With coronavirus rates spiking across the region, Scripps Health resumed requirements for masking in all of its clinical areas Thursday, taking enhanced precautions as the high season for respiratory illness arrives.
On Wednesday, Scripps management notified all employees and medical staff that medical-grade masks would once again be mandatory in all clinical areas. That means all patients, medical providers and visitors will need to use face coverings in patient rooms and exam rooms and any time that someone is “providing or receiving direct patient care within 6 feet of another.” This 6-foot rule means masking up when getting an X-ray, having blood drawn, or riding in a vehicle together during medical transport.
Communal but non-clinical areas such as elevators, waiting rooms, meeting rooms and break rooms do not carry a masking requirement, though covering up is “highly recommended.”
Scripps is now requiring all staff, patients, and visitors to wear a medical-grade mask in clinical areas.
(Nelvin C. Cepeda / The San Diego Union-Tribune)
Chris Van Gorder, Scripps’ chief executive officer, said in an email that the number of COVID-19 and flu patients currently admitted to hospitals made the move necessary. A few outbreaks among staff also helped make the argument for action.
“It’s time to take additional precautions to protect both patients and staff,” Van Gorder said in an email. “Hopefully, this step won’t last long.”
As virulence rises, medical providers across the nation have gradually begun to tighten their procedures, cutting back on visitation of hospitalized patients and increasingly requiring masks, according to a recent report from the Associated Press.
Wastewater data, the best early warning system that the scientific community has come up with to track how much coronavirus is actually circulating in the larger community, shows the kind of hockey-stick curve that indicates significant activity. Data for the Point Loma wastewater plant sampled on Dec. 27 estimated the presence of 27 million copies of coronavirus genetic code, more than double the 11 million detected just seven days earlier.
The county’s lastest weekly respiratory virus tracking report, released Thursday morning, shows that as far as COVID-19 is concerned, things aren’t quite as bad as they were this time last year. Last week, 1,574 positive COVID-19 tests were reported compared to 5,572 during the same week last year. The flu, though, is starting to significantly ramp up, following normal winter patterns after an early arrival last season.
The number of patients with respiratory symptoms severe enough to end up checking into a local hospital are also on the rise. More than 300 were said to be hospitalized by the flu or COVID-19 last week, double the number in early November.
Will other providers in San Diego County follow Scripps lead on the masking front?
Thus far, none of San Diego’s other large providers have gone quite so far, but some are considering taking similar action.
John Cihomsky, vice president of communications at Sharp HealthCare, said that masking remains “highly recommended” at the moment, but the rising numbers are getting attention from decision makers.
“We are prepared to make masking mandatory should our internal numbers dictate such a move, and we are increasing communication to staff, reminding them of safe practices to prevent the spread of respiratory viruses,” Cihomsky said in an email.
Dr. Christopher Longhurst, chief medical and digital officer at UC San Diego Health, said that the university health system never stopped requiring masks for employees when interacting with patients in clinical areas. Might masks for patients be forthcoming?
“We do not mandate patient/visitor masking and are unlikely to, but we certainly encourage it for anyone with symptoms,” Longhurst said in an email.
