Some hospitals loosening mask rules
Data shows Medical Center admissions for COVID at lowest point since June 2021
Some Houston hospitals are relaxing mask rules as new COVID-19 admissions sink to the lowest point since the pandemic began, according to Texas Medical Center data released Monday.
The data shows that Medical Center institutions last week admitted an average of 42 patients per day — a dramatic drop from the high of 497 daily new admissions in mid-January. The previous low was in late June 2021, just before the delta variant hit Houston, when hospitals reported 48 new patients per day.
The Medical Center released the numbers days after the Harris Health System announced that Lyndon B. Johnson Hospital discharged its only COVID patient, leaving the safety net hospital without any COVID admissions for the first time in two years.
“Everybody is very optimistic,” said Dr. Luis Ostrosky, chief of infectious diseases with McGovern Medical School at UTHealth Houston and Memorial Hermann. “They’re going back to their normal business — surgeries and research and enjoying more time with things like inperson meetings and in-person education events. But everybody is preparing in case we have another surge.”
Taking the lull into account, Memorial Hermann and Houston Methodist recently announced that masks will be optional in public areas but still required in places with a high concentration of patients.
Firas Zabaneh, head of infection control at Houston Methodist, said the hospital system analyzed several factors when making the decision, including the rate of hospitalization and positive COVID cases in the hospital and in the community. He also assessed the level of interaction in public areas and hospital corridors.
The relaxed rules do not extend to patient waiting rooms in Methodist clinics — only larger public areas with good ventilation, he said.
“And keep in mind, nationwide there has been staff burnout,” Zibaneh said. “The staff is really hungry for some semblance of normal.”
Memorial Hermann also loosened rules at its inpatient facilities.
Masks will be required only in patient care areas, and health screenings will not be required to enter the facilities. Only cer
tain patients will be required to submit a COVID test before a procedure. And asymptomatic patients will be exempt from preprocedure testing if they can provide an up-to-date proof of vaccination, the hospital system said.
The rules vary depending on the type of facility. For example, masks are still required in Memorial Hermann rehabilitation centers and Memorial Hermann Medical Group clinics.
Methodist and Memorial Hermann said their guidance could change depending on COVID trends. Both hospital systems analyzed metrics from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which earlier this year changed the way it measures community spread. Now, the agency is taking hospitalizations into account when determining whether a community is experiencing “low,” “medium” or “high” transmission rates.
Based on CDC calculations, the vast majority of Americans, including Harris County residents, live in areas where people can safely remove masks indoors.
Cases have remained consistently low in Houston, despite the sharp rise of the highly contagious omicron subvariant BA.2.
Right now, infectious disease experts are keeping an eye on two new versions of BA.2, which health officials say have contributed to a COVID uptick in New York. The United States has seen a nearly 30 percent increase in new cases over the last two weeks, according to the New York Times virus tracker.
Ostrosky attributes the low COVID numbers in Houston to a high rate of immunity from the omicron surge, which sickened a record number of people in late December and in January. The wave caused people to seek out booster shots — nearly 65 percent of Texans age 5 and older are now fully vaccinated — and left some with temporary natural immunity.
But “it could be a matter of time before we lose this immunity,” he said.