Kingston Health Sciences Centre says it is “deescalating” its COVID-19 protocols, including universal masking across various departments, due to recent low COVID-19 numbers in the region.
As of Monday, masking will not be required of staff, patients or visitors in the KHSC emergency department, children’s outpatient clinic or urgent care centre.
Staff will instead decide on a case-by-case basis if a mask is required when dealing with patients.
Dr. Gerald Evans, medical director and head of infection prevention at the hospital organization, says all three departments have seen “very low numbers of active COVID-19 cases over the last six weeks.”
He said in a statement that patients who present respiratory symptoms will still be required to wear a mask.
Masking will also be strongly recommended in areas where patients are at higher risk of COVID-19 complications, such as in the neonatal intensive care unit and the dialysis clinic.
“At present, we continue to see unprecedented low levels of COVID-19 infection in our community as measured by wastewater monitoring, community outbreaks and test positivity,” said Evans.
He says this is due to various factors, including “high levels of hybrid immunity from vaccination plus prior infection within the general population,” as well as the diminished circulation of respiratory viruses like COVID-19 in the summer months.
The hospital organization said it will continue to support those who choose to wear a mask, and staff will be expected to wear masks with patients who choose to wear face coverings. Health-care workers will also be able to ask a patient to wear a mask if they feel it’s needed.
KHSC says it will also continue to ask visitors who have infectious symptoms to postpone their visits until their symptoms have subsided.