The Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology (APIC) is strongly urging its 15,000 members to uphold a mandatory mask requirement policy for healthcare employees in all patient-care spaces.
The recommendation comes after a recent update from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) that advises healthcare facilities to use community transmission levels of SARS-CoV-2 as a guide when source control through masking is necessary. The change was published by the CDC in a September 23 update of its "Interim Infection Prevention and Control Recommendations for Healthcare Personnel During the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) Pandemic" guidance.
Despite the revised guidance, APIC emphasized that requiring masks of everyone who enters a healthcare setting ensures the safest environment for patients. With severe flu season on the horizon, APIC predicts that more than 300 Americans will die each week from COVID-19 and virulent flu. Additionally, there is a seven-day lag in CDC COVID-19 testing data, which may limit the ability to detect infection in real time, APIC cautioned.
