Unmasking in Hospitals

As COVID has progressed, hospitals and medical offices have been the last refuge for immunocompromised and elderly people.  Unfortunately, this is no longer the case, as public health researcher Abdullah Shihipar writes in his opinion column titled "The unconscionable move many hospitals are making."

Here's an excerpt:

"There’s no question that masks are annoying and add to hospitals’ costs, but that in no way justifies adopting policies that could endanger the very populations health care centers are supposed to serve. Those at highest risk for severe disease and death from Covid also happen to be the ones who generally need to access health care the most.

"And while Covid hospitalizations and deaths may be lower, hospitals could still be risky for many since they are places where sick people congregate – and those who come there often have no option of skipping care to protect themselves, lest their health deteriorate from something else.

Indeed, hospitals that are removing masking measures are applying the wrong lesson from combating Covid: Our success doesn’t mean we can get rid of all the measures that kept the vulnerable safe, but that we have identified new tools to use in maintaining health. Masks are one of them, and they don’t just help against Covid, but against other respiratory illnesses, such as the flu, for which immunocompromised groups are at high risk as well.

"Hospital-acquired infections have long been a problem in the United States – according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, at least 1 in every 31 patients acquires at least one infection from a health care setting. This amounts to about 1.7 million infected patients and 98,000 deaths a year and results in at least $28.4 billion in additional health care costs.

"We should be trying to reduce these numbers, not add to them."

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If you can't be protected from further illness in a hospital or doctor's office, where can you be safe?