Amid a slight uptick in respiratory illnesses across the state, OSF HealthCare has implemented some temporary restrictions on hospital and hospice visitors — and asked that all visitors wear a mask at any of its facilities.
The Peoria-based Catholic healthcare system is temporarily limiting visitors to its hospitals and hospice homes to two adults per patient a a time, though it said in a social media post "exceptions will be made for special circumstances such as end-of-life situations." That includes its Bloomington hospital: OSF St. Joseph Medical Center.
The nonprofit also backtracked on an initial mask mandate, saying on Dec. 30 all OSF employees, patients and visitors were required to be masked at its facilities "due to widespread respiratory illnesses." A separate social media post a day later on Dec. 31 announced that masks were no longer a requirement but a recommendation for patients and visitors.
"This change acknowledges the importance of personal choice while still encouraging practices that help protect vulnerable individuals, such as the elderly, infants and those with weakened immune systems from COVID-19, influenza and RSV," the post read.
A spokesperson for OSF said Thursday the mask requirement was "incorrectly noted" on social media.
"Masks are currently required to be worn by our Mission Partners (employees) in clinical settings and are strongly encouraged for our patients or visitors," said Patti Penn, public relations and communications coordinator for OSF HealthCare.
Carle Health, including Carle BroMenn Medical Center in Normal, has not made any changes to its preexisting vistor guidelines at the time of publication.
OSF HealthCare's move is similar to that of other systems, including Springfield-based Hospital Sisters Health Systems and Memorial Health, which operates hospitals in Lincoln, Springfield, Decatur and Taylorville. All have limited visitors at hospitals to two adults per patient at a time and have requested — but not required — visitors and patients wear masks. Hopedale Medical Complex in Tazewell County implemented the same visitor policies, but did say it would require masks for patients and visitors starting Dec. 31.
Memorial Health cited a recommendation from the Illinois Department of Public Health [IDPH] to implement restrictions on visitors temporarily as COVID-19, influenza and RSV rates tick up across the state.
Data from IDPH's seasonal respiratory illness dashboard, current to Dec. 30, reported that 17% of emergency department visits and 16.8% of admissions to hospitals across the state were due to acute respiratory illnesses.
On a scale of five measurements ranging from low to very high, Illinois is currently as at a "moderate" level of respiratory illness spread, according to IDPH.
