Outside of medical facilities, you don’t see that many people wearing masks any more—and every day at my job in a pain management clinic, I deal with patients who are upset about having to wear one. I encounter the folks who were angry anti-maskers from the get-go, and then I also talk to the the ones who are just tired of dealing with COVID, and ask the question—“Are we ever going to be able to stop wearing these things?”
And to that, the answer is likely NO in most health care settings, despite the fact that the CDC no longer requires it, despite the fact that there are still some highly transmissible strains of COVID floating around. And the reason is that many health care providers don’t think this was a wise move, nor do they want to deal with having so many employees out sick all the time after dealing with the worst of the pandemic. It is still pretty common for healthcare workers to catch COVID, even now. If hospitals and other medical establishments relaxed their masking rules in patient facing situations, they could potentially be held liable if a lot of people visiting or working in their facilities got sick with COVID and it can be shown that masks were not be used, despite what the CDC guidelines say.
It also simply makes good sense to wear a mask when visiting a health care facility—if there are people out in the community sick with any kind of communicable disease, the most likely place a member of the general public is likely to run into them is while visiting their doctor. And masks are helpful in preventing the spread of many other types of respiratory infections, from RSV to the common cold. Without masking and other standard precautions, health care facilities can easily become a nexus for the transmission of COVID and many other communicable diseases.
From now on, you will likely be screened for COVID symptoms every time you visit a health care facility—even just a nurse visit for a B12 shot or an INR to check the ability of your blood to clot (common for people taking blood thinners). Also, when you visit your doctor with any type of respiratory symptoms, there is a good chance one of the health care workers caring for you is going to suit up in a gown and an N95 mask when they come to swab your nose for COVID and flu. And you will likely have to wait an extra 15 minutes to see your provider because they are waiting for the results of the rapid COVID/flu test that was just run on you before they will set foot in your room.
And if your appointment is at a specialty clinic that does not do point of care testing for COVID, you might have to reschedule your appointment if you are showing any signs or symptoms of a respiratory infection when you are screened at the front desk. And here’s a word of advice from somebody who has to tell patients every day that they will need to reschedule because they have a case of the sniffles—if you are having any sort of respiratory symptoms a day or so before a visit with a specialist, get a rapid COVID test done at a pharmacy the day before—you will get the results within hours, and if you test negative, in many instances you can still be seen by your provider. This is especially helpful to know if you have been waiting for months for the appointment, and don’t want to wait even longer to get seen because you had to reschedule. Note that many clinics won’t accept a negative result from a home test—it’s important that you get it done at a pharmacy or health care facility.
So even if scientists come up with an immunization or cure that blocks all strains of COVID, you are still likely to have to wear masks when you see the doctor for the foreseeable future—there are still plenty of anti-vaxxers out there who refuse to take the COVID vaccine, so they will keep spreading it around. And many facilities may continue to require them to prevent the spread of other respiratory infections as well. Unless, of course, some screwball red state legislature passes a law outlawing them altogether in order to throw red meat to their base.
I am going to be at work when this diary publishes, so I will respond to comments when I get home. Next I will have to take care of my daughter, and then sleep for a few hours, since I am also working at the hotel Sunday through Tuesday nights this week.
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