Beebe Healthcare implemented a temporary mask mandate for all patients and visitors late last week.
It joins Bayhealth, which made the same move earlier this month.
ChristianaCare currently has an active alert strongly encouraging all visitors and patients to mask when entering a facility, but does not have a mandate.
“What prompted us to move toward a mask mandate again is seeing the number of hospitalizations increase in the state of Delaware, along with the number of respiratory illnesses that we are seeing throughout the healthcare system and throughout the state of Delaware,” said Dr. Bill Chasanov, Infectious Disease Physician and Chief Health System Design Officer at Beebe Healthcare.
The end date of this mandate is dependent on local case numbers, which are currently high for COVID, the flu, and RSV.
Chasanov says flu season last year peaked earlier than what they had seen several years before.
“What we’re seeing this year is what I consider a more traditional flu trajectory. Meaning that we continue to see anincreased number of flu cases in our community and throughout the state of Delaware over the past few weeks. And we expect that to continue to increase over the next few weeks,” he explained.
COVID numbers are expected to remain the same, with the possibility of worsening in the next few weeks.
And RSV cases are expected to trend down.
