Hospitals, physician offices drop mask mandates

In recent months, states and local health agencies have rolled back masking requirements as COVID-19 hospitalizations and deaths continue to fall to near lows. Similarly, CDC in September said widespread masking was no longer required since viral transmission declined.

According to the Wall Street Journal, many hospitals and clinics, which were "some of the last bastions requiring masks and Covid-19 tests," are now following suit and ending their own mandates.

"I felt like it was time," said Christi Siedlecki, a nurse and CEO of Grants Pass Clinic in Oregon. Under the clinic's new policy, patients and staff members are no longer required to wear masks unless they have symptoms of an illness.

Suzanne Nuss, CNO at Nebraska Medicine, said leaders at her organization also recently decided to end its mask policy based on a reduced level of local infections, as well as requests from patients after other nearby hospitals and clinics ended theirs. So far, neither staff nor in-house patient infections have increased after the mandate ended.

The debate over mask mandate rollbacks

Some physicians have pushed back on hospitals ending mask mandates, arguing that it is necessary to protect vulnerable patients, including the elderly and those who are immunocompromised, from infectious diseases.

"We are putting patients at risk," said James Lawler, an infectious disease specialist at the Global Center for Health Security at the University of Nebraska Medical Center.

Some physicians also point out that there is little information on how to proceed safely and that more research on healthcare protections is needed. "It's kind of like flying blind," said Theodore Pak, a physician and infectious disease researcher at Mass General Brigham.

Some patients, including many who have chronic conditions or other illnesses that put them at a higher risk of severe infection, have also expressed concerns about hospitals ending their mask mandates.

"I literally have to choose between lifesaving medical care and exposure to covid, which really isn't a choice," said Jenna James, a 42-year-old woman who has long COVID and other chronic conditions. "It's a high-risk situation being forced on me with little to no ability to consent."

Some patients feel masking should always be required in healthcare environments since they can effectively reduce the spread of all respiratory viruses.

"Rather than go back to 2019, this should be our new normal," said Christina Connerton, who has several health conditions, including POTS and MCAS. "You should mask in health-care facilities in order to protect everybody who enters. To me, it's more like you should always wash your hands before surgery."

However, some health experts have pointed out potential downsides to making mask requirements permanent, including hindering communication between providers and patients.

"We are dealing with sick patients, and the inability to emote and show empathy in our facial expressions is an underappreciated negative part of masking all the time," said Karen Brust, a hospital epidemiologist for the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics.

"When you are in covid surges, then the benefits of masking probably outweighs the risks of disparities, but during times of low transmission, maybe not," said Tania Bubb, president-elect of the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology.

According to Erica Shenoy, medical director for infection control at Mass General Brigham, there are still ways to protect high-risk patients from COVID-19 and other infections without permanent mask mandates. Some of these include more targeted or widespread masking during outbreaks of respiratory viruses.

"It's really imperative within the infection control community that we are accurately conveying risks, and I think at this point the risk is very, very low," Shenoy said. (Evans, Wall Street Journal, 5/21; Nirappil, Washington Post, 5/1)

The  World Health Organization (WHO) officially declared an end to the global COVID-19 public health emergency more than three years after it was first announced. However, experts note that countries should remain vigilant for new viral threats. Read the full story below.