Three California counties have announced new masking requirements for healthcare facilities as the possible return to widespread masking mandates continues.
Earlier this week, the California Counties of Contra Costa, Sonoma and San Mateo issued mask requirements for healthcare facilities located within their counties amid concern over increasing COVID-19 cases.
“This Order requires all personnel in Patient Care Areas of Health Care Delivery Facilities to wear a Face Mask during the period deemed the Designated Winter Respiratory Virus Period by the Health Officer, with limited exemptions,” the San Mateo County Health Department said in a press release on Tuesday.
Contra Costa County and the Sonoma County Department of Health Services also issued similar announcements, requiring mask-wearing for healthcare personnel beginning on November 1. A spokesperson for the Contra Costa County Health Department told Newsweek that the mask mandate is only for staff members at these medical care centers and will not apply to visitors or patients.
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“Each year we see that higher rates of influenza, COVID-19 and other respiratory viruses that can cause severe respiratory infections occur annually between late fall and spring,” Dr. Karen Smith, Sonoma County’s Health Officer, said in a press release announcing the new mask requirement.
Over the past few weeks, there has been ongoing discussion regarding the possible return to mask mandates, as some hospitals across the U.S. have seen a slight increase in new COVID-19 cases.
On Tuesday, Newsweek reported on the different U.S. counties that are currently seeing a slight rise in new COVID-19 hospitalizations.
“Overall, COVID-19 hospital admissions remain low, with 20,538 new COVID-19 hospital admissions nationally for the week of September 3 through September 9, 2023, compared to 19,068 hospital admissions the previous week. This represents a 7.71 percent increase in new COVID-19 hospital admissions from the previous week,” a spokesperson for the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) told Newsweek on Tuesday.
“For comparison, nationally, new hospital admissions during the week of September 4 through September 10, 2022, were over 31,000. The U.S. has experienced increases in COVID-19 during the last three summers, so it’s not surprising to see an uptick,” the spokesperson added.
In New York, the United Health Services medical system, the Auburn Community Hospital and Upstate Medical’s hospitals have previously announced the return to masking requirements for staff, visitors and patients.
On the other hand, governors in Arkansas, Texas, Mississippi, Florida, Oklahoma, South Carolina and Utah have already announced that their states will not return to any sort of masking requirement in the coming months.
Former President Donald Trump has also railed against mask mandates recently saying “To every covid tyrant who wants to take away our freedom, hear these words: we will not comply, so don’t even think about it. We will not shut down our schools; we will not accept your lockdowns; we will not abide by your mask mandates; and we will not tolerate your vaccine mandates.”
The San Mateo County directed Newsweek to an announcement from health officer Dr. Kismet Baldwin-Santana who said, “Well-fitted masks worn by health care personnel reduce both the risk of infection for these workers and the risk of transmitting respiratory viruses to patients and residents.”
Sonoma County directed Newsweek to the health order announced this week.