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To help protect patients and care teams from illness, UW Health will begin annual masking requirements starting in mid-November and ending in mid-March to align with the usual respiratory virus season.
This year, the respiratory virus season masking requirements will begin Monday, Nov. 11. All UW Health staff, patients and visitors will be required to wear a mask during patient interactions in the following high-risk locations:
Breast centers
Cancer clinics
Chemotherapy clinics
Critical care units
Dialysis
Emergency departments
Infectious disease clinics
Infusion centers
Johnson Creek Regional Cancer Center
Pulmonary clinics
Radiation oncology
Rheumatology clinics
Transplant Clinic
Urgent care
UW Health | Carbone Cancer Center Rockford
UW Health SwedishAmerican Hospital
Masks are strongly recommended in other patient care locations and clinics. Providers, staff, patients and visitors have already been masking in all patient rooms, procedure rooms and waiting areas in inpatient settings. Masks are optional in cafeterias, lobbies, elevators and administrative spaces.
UnityPoint Health – Meriter, which has a joint operating agreement with UW Health, will continue to require masking for team members and visitors in inpatient rooms. Masks will also continue to be required for team members and visitors in the Intensive Care Unit, Birthing Center, neonatal intensive care units, Emergency Department, Infusion Center and Digestive Health Center at Meriter. Masks are strongly recommended, but not required, in Meriter clinics.
Respiratory virus season is when influenza, RSV, COVID-19 and other respiratory viruses spread in the community at high levels, according to Dr. Jeff Pothof, chief quality officer, and emergency medicine physician, UW Health.
“It is pretty reliable that every winter we see an increase in these respiratory viruses,” Pothof said. “Now, instead of waiting to decide on when those rates are high enough to require masks, we are making it an annual, predictable protocol to prevent the spread of illness.”
Masking helps protect patients, and also helps protect the care teams seeing many patients and families every day, which helps ensure patients have access to their providers, according to Dr. James Cole, chief medical officer, UW Health in northern Illinois.
“Making this requirement an annual policy will help prevent illness from spreading in our facilities and will also ensure patients and care teams have a masking protocol that is expected and consistent,” Cole said.
It is important to practice good hand hygiene, stay home if experiencing symptoms of respiratory illness and stay up to date on flu and COVID-19 vaccinations, according to Pothof.
“Everyone can do their part to stop the spread of illness,” Pothof said. “Together, we can lessen the number of potential exposures, infections, hospitalizations and poor outcomes in our patients.”