Healthcare systems in the Puget Sound region have updated their joint guidelines for masking in hospitals and outpatient clinics during respiratory illness season. This means local healthcare facilities may require patients, visitors and employees to wear masks when respiratory illnesses such as flu and COVID-19 are circulating widely in the community.
Masking is an effective way to reduce the spread of respiratory illnesses in healthcare settings. These latest guidelines re-affirm the importance of the health and safety of patients and employees, particularly for those who are at high risk of becoming severely ill from COVID-19, influenza (flu) and other respiratory illnesses.
The Snohomish County Health Department joins other local health jurisdictions in strongly supporting the continued commitment by healthcare organizations to encourage masking in hospitals and clinics. Masking reduces the spread of disease, protects vulnerable patients and healthcare workers, and helps ensure healthcare facilities maintain capacity to serve our communities.
“Evidence has and continues to show the benefit masking can have on reducing the transmission of respiratory viruses. Masking in healthcare settings when respiratory viruses are circulating at high levels in our community can provide meaningful protection for our most vulnerable community members as well as help to preserve the capacity of our healthcare workforce, which continues to be strained,” says Snohomish County Health Officer Dr. James Lewis.
“We in public health support our healthcare colleagues in working to continue the use of this important protective tool in healthcare settings, and we will be using the same data-driven approach in our own clinics. We are proud to provide the data to inform this intervention on our public dashboard. We truly appreciate our healthcare partners commitment to patient and provider safety.”
In September 2023, several healthcare systems across our region joined together to adopt thresholds for requiring masking during respiratory illness season.
Since that time, healthcare facilities have continued their commitment to re-evaluate and update guidelines as new data become available. The latest guidelines use the most recent data to update thresholds for the 2024-2025 season.
You can read more about the current masking guidelines in this statement.