Surrey woman with autoimmune disorder feels trapped in home without mask policy
Posted December 7, 2020 11:44 am.
Last Updated December 7, 2020 11:58 am.
SURREY (NEWS 1130) — Dorit Dopson is afraid to leave her home because of COVID-19 and confusion over mask policies in apartments and condo buildings.
The 71-year-old South Surrey senior has an autoimmune disorder, and was relieved when Provincial Health Officer Dr. Bonnie Henry made masks mandatory in some indoor public spaces last month. Signs went up around her building and people started wearing masks.
MIXED MESSAGES ON THE MASK MANDATE: South Surrey senior Dorit Dopson feels like a prisoner in her own home. The signs for mandatory masks in her building have come down, with masks in common areas only “recommended” — she wants province to end the murkiness. Listen @NEWS1130 pic.twitter.com/R6clxlvHbJ
— Martin MacMahon (@martinmacmahon) December 7, 2020
Dopson says she felt comfortable moving through the building’s hallways and going outside for her daily walk during that time.
Now, she says she’s extremely disappointed and frustrated that what many believed was a mandatory order, was never enforceable.
“It’s a situation that I’m really uncomfortable with,” Dopson says. “I don’t know what one person can do to make a point, but hopefully, I can make a point that I look very healthy. If you look at me, you wouldn’t say ‘Oh wow there’s somebody that’s sick.’ I’m not sick, I have a condition that I manage with medicine, but again, I’m compromised.”
MLA Spencer Chandra Herbert tweeted the day after Henry’s announcement that he had verified with the Ministry of Health that the order applied to apartments and condos.
On November 19, provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry issued her mask mandate. The following day, MLA Spencer Chandra Herbert, Tweeted this. That same day (Nov. 20), Landlord BC sent out a news release informing its members that masks in common areas were mandatory. pic.twitter.com/zXq8EQaJYR
— Martin MacMahon (@martinmacmahon) December 7, 2020
But when a written advisory from the province came out, it said masks were only recommended and the signs around her building came down.
But when the written advisory came out the following week, the language wasn’t as definitive, with masks only “recommended.” As a result, the signs in Ms. Dopson’s building have been taken down. She has an autoimmune disorder and now feels uncomfortable in her own building. pic.twitter.com/fSkFvUUV56
— Martin MacMahon (@martinmacmahon) December 7, 2020
“And they’re suggesting we wear masks, but, of course, as everywhere right now, it’s not something that everybody wants to do,” Dopson says. “So I pretty much feel like I’m imprisoned in my home, waiting for somebody to resurrect the order that I thought was there.”
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Dopson wants the province to actually make masks mandatory in common areas of buildings like hers. In the meantime, she is asking everyone to wear a mask, regardless of what the rules are.
“I think for the people who are on the fence about this … when they see these changes back and forth, back and forth, it almost encourages them to say, ‘Well yeah, when they said it then it wasn’t necessary, so why do you think I have to do it?’
“I think we need a policy and we need to stick to it,” she says.
Henry is set to update the current provincial health order Monday afternoon when she will extend or lift current restrictions.