Owensboro Health has updated its masking policy — for both visitors and team members — to reflect recent guidance from the CDC. Under the amended policy, masking requirements can be loosened in counties with lower COVID-19 transmission rates, while high transmission rates will still require masking. OH will evaluate and update the masking policy for all of its locations on a weekly basis and use CDC data as the benchmark.
“Throughout the pandemic, Owensboro Health has closely followed federal and state guidelines to make key decisions and keep our communities safe,” said Chief Medical Officer Francis DuFrayne, M.D. “Recently, CDC gave health systems more flexibility to adjust their masking requirements in counties where the transmission rates are not considered high.”
According to the CDC, their Community Transmission metric is what is currently used to make healthcare setting recommendations regarding masking policies. Their guidance says when COVID-19 levels are not high, “healthcare facilities could choose not to require universal source control.”
The Country Transmission metric is broken down into four categories: red (high), orange (substantial), yellow (moderate), and blue (low).
Owensboro Health will evaluate the CDC transmission rates each Monday and determine weekly masking requirements for each of its facilities.
- Counties rated “red” by CDC – Masking required at Owensboro Health facilities
- Counties rated “orange, yellow or blue” – Masking optional unless otherwise noted
As of Monday afternoon, OH facility requirements for this week were as follows:
- Masks Required
- Henderson – High
- McLean – High
- Ohio – High
- Perry (IN) – High
- Masks Optional
- Daviess – Moderate
- Grayson – Substantial
- Hopkins- Substantial
- Logan – Substantial
- Muhlenberg – Moderate
Owensboro Health’s official mask guidance will be kept current at OwensboroHealth.org/Masking. Updates will be made every Tuesday and will be based on CDC’s transmission rate data from the previous Monday. Visitors can also call their Owensboro Health facility or watch for signage upon entry.
