Boston-based Partners HealthCare will require employees to wear face masks continuously at work amid the fight against COVID-19, The Boston Globe reported.
The policy covers employees at facilities that provide patient care, including Brigham and Women's Hospital, Massachusetts Eye and Ear and Massachusetts General Hospital. It includes medical workers, administrators and support staff.
Paul Biddinger, MD, chief of emergency preparedness for Massachusetts General and Partners, told the Globe the decision was "based on our recognition that there is widespread community transmission of COVID-19, as well as our recognition that there is significant asymptomatic spread — in other words, COVID-19 can be spread by people who don't feel ill at all."
He added that the policy aims to protect healthcare workers from contracting COVID-19 and prevent furloughs.
The policy takes effect across Partners facilities on March 25, but it began March 22 at Massachusetts General, which treated the first COVID-19 patient in Massachusetts to die of the illness, according to the Globe.
Read the full report here.