These three Jersey Shore hospitals squash COVID mask mandates after just a month
Jersey Shore University Medical Center in Neptune, Riverview Medical Center in Red Bank and Ocean University Medical Center in Brick, have dropped their mask mandates after the number of COVID-19 cases in their surrounding communities began to ease, officials said Tuesday.
The decline could be seen as welcome news, but other hospitals and health facilities in Monmouth and Ocean counties are maintaining their face mask guidelines for now.
"To those who are vulnerable (the danger) is still there," said Dr. Roger Thompson of Integrated Medicine Alliance in Middletown. "Those who have heart disease, lung disease, kidney disease, elderly, they are definitely at risk. For the general population, it's a five-day, six-day-in-bed-I-feel-like-crap infection."
Most of the Shore's hospitals brought back face mask mandates after COVID cases rose in August and September due to a strain of the virus called XBB.1.5. The strain has enough mutations from the original virus to make it transmissible even to people who previously had COVID.
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COVID cases statewide started to decline from their late-summer wave. Last week, there were 2,164 cases, down from its peak of 4,468 cases during the week that ended Sept. 23, according to data from the New Jersey Department of Health.
The three hospitals that ended their mask mandates are owned by Edison-based Hackensack Meridian Health. Two other Hackensack Meridian hospitals, Bayshore Medical Center in Holmdel and Southern Ocean Medical Center in Stafford, continue to require masks.
West Orange-based RWJBarnabas Health said Tuesday that it is keeping the face mask mandates that it instituted Oct. 2 at its hospitals and facilities. Those include Monmouth Medical Center in Long Branch, Monmouth Medical Center Southern Campus in Lakewood, and Community Medical Center in Toms River.
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The RWJBarnabas guidelines: All inpatients who are able are required to wear a face mask when they leave their rooms; all outpatients must wear a face mask at an RWJBarnabas facility; staff are required to wear face masks when providing direct care to patients; and visitors, vendors and volunteers are required to wear face masks when they are with patients.
CentraState Medical Center in Freehold Township requires visitors to screen for COVID-19 symptoms and practice hand hygiene before entering the facility. It also requires people visiting patients with COVID to wear disposable face masks.
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Health providers have cautioned that COVID and other respiratory illnesses could increase this winter, when the weather gets colder and people retreat indoors. And Thompson said he continues to advise patients to get vaccinated.
"I get a lot of questions about getting vaccinated and we tell them, 'Of course there’s not reason not to,'" Thompson said.
Michael L. Diamond is a business reporter who has been writing about the New Jersey economy and health care industry for more than 20 years. He can be reached at mdiamond@gannettnj.com.
This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: Three Jersey Shore hospitals drop COVID mask mandates as cases fall
