Mask mandates in Illinois hospitals, doctors’ offices not going anywhere, for now

It may be some time before people can walk through Illinois hospitals, doctors’ offices and nursing homes barefaced, despite mask mandates dropping on buses, planes and trains last week.

On Tuesday, Gov. J.B. Pritzker amended the state’s mask mandate so that it no longer applies to trains and buses after a federal judge in Florida voided the national mask mandate for transportation and major airlines pulled back their masking requirements. Masking requirements in most stores and schools ended earlier this year.

Health care settings, however, remain some of the last places in Illinois where everyone must continue to cover their mouths and noses. The state still requires masks in hospitals, nursing homes, dialysis centers, physician offices, dental offices and outpatient care centers, in line with guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, according to the state health department.

Illinois is not considering lifting its mandate for hospitals and other health care settings “at the moment,” said Jordan Abudayyeh, a spokeswoman for Pritzker, in an email Thursday. That’s despite hospitals in some states, including Texas and Iowa, beginning to roll back their mask requirements.

Local hospital leaders say Illinois’ continued mask mandate for health care settings is just fine with them.

“We would mandate it anyway,” said Dr. Richard Freeman, regional chief clinical officer for Loyola Medicine, which has three hospitals in the Chicago area. “Anybody in the hospital, all our personnel are still masked, visitors still have to be masked. That is not going to change in the foreseeable future.”

That’s partly because many patients in the hospital are immunocompromised, meaning they’re more at risk if they catch COVID-19. Also, many people who go to hospitals have undiagnosed conditions that sometimes turn out to be COVID-19, he said.

Sinai Chicago, which has two acute care Chicago hospitals, will continue to follow guidance from the CDC and state health department, said Dr. Russell Fiorella, chief medical officer and vice president of medical affairs.

Sinai had zero admitted patients with COVID-19 as of Thursday. But the masks add an extra layer of protection, Fiorella said.

“As it stands now, I think it’s a comfort to our patients, it’s a comfort to our caregivers,” Fiorella said. “It provides safety. We’re comfortable as a system with that.”

Esperanza Health Centers, which has community health centers on the West and Southwest sides of the city, also has no problem continuing to follow the state’s mandate, given that patients who don’t know they have COVID-19 may sometimes visit Esperanza’s clinics, said Dr. Ana Cortez, medical department administrator.

“I think it’s really important to keep protecting the patients and the staff,” Cortez said.

Visitors at Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago on Friday had mixed opinions about continued mask mandates in hospitals.

Camille Baxter, 62, of Oak Park, said continuing to require masks at hospitals makes sense to her.

“The health care system has been so impacted by the pandemic, and you never know who’s been exposed to what,” said Baxter, who accompanied her husband to the hospital for treatment. She said she’s continued to wear masks in other indoor, crowded settings as well.

“We’re all uncomfortable. I’d love not to wear it,” she said. But, “to me, if it protects me and others it’s a small thing I can do.”

Tom Streible, however, said masks should no longer be mandated in hospitals. Streible, 66, of Romeoville, was at the hospital Friday while his fiancee underwent surgery.

He said he’s already received three shots of the vaccine, so he doesn’t feel that he needs a mask, though he wore one in the hospital Friday in compliance with the rules. People who are immunocompromised or at high risk of getting seriously ill from COVID-19 may still want to wear masks, he said, but not everyone should have to.

“It should be your own preference,” he said.