HPP: According to the Massachusetts Department of Health, acute respiratory infections accounted for 18.6% of hospital admissions in the state for the week of December 22–28.
Hospitals and clinics in Mass General Brigham implemented additional masking protocols Monday in response to the surge in respiratory virus cases.
Mass General Brigham raised the community’s respiratory virus activity ratings from “mild/moderate” to “high” earlier this week.
“To protect our patients, visitors, and staff, as of January 6th, you will see staff wearing masks more often,” the health care system stated. “We do this during periods of high respiratory virus activity to protect our patients and care teams.”
Which policy has been changed?
The declaration states that when staff members are directly interacting with patients in patient rooms, patient bays, and other clinical care settings, they will wear masks. They won’t have to wear masks in public spaces like lobbies, though.
Additionally, mask wearing will be “strongly encouraged, but not required” for patients and guests.
The care facilities encourage visitors who have a fever or other flu-like symptoms to delay their visit. Although they must wear a mask provided by the facility, people who have been exposed to COVID but do not exhibit any symptoms are still permitted to visit patients.
In Massachusetts, how common are respiratory ailments?
The policy was changed because, for two weeks in a row, the region’s respiratory disease presentation rate at ERs and outpatient clinics above Mass General Brigham’s threshold of 2.85%. But according to local health officials, the increase is normal for this season.
According to the Massachusetts Department of Health, acute respiratory illnesses such as COVID-19, influenza, and RSV accounted for 18.6% of hospital admissions in the state during the week of December 22–28. In the same week, respiratory infections accounted for 16% of the approximately 63,421 ED visits.
According to the department, as of the 26th week of the 2024–2025 season, 35.2% of persons have received an influenza vaccination, which is somewhat lower than the 37.8% who received it at the same time previous cycle.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has classified the overall respiratory illness activity in Massachusetts as “moderate” as of January 3, which is based on the frequency of respiratory symptoms and illnesses identified by emergency department physicians.
Nevertheless, the CDC discovered “high” amounts of COVID-19 and the flu in the state’s wastewater, along with “very high” levels of RSV.
Health officials say that even when an infected person is symptomless, they frequently release the virus into wastewater. According to the CDC, elevated wastewater levels could be a sign of a higher infection rate “even when other measures remain low.”
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How was the policy decided?
Mass General Brigham keeps an eye on respiratory virus levels via the CDC’s surveillance network.
All hospitals and healthcare institutions in the Mass General Brigham system adhere to the same protocol, even though there are no statewide regulations governing how health systems respond to respiratory virus cases.
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Mass General Brigham’s revised infection control standards, which the healthcare institution enacted in October 2023, are the reason for this week’s masking restrictions. The guideline states that when more than 1.9% of patients exhibit signs of respiratory infection, the respiratory virus season is said to have begun.
After local hospitals fought a “tripledemic” of COVID-19, flu, and RSV in 2022 when respiratory infection rates hit 7.3%, Mass General Brigham created the criteria.
According to a statement from Erica Shenoy, Mass General Brigham’s chief of infection control, “the policy approach uses a variety of interventions, including targeted masking, to mitigate risk of spread of all respiratory viruses.”