The pivot from pandemic-era mandatory masking in healthcare settings to optional masking — even for healthcare staff in most cases — has become a difficult situation for vulnerable, high-risk and immunocompromised patients to navigate.
A May 1 article in The Washington Post describes how some patients are now faced with the prospect of needing to access critical care services, but perhaps risking their own health in the process if masks are no longer required for other patients or staff.
Nationwide, several healthcare facilities and systems began walking back their mask policies right around the time the Biden administration announced the end of the public health emergency would come May 11. In the months since, dozens of others have followed suit.
According to the Post, when facilities began to reverse their policies on masking, Jenna James, a Montana resident who has several chronic conditions, had called ahead to one facility asking if its staff had masks on hand she could request them to use when seeing her for her safety. She was told they may not have any. In another instance, a nurse took longer than 10 minutes to find and put on a mask at Ms. James' request. At another appointment, a staff member coughed while she was in the waiting room and a few days later, Ms. James tested positive for COVID-19. She told the Post she constantly feels like she has to choose between medical care and risking exposure to coronavirus.
As mask reversals have increasingly become the new normal again, a Kaiser Permanente facility in Santa Rosa, Calif., recently had a COVID-19 outbreak and reinstated its mask mandates as a result.
Another high-risk patient, Christina Connerton, echoed Ms. James' concerns and told the Post, "Rather than go back to 2019, this should be our new normal," in order to protect patients like her and others who need care and don't wish to become even sicker trying to access it.