Windsor-Essex hospitals reduce masking requirements

Employees and staff at local hospitals now need only wear masks while within two metres of patients, officials announced Thursday afternoon. 

Effective Monday, April 17, masking requirement at Windsor Regional Hospital, Hotel-Dieu Grace Healthcare and Erie Shores HealthCare will be reduced in line with guidance from Public Health Ontario, according to a joint statement from the hospitals.

Volunteers, staff and employees will mask within two metres of patients but will not have to mask when a physical barrier is present. Exceptions will apply when patients are under additional precautions or a unit is in active outbreak. 

Visitors, employees, staff, volunteers and non-symptomatic patients will no longer have to wear a mask in non-clinical areas of hospitals, like waiting rooms and lobbies, but it is recommended that visitors mask while within two metres of patients. 

Mask requirements will remain in effect in lounges and waiting rooms for some higher-risk areas of the hospital, like the emergency, dialysis and oncology departments. Masks will also be required for visitors within two metres of patients in the same high-risk areas and on any unit with an active COVID-19 outbreak. 

Masking requirements will be posted where applicable, officials said. Individuals can still choose to mask at any time but should wear a hospital-issued mask, which will be issued at hospital entrances.

Find specific requirements and visitor policies for each hospital on their respective websites.