Updated Masking Policy

May 11, 2023 at 11:59 pm marks the end of the federal Covid-19 Public Health Emergency (PHE). Throughout this emergency, Rush Memorial Hospital has focused on keeping patients safe and preventing the spread of this disease. Now that the PHE is ending, CDC recommendations regarding Covid-19 will change at midnight tonight, which means that RMH policies will be changing as well.

Beginning May 12th, routine masking will no longer be required for RMH patients or staff. Instead, we will return, for the most part, to the policies that were in place before the beginning of the pandemic. The rules regarding masks will be as follows:

• Complimentary masks and hand sanitizer will continue to be available at our entrances for those who would like them.
• Staff will wear masks when requested to do so by individual patients or visitors.
• Masks may be required for isolation patients and those who visit or care for them.
• Masks may be required for those who have a contagious respiratory illness.

While masks will rarely be required moving forward, we would like to ask anyone with a contagious respiratory illness to please wear a mask for the protection of our other patients and our staff.

Note: It’s often impossible to know when we’ve picked up an invisible bacteria or virus through something we have touched. Routine handwashing and the use of hand sanitizer are still among the best ways to limit the spread of disease and infection.