Masks to be required again by Tacoma-area health system. Here’s what prompted change
MultiCare Health System on Tuesday, Dec. 5, said it would begin requiring masks in patient-care areas at its Puget Sound-area sites.
Facilities include those in Thurston, Kitsap, King and Pierce counties starting Wednesday (Dec. 6).
“In the past week, MultiCare passed the threshold of regional emergency department visits for respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), leading to the decision to initiate masking,” the health system said.
The threshold was set this fall by the Northwest Healthcare Response Network and requires temporary masking measures if any of the following thresholds are hit:
▪ Regional emergency department visits for RSV exceed 0.3 percent of total visits.
▪ COVID-19 admissions exceed 10 people per 100,000 population.
▪ Regional emergency department visits for COVID-19 exceed 3 percent of total visits.
▪ Regional emergency department visits for influenza exceed 1 percent of total visits.
Masks will be required for patients, visitors and staff in all patient-care areas inside hospitals and emergency departments. Masking is required for MultiCare employees in patient clinics outside of hospitals and is strongly recommended but not required for patients and visitors, according to the health system.
“We encourage everyone to be up to date on vaccines for COVID, influenza and RSV to keep our communities safe,” the health system said.
Mandatory masking rules will be lifted in geographic areas that go two weeks without any of the threshold metrics being met, it added.
Doctor’s offices and urgent-care facilities in the area have seen a spike in business as respiratory illnesses have taken off. Before Thanksgiving, influenza, COVID-19 and RSV cases were on the rise in areas of the state.
In one example, by early Tuesday afternoon, Dec. 5, appointments at the Point Fosdick Indigo Urgent Care in Gig Harbor were already filled. Wait times were sending walk-in patients to appointments the next day.
This story was originally published December 6, 2023 at 5:00 AM.
