Daycare masks not up to standard
Distribution of new face coverings already underway
Workers in provincial daycares have been using masks deemed inefficient by Quebec's workplace health and safety authority (CNESST), and have been doing so for months.
Quebec's family ministry issued a notice to daycares on Tuesday ordering them to immediately stop using MC9501 masks, since they do not meet one of the criteria established by the Institut de recherche Robert- Sauvé en santé et en sécurité du travail (IRSST).
The issue is the mask's filtration capability, which is less than 100 per cent.
Workers were issued the masks between May and November.
The ministry said it issued the order the same day it was informed of the problem by the CNESST.
“As soon as we were made aware, we acted immediately. The health and safety of our network's personnel is our priority,” Family Minister Mathieu Lacombe said Wednesday.
Thanks to a “series of circumstances,” the ministry had already ordered new masks, which conform to the required standards.
“We were working with the supply of masks we had at the start of the pandemic and knew that stock would run out. We had to order new ones,” said Lacombe.
The new masks are already being distributed to the daycares, or will be in the coming days.
Lacombe stressed that the situation in daycares was “exceptional” because only 951 COVID-19 cases had been detected since March 13.
“Things are going well in our daycares. When we look at the results, we see that the protection measures are efficient even if in this case we're being told by the CNESST to use a better mask,” he said.