The outlook also remains highly reactive. For example, how many facilities and buildings have improved their air filtration and purification since 2019? Are there good monitoring systems in place to determine when and where face mask requirements should be maintained versus relaxed versus reinstated? Would it be better to relax face mask requirements gradually and progressively in a more consistent way, rather than in a “here today, gone tomorrow” way? The approach to the COVID-19 pandemic still remains all-or-none and one-size-fits-all, which may be fine when you’re talking about a wearable blanket or a box of donuts, but Does not scale with public health. There are still many questions floating around, such as how SARS-CoV-2 is still floating in the air in many places. Rather, the problem is that face mask use is suddenly falling everywhere, based on fuzzy metrics and without any clear transition plan in place. It cannot be said with certainty that the requirement of face masks in healthcare facilities should remain in place forever. And there is still no clear national plan on how to keep the most vulnerable people safe from COVID-19. After all, the COVID-19 pandemic is far from over, despite the claims of some politicians. And what can happen when people with weakened immune systems get COVID-19? Answer is not good. These are health facilities, you know, places people go when they’re sick-potentially very sick-and have a weakened immune system. Recent weeks have seen more and more health facilities suddenly reduce their face mask requirements, a bit like how many health and scientific experts suddenly lost their blue check marks on Twitter on April 20. It’s the kind of background that knowledge about how to protect against airborne material like SARS-CoV-2 would have earned Twitter a blue check mark before April 20. It’s from Prather, who is a distinguished professor at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography and the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at UC San Diego. Atmospheric chemist Kimberly Prather, PhD, offered a rather grounded response to the Kaiser Permanente Santa Rosa Medical Center COVID-19 outbreak, calling it “Groundhog Day” on Twitter: Indeed, on April 3, the California Department of Public Health basically said goodbye to all remaining statewide mask mandates, as Twitter pointed out with the following tweet:Īs you can see, Lerner wrote, “We knew this would happen.” Why? Well, outbreaks or surges of COVID-19 after sudden abandonment of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) precautions have occurred repeatedly since the spring of 2021. Kaiser Permanente has followed that guidance, and also has infection control guidelines for outbreak situations. ![]() The statement emphasized that, “We monitor and comply with all applicable federal, state and local regulations regarding masking and other public health interventions.” It added, “These guidelines were most recently changed on April 3, 2023, to no longer require, but continue to recommend, the use of masks for members, patients, visitors and staff in all healthcare facilities. We require all visitors to wear a mask at the entrance to the hospital and during their visit. And now, the medical center in Santa Rosa, California, has reinstated face mask requirements, for now.Ī statement from Kaiser Permanente Northern California described the outbreak: “Recently at our Santa Rosa hospital, more than a dozen of our approximately 3,500 staff members and some patients have tested positive for Covid-19.” The statement continued, “In response, effective immediately, physicians and staff providing direct patient care are required to wear masks at Santa Rosa Hospital and the Emergency Department. ![]() The answer rhymes with headache, as in the outbreak of COVID-19. Guess what happened within weeks of Kaiser Permanente Santa Rosa Medical Center removing face mask requirements. Kaiser Permanente Santa Rosa Medical Center in Santa Rosa, California has been hit by an outbreak of COVID-19, Within weeks of lifting their face mask requirements.
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