BRYN MAWR, Pa. (KYW Newsradio) — Masks are now required at all Main Line Health facilities because of the increasing number of RSV, COVID-19 and flu cases across the region.
The policy was implemented on Thursday, Jan. 4 and will remain in place for patients, visitors, employees and medical staff for at least two weeks. All of the Main Line Health locations will provide masks for those who come in without one.
“This is for protection for everybody,” Dr. Brett Gilbert, Main Line Health’s chief of infectious disease and preventative medicine, told NBC10, “both the patients in the hospital, the health care providers themselves and also the community at large.”
The Pennsylvania Department of Health, citing data for the week ending on Dec. 30, said flu case counts are “increasing rapidly” and the percentage of patients leaving the emergency room with a flu diagnosis is increasing for all age groups. The department also said COVID-19 hospitalizations are increasing.
“There’s been a steady increase of influenza and COVID-19, both in quantity and severity over the last several weeks in our health care system,” said Gilbert.
RSV numbers are still high “but have begun to come down,” the health department added.
Respiratory illnesses were spreading quickly even before the holiday season started, so health experts expected the situation to worsen after all of the gatherings ended.
In New Jersey, Cooper University Health Care will require team members and visitors to wear masks, starting Friday, when they are with patients in a patient room or exam room. A Cooper Health spokeswoman says the change is based on the rise in COVID-19 hospitalizations in Camden, Burlington and Gloucester counties.
At Virtua Health facilities, staff members also have to wear masks during encounters with patients, as well as in places where people gather, like meeting rooms and breakrooms. Everyone in Virtua’s emergency departments is also required to put a mask on if they are medically able to.
The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia is strongly recommending people with respiratory symptoms to wear a mask, as well as anyone in waiting areas.
Tower Health and ChristianaCare are urging people to mask up at their facilities, but it is not mandatory.