Recently, many of the hospitals and clinics in and around Chicago, including my own, have elected to discontinue universal masking requirements, noting the lowest rates of COVID-19 in the last three years. This is being hailed as a sign of moving on from the COVID-19 pandemic. But is it really “moving on?” Or moving backward?
For the last three years, patients have received masked care. While hearing and speech impaired individuals definitely benefit from unmasked communication, the majority of patients have gotten better care because of those masks. There’s no doubt that universal masking blunted influenza and other respiratory virus spread in Chicago during the first two years of the pandemic, and the same has been true in health care.
Many people find masking annoying or uncomfortable and don’t worry much about catching a cold here and there. But hospitals and clinics are places where the sick congregate with the vulnerable, and masking is the least burdensome way to make that safer for everyone.
