ALLENTOWN, Pa. — Most Lehigh Valley Health Network (LVHN) hospitals and health care facilities will make face masks optional for patients, guests and employees starting April 17.
- Beginning on April 17, most LVHN hospitals and health care facilities will make face masks optional
- Masks will still be required for specific situations and locations, including patients and guests with a suspected or confirmed COVID-19 diagnosis, certain inpatient units and high-risk patient areas
- LVHN urges all individuals to ensure they are fully vaccinated against COVID-19 and will adjust their masking policy accordingly
According to Alex Benjamin, LVHN’s chief infection control and prevention officer, this is due to a downward trend in COVID-19 cases in the communities LVHN serves.
Non-patient care areas like cafeterias, pharmacies, chapels, and gift shops have already made masks optional.
“We will continue to monitor the number of COVID-19 cases in our community and adjust our masking policy accordingly if cases increase to protect our patients, visitors and colleagues,” Benjamin said in a news release.
However, masks will still be required for "patients and guests with a suspected or confirmed COVID-19 diagnosis, respiratory viral symptoms, transplant donors and recipients, patients and guests in Lehigh Valley Topper Cancer Institute inpatient and outpatient locations, patients receiving infusion therapy, NICU visitors, and inpatient psychiatric units."
“In these circumstances and locations, masking continues to be important because it provides an extra layer of protection from COVID–19 for our most vulnerable patients.”Dr. Alex Benjamin, LVHN’s chief infection control and prevention officer
“In these circumstances and locations, masking continues to be important because it provides an extra layer of protection from COVID–19 for our most vulnerable patients,” Benjamin said.
He encourages people who are immunocompromised or at high risk for complications from COVID-19 to wear masks in public.
The masking policy for LVHN's transitional skilled unit (TSU) located at Lehigh Valley Hospital at 17th Street is determined by the Pennsylvania Department of Health's regulations. That means the unit will display the applicable masking requirements on site based on active COVID-19 cases within the unit.
LVHN still urges all individuals to ensure they are fully vaccinated against COVID-19, which includes receiving the initial COVID-19 vaccine and any additional booster shots as recommended.
