St. Luke’s Health System announced this week it would no longer require people to wear masks in most areas of their hospitals and clinics.
Christine Myron, a representative for the organization, said the decision came after St. Luke’s saw declining rates of COVID-19 hospitalizations. Over the past 30 days, COVID patients have represented between 3% and 5% of St. Luke’s total admissions, she wrote in an email.
On Wednesday, Dr. David Pate, former CEO of St. Luke’s Health System, told Idaho Matters he was surprised by the policy change.
“We got a new variant that's just come in in the United States. If we look to other countries, it's not looking good,” he said.
The announcement came a day after the Biden Administration signed a bipartisan resolution ending the country’s national public health emergency status.
“We will continue to closely monitor viral respiratory disease activity in our community and may consider resuming universal masking and other COVID-19 protocols if deemed necessary in the future,” Myron said.
"The end of the public health emergency was not behind St. Luke’s decision," she added.
Dr. Pate urged people to still remain cautious.
“Please don't think that things are over because the national emergency is over because Saint Luke's has made a change,” he said. “We still have the pandemic, things are still the same today as they were two days ago.”
The updated Visitor Policy on Saint Luke’s website states the health system encourages “patients, staff and providers to use masks based on their personal risk and comfort level.”
Masks will still be mandatory in Saint Luke’s long-term care and pediatric oncology inpatient settings as well as at their Blood and Marrow Transplant Clinic.
