In January, New York City once again began enforcing a mask mandate for the city's 11 public hospitals and at least 30 other health centers and five long-term care facilities.
Similar measures were also ordered at some hospitals in other locations. These other hospitals have reinforced masking rules for employees months ago as they anticipated a seasonal rush of sick people.
On Jan. 3, the New York City Health Department confirmed that the mask requirement applies to all 11 hospitals that fall under New York City's Health and Hospitals division. (Related: COVID-19 mask mandates RETURN in U.S. hospitals amid spread of JN.1 variant.)
Due to reported increases in respiratory viruses, a spokesperson said the mandate "applies to clinical settings such as our hospitals, community health centers and nursing homes."
On Jan. 2, the Rush University Medical Center in Chicago announced that all patients, visitors and staff must wear "hospital-approved masks in some areas of the campus." The places also included clinical waiting areas and patient registration.
Cook County Health, the health department that encompasses Chicago, along with the Endeavor Health Medical Group of Illinois, are also requiring face masks at their facilities.
Meanwhile, the Illinois Department of Public Health has also sent hospitals a letter suggesting they reimpose masking.
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In a statement, Berkshire Health Systems in Massachusetts confirmed that it started mandatory masking earlier.
Los Angeles County has also reinstated masking at all licensed healthcare facilities. The county explained that masking was implemented because its COVID-19 admission level has "reached a certain threshold in recent days."
Hospitals started reimposing mask mandates late last year
Hospitals in Wisconsin, North Carolina and Washington state have imposed similar mask requirements, according to reports.
Last Dec. 28, TidalHealth in Delaware announced that it will be requiring masks for all hospital visitors in patients' rooms. The hospital claimed that it enforced the rule to "protect the most vulnerable" of the population from close contact with others who may be contagious but have not yet shown any symptoms.
Several California counties across the Bay Area already imposed mask mandates for staff late in 2023.
The order started in November and will continue until the end of spring because of a "predicted rise in respiratory illnesses," announced officials.
While talking to reporters, Dr. Mandy Cohen, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), announced that the agency has observed an acceleration in flu cases in the first week of January.
Cohen added that while the current influenza strain spreads rapidly, it doesn't cause as many hospitalizations or deaths as previous variants.
Dr. William Schaffner, an infectious diseases researcher at Vanderbilt University, thinks that the cases won't be overwhelming and that the current season is "moderately severe."
However, historical CDC trends suggest that the current increase in COVID-19 cases is nothing like the reported "surges" that occurred during the pandemic years of 2020, 2021 and 2022.
According to the CDC data for the week ending Dec. 23, 2023, there were about 29,000 hospitalizations across the United States. Meanwhile, for the week ending a year before that, on Dec. 24, there were an estimated 39,000 hospitalizations.
In another update, the CDC also reported that there were more than 14,700 flu hospitalizations in that same period last month.
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Watch the video below for more information about the return of COVID-19 mask mandates in hospitals across the U.S.
This video is from the Diane Sosen channel on Brighteon.com.
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New Jersey hospitals bring back MASK MANDATES despite DECLINE in COVID-19 hospitalizations.
BMJ review reveals mask mandates in schools harm children and don’t prevent infections.
Florida surgeon general tells Americans to NOT cooperate with mask mandates.
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