Becker's Clinical Quality & Infection Control

9 INFECTION CONTROL • Cone Health in Greensboro, N.C., announced in a March 27 news release that masking will now be optional at its facilities. • CaroMont Health in Gastonia, N.C., joined the above North Carolina systems in revising its mask requirements for patients, visitors and staff, according to a release shared by WSOC News. • Randolph Health in Asheboro, N.C., was also part of the group of health systems in North Carolina to li mask mandates. It announced this in a March 27 news release and cited the other regional systems doing so as one factor driving the decision. • University of Michigan Health in Ann Arbor announced March 27 that it would walk back some of its COVID-19 restrictions and policies including mandatory masking. However, like many health systems, staff will need to continue to mask in certain circumstances for patient safety. • Campbell County Health in Gillette, Wyo., has scaled back its masking guidelines, according to a March 16 report from County 17 news. e acute care community hospital stated that employees will only be required to wear masks if "they're in contact with a patient or if CCH Employee Health and Safety asks them to mask." • Springfield, Mo.-based CoxHealth and Chesterfield, Mo.-based Mercy both announced March 15 plans to end masking requirements in facilities, except for in certain cases, NBC affiliate KYTV reported. • LMH Health in Lawrence, Kan., shied its mask policy March 13, announcing they will no longer be required in most cases. e health system stated it will continue to monitor infection levels in the community and update accordingly. • e Department of Veterans Affairs has sunset mask requirements across most VA hospitals but will still require them where transmission risk is high. • Two Kansas health systems also recently reversed mask requirements. HCA Midwest Health System in Overland Park, Kan., confirmed it lied mask policies effective March 3. Wesley Healthcare in Wichita, Kan., also removed its mask requirements and relaxed other COVID-19 policies across its facilities March 7. • Saint Luke's Health System in Kansas City, Mo., also reversed mask requirements across all locations March 3. • Cheyenne (Wyo.) Regional Health System revised the mask policy for its facilities, making them no longer required March 7 in most instances. • Banner Health in Phoenix announced Feb. 14 that masks would not be required at any of its facilities except those in California due to the state's stricter COVID-19 measures, which will still be in place until April. California, Oregon and Washington are all set to li masking requirements for healthcare workers April 3. • Intermountain Health, based in Salt Lake City, is the latest system to announce it is reversing mask protocols for its facilities across Utah, Idaho, Nevada, Colorado, Montana, Wyoming and Kansas beginning March 15. Masks will still be required in certain cases and for surgical procedures, according to the news release. • Two Colorado-based systems, Denver Health and UCHealth in Aurora, also recently announced that they would li mask requirements across facilities, with UCHealth saying it is "safe to no longer mandate masking" but that it would reassess as needed going forward. It is a trend that may continue across other systems as the nation approaches the end of the COVID-19 public health emergency come May. ese announcements also follow on the heels of September 2022 news from the CDC announcing that masking in healthcare settings was no longer needed unless transmission rates were high. n CDC says COVID-19 tracking will be similar to seasonal flu surveillance By Ashleigh Hollowell N early two weeks away from the end of the public health emergency, the CDC has detailed what and how it will continue tracking COVID-19 data as some reporting aspects begin to sunset, according to an April 24 report from CNN. While it is not the end of the COVID-19 pandemic, data reporting requirements are beginning to shift for states, and privately funded projects have begun to shut down or minimize their coronavirus reporting in recent months. Rochelle Walensky, MD, director of the CDC, previously told the U.S. House of Representatives that it was critical to expand the agency's ability to obtain information and data on public health nationally to properly respond to health threats, according to CNN. Reporting, tracking and analyzing coronavirus data will not cease entirely, however. Dr. Walensky reportedly said the plan is for COVID-19 tracking to become similar to season- al flu surveillance, which largely monitors trends from sam- ples of data, CNN reported. "The end of the PHE does not mean the end of CDC's emergency response to COVID-19. … CDC COVID-19 data activities are not necessarily affected by the PHE," a spokesperson from the CDC told Becker's in a March in- terview. The agency, "along with jurisdictional partners, is assessing ongoing surveillance needs and potential revi- sions to surveillance systems to efficiently continue track- ing COVID-19 after the PHE ends." For now, the CDC will continue to report deaths, hospital- izations, vaccination rates and that tracking will not instant- ly go away May 11. Additionally, hospitals are set to contin- ue reporting COVID-19 data until at least April 2024 as a requirement from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. n

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