BJC Healthcare Reinforces Mask Mandate for Staff Amid Rising COVID Cases
ST. LOUIS — BJC Healthcare has announced that it will be reinforcing its mask mandate for staff starting on Wednesday, Dec. 13. The move is part of the hospitals’ new routine procedure as they tackle virus prevention and transmission, officials said.
The mandate going into effect next week will only apply to some of the approximately 30,000 employees across 14 hospitals, and solely when they are interacting with patients in a clinical setting.
This decision comes in response to the St. Louis County Health Department reporting almost double the number of new COVID cases diagnosed in just a month. The county saw an average of about 80 cases diagnosed on November 5, 2023, which jumped to close to 170 diagnosed cases in one day on December 6.
Dr. Hilary Babcock, an infectious disease physician and BJC HealthCare’s chief quality officer, emphasized that with at-home testing, those COVID numbers are likely much higher. She also mentioned that they are seeing similar trends with RSV (Respiratory Syncytial Virus) and influenza.
The CDC categorizes RSV as a common respiratory virus that usually causes mild, cold-like symptoms. Dr. Babcock emphasized the importance of wearing masks in crowded places, especially while visiting immunocompromised individuals during the holidays.
While BJC Healthcare has instituted the employee mask mandate, other local hospital systems have yet to announce similar measures. BJC HealthCare is regularly monitoring the community infection rate and may choose to institute temporary enhanced masking requirements for staff when rates are particularly high.
During the week of December 2, the CDC reported that Vernon County and Cedar County have the highest number of COVID cases in the state of Missouri, with both counties reporting 20 hospital admissions within that week. Missouri saw 621 new hospitalization admissions in the same week, with an additional 489 people already hospitalized.
There has not been an end date announced for the mask mandate. BJC HealthCare is urging individuals to stay home when sick, mask in public settings if high-risk, and get vaccinated to help control the spread of infection during the current peak respiratory virus season.