Mask requirements are ending in some medical facilities.

Masks come off in the last refuge for mandates: The doctor’s office Some infectious-disease specialists have concluded that universal masking is no longer essential in medical settings, a stark return to pre-covid life. Fenit Nirappil Washington Post

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With the era of government-mandated masking at restaurants, grocery stores and schools long gone, hospitals and doctors’ offices were the last to carry the most visible reminders of the three-year-old pandemic. But regulators and some infectious-disease specialists have concluded that universal masking is no longer essential in medical settings, prompting one of the starkest returns to pre-covid life.

Oregon, Washington and California were among the last states to lift such requirements in April, with Massachusetts set to follow when the state and federal public health emergency ends May 11.

The rollback of restrictions has had consequences: After a recent covid outbreak at a Kaiser Permanente hospital in northern California, the Santa Rosa facility restored its mask mandate on April 21, nearly three weeks after lifting it.

Some medical experts say it’s prudent to keep mask mandates in hospitals to control the spread of all respiratory viruses, including coronavirus.

Patient safety advocates say the federal government has abdicated its role in pressuring hospitals to contain the spread of the coronavirus in their facilities by failing to publicize or penalize those with high levels of patients infected during their stays.

The federal government does not require hospitals to report coronavirus infections acquired within those facilities as they do with other bugs like MRSA. Nor does it release data tracking coronavirus transmission within individual hospitals from those that do disclose that information.

And the public will have less information about the prevalence of the coronavirus in communities after the public health emergency ends May 11 and some data about covid-19 is no longer reported to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Kristen Nordlund, a CDC spokeswoman, said the agency plans to update its infection prevention and control guidance after the public health emergency ends “to ensure safeguards stay in place to protect staff, patients and visitors in health-care facilities.” She said masking is still recommended when facilities have outbreaks or when communities have elevated transmission of respiratory viruses.

Patients who face heightened risks for severe complications from covid-19 say they feel unsafe as they sit in waiting rooms packed with sick people and are treated by unmasked staff. Some wonder why people should ever unmask in medical environments when face coverings were effective in containing the spread of all respiratory viruses, including RSV and influenza.

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