Maintain Masks Requirements to Keep Healthcare safe and accessible for All!

Maintain mask protections in hospitals and health care settings! Healthcare settings should require masks forever, much the way we expect doctors to wash their hands before touching patients forever. People who seek health care services are often contagious and masks stop spread at the source. At the same time high risk and immune compromised people often require health care and should be able to get the care they need safely. Babies and infants too young for vaccines and too young to mask rely on medical professionals, other patients and visitors to mask to prevent infecting them. We are still in a pediatric state of emergency that OHSU doctors called the worst pediatric health care crisis in 30 years. During the worst of the crisis many procedures, tests, and treatments were postponed. Our medical system needs to catch up, not respond to more waves. Going to the doctor should improve your health, not threaten it. We learned long ago that handwashing stopped patients from getting infections in the hospital. Masks do the same. Abandoning masks now is as non-sensical and making handwashing optional for doctors.