Worcester Business Journal

8 Worcester Business Journal | September 18, 2023 | wbjournal.com BY ISABEL TEHAN WBJ Staff Writer W hen UMass Memorial Health in Worcester, the largest health care system in Central Massachusetts and the region's largest employer, reinstated its caregiver mask mandate on Aug. 25, it was a regulatory change that signaled truth in conversations in and out of medical settings about a COVID-19 surge. e mandate, applying to all patient- facing interactions, rolled back the removal of a mask requirement put into place in May. As of the first week in September, UMass Memorial is one of nine hospitals nationwide to bring back a mask policy, according to trade magazine Becker's Hospital Review. It is the only one in Massachusetts. At UMass Memorial, the updated mask mandate had less to do with the overall uptick of COVID-19 cases in the community, as it does with an uptick in cases among employees. rough the spring and into late summer, COVID-19 cases among employees hovered around one to two testing positive at any time. at number started to creep up steadily, with first four or five cases, and reaching double digits for the first time in late August. at was the red-flag moment, prompting the health system to enact measures to slow it down, said Dr. Richard Ellison, hospital epidemiologist at UMass Memorial and professor of medicine, division of infectious diseases and immunology at UMass Chan Medical School. "We are watching this very closely," Ellison said. e hospital tracks a number of indicators of a COVID-19 surge, said Ellison, including employees and patients who have COVID, number of patients with COVID who are in the intensive care unit, and the number of patients in the COVID treatment center. All measures have increased since earlier in the summer, said Ellison, though the number of patients who are acutely ill, requiring monitoring in the intensive care unit, remains low. While employee cases are up nearly tenfold, though overall total number remains low, the hospital is seeing an approximate doubling of patients coming into the hospital with COVID symptoms. Most, said Ellison, are not requiring intensive measures, such as being put on a ventilator. "For the general population, the worry that someone will end up in the ICU is lower," he said. e slight uptick comes as the workforce difficulties of the past few years continue to weigh on hospitals. "Every hospital has extensive health and safety protocols in place to ensure that both patients and their caregivers are safe. ey are still facing severe workforce and capacity challenges, meaning support from the general public remains as important as ever," Patricia Noga, vice president, clinical affairs at the Massachusetts Health and Hospital Association, said in a written statement to WBJ. Hospital systems are waiting, monitoring, and responding as COVID cases rise, even as they remain far below peak levels PHOTO | WBJ FILE Dr. Richard Ellison, UMass Memorial Dr. Peter Smulowitz, Milford Regional Medical Center Watching COVID closely

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