Ottawa orders 13 million non-medical cloth masks

The federal government has quietly issued a tender for 13.5 million non-medical cloth masks, coming almost full circle on the thorny issue of face coverings for the public to combat the spread of COVID19.

The order would produce enough masks to equip one in every three Canadians, plus some, though it’s unclear exactly who would receive them or how they’d be distributed.

The tender issued by Public Services and Procurement Canada says the masks are not for health-care workers but for other employees whose work may lead to “inadvertent exposure to this virus.”

The coverings should be washable and allow people to breathe comfortably for as much as 12 hours at a time, whether at a desk or doing “heavy exertion” such as delivering letters, says the document.

“These cloth masks will be purchased as part of our overall pandemic preparedness plans, and may be used in a variety of organizations and settings,” said PSPC spokeswoman Stéfanie Hamel.

Early in the pandemic, the Public Health Agency of Canada and other federal officials actually discouraged mask use by ordinary Canadians who were not sick, saying it might actually prompt people to touch their faces excessively.

But Dr. Theresa Tam, the country’s chief public health officer, has more recently recommended face coverings when people are outside their homes and physical distancing is not possible.

Meanwhile, there’s increasing evidence that near-universal mask use could do much to contain the virus as lockdowns are eased.

Still, relatively few jurisdictions in Canada have made the practice mandatory, unlike in several other countries worldwide.

A mass federal purchase of non-medical masks sounds like an “excellent” idea, said Dr. Jennifer Kwan, an Ontario family physician who has been championing wider mask use.

“It’s a low-cost, low-risk intervention. As opposed to lockdowns, which are extremely detrimental, especially for a prolonged period,” she said Monday.