A 1/3/24 article in the New York Daily News has the headline “As Covid Spikes in NYC, Mask Mandates Return to City Hospitals” (alt link), which notes:
With COVID, flu, and RSV on the rise the NYC public hospital system brought back masking requirements just after Christmas 2023. The spike in this “tripledemic” predicted by the CDC in September 2023 continues to put disabled and especially immuno-compromised people at increased risk.
This December 2023 data from the CDC shows New York City reached the “very high” level of respiratory illness, the highest level on the CDC’s scale.
Possibility contributing to the spike is the fact that while over 80% of New Yorkers have received their first COVID vaccine, just 18% of the total population has received the bivalent booster.
— Faye Ginsburg
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS ARTICLE
Format: Digital News Article
Newspaper: New York Daily News
Creator: Josephine Stratman
Link to Article: https://www.nydailynews.com/2024/01/03/as-covid-spikes-in-nyc-mask-mandates-return-to-city-hospitals/
Publication Date: 3 January 2024
Captured: 12-July-2024
Article Content:
LOCAL NEWS
As COVID spikes in NYC, mask mandates return to city hospitals
[Image: A sign reminds customers that masks are required in their store in New York, Dec. 13, 2021. Hospitals in the city are reinstating mask requirements as COVID numbers rise. (Seth Wenig/AP)]
With COVID, flu and other respiratory illnesses on the rise, the NYC public hospital system is bringing back masking requirements.
The mandate applies to anyone entering New York H+H hospitals, community health centers and nursing homes. It went into effect just after Christmas.
“As we’ve seen an increase in COVID, flu and RSV, this is really to protect our patients, staff and the community,” said Christopher Miller, spokesman for NYC Health + Hospitals.
[Image: Masked students walk to school on May 7, 2022, in Midtown Manhattan. (Luiz C. Ribeiro for New York Daily News)]
Citywide data shows that COVID hospitalizations rates have been climbing, hitting 106 hospitalizations on Dec. 20. The hardest-hit neighborhoods in the city are East New York in Brooklyn, Mott Haven/Port Morris in the Bronx and Silver Lake/St. George on Staten Island.
Other states, including Illinois, California and Massachusetts are also asking staff, patients and visitors to mask up.
Respiratory illnesses tend to surge in the fall and winter months. In September, the CDC warned of another “tripledemic” — when cases flu, RSV and COVID infect more people and overwhelm hospitals and health clinics.
This most recent data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows New York City reached the “very high” level of respiratory illness. This is the highest level on the CDC’s scale.
The CDC determines the level of flu activity by counting the number of people who report to a health care facility with a fever plus a cough or sore throat.
Other private hospital systems are holding off on mandates — at least, for now.
[Image: Pencils and masks for students are pictured on the first day of in-person learning for students and faculty at Middle School 50 on S. Third St. in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, on Monday, September 13, 2021. (Shawn Inglima for the New York Daily News)]
Joe Kemp, a spokesman for Northwell Health, said that the health care system is not currently requiring masks in most cases, although it is “always evaluating.”
Most hospitals only require masks for people who have respiratory symptoms or will interact with immunocompromised patients.
Possibility contributing to the spike is low booster uptake — while over 80% of New Yorkers have received their first jab, just 18% of the total population has received the bivalent booster, according to The New York Times.