Mandatory Face Masks Are Back in Bay Area Hospital Due to COVID-19 Outbreak

Following a significant COVID-19 outbreak, both physicians and staff in one of the largest hospitals in the Bay Area are back to masking up.

Face Masks Are Back

Forbes reports that this is the case at the Kaiser Permanente Santa Rosa Medical Center; specifically, Over a dozen out of 3,500 staff members and certain patients had positive COVID-19 tests. As a response, both staff and physicians were immediately required to wear face masks while offering direct care to patients. They also need visitors to do the same as they enter and stay within the hospital premises.

As per ABC 7 News, Kaiser will monitor and follow relevant local, state, and federal regulations regarding face masks and other interventions.

Though rising case numbers were observed in this hospital, the COVID-19 community level across Sonoma County, where the hospital is situated, will still retain its low rating, the Press Democrat reports.

Moreover, according to Dr. Kismet Baldwin, who serves as the county's interim health officer, public health staff no longer depend on case rates to gauge COVID-19 in the community. This is due to the decreasing number of individuals who undergo testing for the virus.

The Press Democrat adds that officials closely conduct tests on wastewater rather than depending on tests and monitor variants, hospitalization cases, and deaths. Doing so helps them evaluate the severity and level of the virus.

Loosening Regulations

Earlier this month, face masks were no longer required across California but still recommended for patients, visitors, members, and staff across healthcare institutes. Kaiser has followed such recommendations and has an infection control system in case of an outbreak.

KQED also adds that healthcare professionals are no longer required to get vaccinated on top of such loosening face mask regulations. Such changes cover professionals who work directly with patients and in facilities for adult care. It also covers those in detention and correctional facilities.

These loose regulations still came amidst advice from physicians and disability advocates to retain such regulations to protect the vulnerable. Nevertheless, officials held that California, generally, is strong enough to have these loose restrictions at hand.

While this is the case state-level, counties may still implement public health restrictions. In some counties across the Bay Area, such as Alameda and Contra Costa, face masks are still required in areas that are considered high-risk, such as nursing centers.

COVID-19 Update

As per the World Health Organization, more than 2.8 million new cases and nearly 18,000 deaths were reported in four weeks, from March 20 to April 16, 2023. This is a 27% and 32% respective decrease compared to the prior four weeks (February 20 to March 19, 2023). However, in contrast to the general trend, there were heightened cases and death reports across certain countries and regions.

WHO also adds that as of April 16, there had been more than 763 million confirmed cases and more than 6.9 million reported deaths.

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