School divisions pull thousands of face masks over quality control concerns

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This article was published 08/11/2020 (1513 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Manitoba schools have been asked to set aside thousands of medical face masks provided to them by the province, after wearers began reporting rashes, foul smells and other quality control issues.

Moments after putting on a mask from her Winnipeg school’s supply Oct. 22, Lori Morton said she felt “an itching sensation.”

“It was very uncomfortable. It made for a very long day, and you want to scratch — but you can’t because you’re not supposed to touch your mask,” said the educational assistant, recalling the last two weeks she’s been using face masks from a box she has since discovered is expired.

After both experiencing first-hand mask issues, which prompted Morton to start wearing a cloth mask underneath the medical ones provided by her employer, and hearing whisperings about quality control concerns in other sectors, she did some research into the matter.

She emailed the mask maker, Bio Nuclear Diagnostics Inc., over the weekend to inquire about the items. It turns out she wasn’t the only one to raise questions.

In an advisory note dated Nov. 9, Bio Nuclear president Surender Choudhry addressed concerns the company has received from Manitoba in recent days.

Choudhry wrote the recommended shelf-life of the medical earloop masks is three to five years from the date of manufacture, and “preliminary investigations” of numbers on boxes submitted by users with concerns in the province indicate the masks were not sold “within recent years” and are past expiry.

“In 2020, it is mandatory to have both the lot number (product identification number) and expiry date, this is listed at the bottom of all recent DIS-050B boxes,” he added.

On the box Morton has, there is no lot number.

In the last week alone, the Louis Riel School Division has pulled 26,000 masks out of circulation because division staff could not identify a lot number of the cases. Other divisions in the province have also taken action.

When asked about the concerns during a news conference Monday, Education Minister Kelvin Goertzen said divisions were asked to set aside the masks in question, after officials were made aware of problems over the weekend.

The department of central services, which oversees the purchasing and distribution of personal protective equipment, is looking into the matter, Goertzen said, adding: “They are investigating those masks to determine what challenges there are with them — if any.”

Since the start of the school year, the province has spent $1.5 million on face masks and shields that have been procured on behalf of schools.

Schools have been stocking extra masks in case a student or staff member forgets one, and more recently, with schools under the restricted (code orange) phase, are required to supply staff who interact with multiple cohorts with medical face coverings for an extra layer of protection.

Three complaints about the masks causing rashes were made to the Winnipeg School Division’s worker health and safety department before WSD received a provincial notice to pull the masks from circulation, spokeswoman Radean Carter said in a statement Monday.

Carter said the masks are temporarily being replaced with reusable cloth face coverings, as per public health instructions, until the division can get a new supply.

In the Pembina Trails School Division, spokeswoman Stacey Ashley said concerns about the masks prompted the division to halt their use and alert the province. On Monday afternoon, the division had already received 133 additional cases of replacement masks from the government. The province had initially supplied the division with 164 cases, each containing 2,000 face coverings.

Seven Oaks and River East Transcona school divisions confirmed they have pulled the masks and, at least for this week, have enough masks to meet the need. St. James-Assiniboia division did not respond to a request for comment before deadline Monday.

One Winnipeg teacher, who spoke to the Free Press on the condition of anonymity, said Monday she was “not even just angry, but furious” after learning the masks were being pulled.

“We were told by the government to wear these because they’d keep us safe, and they’d help keep our students safe, and we find out that they’ve given us old, expired gear,” she said.

maggie.macintosh@freepress.mb.ca

malak.abas@freepress.mb.ca