Council of Chief Medical Officers of Health
The Council of Chief Medical Officers of Health (CCMOH) is a Canadian advisory body housed within the Pan-Canadian Public Health Network.1)
History
COVID-19
On April 7, 2020, the Council of Chief Medical Officers of Health issued a formal statement emphasizing the need to reserve “medical masks, including surgical, medical procedure masks and respirators such as N95 masks” for healthcare workers, and suggested that members of the general public could wear a “cloth mask or face covering” in order to “prevent your respiratory droplets from contaminating others or landing on surfaces.” However, the statement also cautioned that wearing a non-medical mask “has not been proven to protect the person wearing it,” and “will not prevent COVID-19 spread without consistent and strict adherence to good hygiene and public health measures, including frequent handwashing and physical distancing.”2)
1)
About the Pan-Canadian Public Health Network. (2022, May 10). Pan-Canadian Public Health Network. http://archive.today/2022.06.01-074003/https://www.phn-rsp.ca/en/about/index.html%23a4
2)
Public Health Agency of Canada. (2020, April 6). Council of Chief Medical Officers of Health Communication: Use of Non-Medical Masks (or Facial Coverings) by the Public. Government of Canada. https://www.canada.ca/en/public-health/news/2020/04/ccmoh-communication-use-of-non-medical-masks-or-facial-coverings-by-the-public.html