As states throughout the U.S. begin to discontinue mandatory masking in healthcare facilities, they place the most vulnerable populations at enormous risk in the very places and by the very people they go to for help. We are urging the State Department of Health, State Health Commissioner, and Governor to maintain or reimplement orders keeping masking mandatory in healthcare facilities.

Many who have developed Long COVID or who live with complex, chronic conditions and disabilities will be forced to forgo medical care due to the risk to them or their caretakers if mandatory masking in healthcare facilities is discontinued. This includes preventative screenings, physical therapy/rehab, diagnostic testing, and less frequent medical appointments for care management, negatively impacting patient outcomes. Removing mandatory masking from healthcare facilities will lead to even more long-term issues and costs, resulting in more people with chronic illnesses as a result of COVID-19 infection.

While we may have developed better tools to navigate and treat acute infections, we are still losing thousands of people per day to death and disability from COVID-19. We have not yet developed tools to treat Long COVID, or its associated conditions, which can last months, years, or life, and there is certainly no cure currently available. With twenty percent of those who get COVID-19 developing Long COVID, estimated to cost approximately four trillion dollars per year, and the COVID-19 pandemic still very much present, we cannot become complacent. We must fight the pandemic fatigue to protect one another and promote science and public health.

Healthcare providers take an oath to “do no harm,” and passing on a deadly, disabling virus to patients or their caretakers is a violation of that oath, especially when there is a failure to don proper protective equipment that is readily available and effective. The pandemic is not over, and the threats and long-term consequences of COVID-19, and any other infection for vulnerable communities, are very real. Mild infections, asymptomatic infections, and even secondary infections post-COVID can lead to Long COVID, lifelong chronic illness, disability, and/or death.

We cannot afford to risk our lives in the very places caused by the very people who are supposed to be the ones helping us, facilitating quality healthcare, following science, and abiding by their oath to do no harm. We are calling on the state department of health, the state health commissioner, and the governor to act in the best interest of the public and the very populations who most need these facilities. We urge healthcare personnel to practice medicine safely, which cannot be done if mandatory masking is removed from healthcare facilities. Keep masks mandatory in healthcare facilities!

The COVID-19 Longhauler Advocacy Project would be happy to facilitate a conversation between you and your local constituents to further discuss the essential need for mandatory masking inside healthcare facilities. We can be reached at contact@longhauler-advocacy.org, and our work can be found at longhauler-advocacy.org/our-work.