. He pointed to a self-care bingo card released in February that featured activities like making blanket forts, dancing and for the free spot, crying.
鈥淎ll of those things are good for self care and it probably would have been great for the communications department to put that out maybe early on in the pandemic last year, when people were sad,鈥� he said.
鈥淏ut after (so long), people are contemplating suicide, we鈥檝e seen opioid poisonings go up. The province doesn鈥檛 support counselling as part of provincial health care and building a blanket fort is not going to help those people who鈥檝e been dealing with mental health challenges for 10 months.鈥�
Lear said he understands the premier鈥檚 frustration but that comments like those made Monday don鈥檛 help, but rather continue to miss the very group Horgan is targeting: young people who don鈥檛 listen to COVID briefings that happen while they鈥檙e likely at work.
The press conference also revealed, Lear said, another reason why pandemic fatigue is only growing. Although Horgan prefaced his diatribe with a statement saying 鈥渢he directions from Dr. Henry will be quite clear,鈥� they were not always so. While the closure of indoor dining, indoor group fitness and indoor church services was clear 鈥� although not foreseen by those industries 鈥� new guidance around masking were not.
鈥淲e are going to be updating our K-12 public health guidance to support mask wearing for all students down to Grade 4 in schools across the province,鈥� provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry said Monday.
鈥淲e know that this needs to be done in a way that supports children to wear masks at all time when they鈥檙e in school settings and to make sure that we are doing that in a way that is positive and supportive for children.鈥�
The provincial government website did not provide additional information, saying only that 鈥減ublic health guidance for schools has also been amended to support and encourage students down to Grade 4 to wear masks while at school.鈥�
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More than 24 hours later, the province had yet to clarify whether Henry鈥檚 comments were guidance or an order. However, the B.C. Teachers鈥� Federation, which has been pushing for increased mask wearing in B.C., called the new mask guidelines a mandate.
鈥淒espite some vague wording, we have been assured by the Ministry of Education that today鈥檚 announcement equates to a province-wide expansion of the orders that were introduced in Surrey over the weekend,鈥� said president Teri Mooring. 鈥淥ur sincere thanks go out to the many teachers and parents who have advocated tirelessly to get this safety measure in place as an added layer of protection for teachers and students.鈥�
Lear said the press conference left him confused.
鈥淚s that a public order, or just saying we really, really, really want you to wear masks?鈥� he said. Prior to Henry鈥檚 announcement, school kids in Surrey were the only ones who had to wear a mask at all times, except for when eating or if they had a disability that prevented them from doing so. In the rest of the province, middle and high school students had to wear masks except for three scenarios: when students are at their own desk or workstation, when they are eating or drinking and when there is a plexiglass barrier between them.
鈥淭he way (the change) comes across is not like, we鈥檝e always believed masks to be an important layer and ow we think it鈥檚 the time that everybody wears masks,鈥� Lear said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 more like months or weeks of actually being against mandatory mask use, and then all of a sudden, changing.鈥�
That, Lear said, just contributes to pandemic fatigue, reflected in flippant comments being posted online.
鈥淧eople ask, okay, so masks weren鈥檛 protected for us before, but they are now? Before it was fine to go out to restaurants and now it鈥檚 not?鈥� Lear said.
鈥淎nd some of that most likely is based on where they鈥檙e seeing transmissions. But again, they鈥檙e not communicating that.鈥�
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