As winter viruses make their rounds once again, several counties across the United States are bringing back mask mandates for hospital visitors.

In New Jersey, major hospital systems are responding to the uptick in COVID-19, flu, and RSV cases by reinstating mask requirements for their staff, patients, and visitors.

Hackensack Meridian Health, the largest hospital network in New Jersey with 18 facilities, announced on Monday that starting December 1, masks will be mandatory for anyone visiting admitted patients.

Similarly, RWJ Barnabas Health, which manages 14 hospitals, re-implemented its previous mandate on the same day. This mandate requires masks for healthcare workers providing direct care, patients when they leave their rooms, and all visitors in patient areas.

This decision comes in the wake of a noticeable rise in hospital admissions due to respiratory illnesses, particularly affecting adults over 65 and young children. The primary concern is the H3N2 subtype of Influenza A.

State health officials warn cases are expected to rise further during the holiday season. The policy shift mirrors a similar mask mandate that was recently reinstated in Sonoma County, California.

Since the pandemic, when universal masking was strongly encouraged, public health officials have intermittently reinstated those recommendations to combat what experts have come to call the ‘quad-demic’: Covid, flu, RSV and the common cold.

As seasonal respiratory illnesses surge, hospitals nationwide are reimposing mask requirements for all who enter (stock)

The Hackensack Meridian Health network, which serves nearly 2 million patients annually, warned that ‘respiratory virus season is here’ and emphasized the policy is intended to protect vulnerable patients and healthcare workers.

The decisions follow a steady rise in hospitalizations linked to respiratory illnesses in recent weeks.

According to the latest state surveillance data, while emergency department visits remain relatively low, hospital admissions for Covid and influenza are climbing.

RSV admissions, meanwhile, are highest among children under 4 and older adults.

Health officials anticipate cases will continue to increase through the holiday period, as colder weather and indoor gatherings create ideal conditions for viral spread.

Other hospitals and clinics across the state have indicated they may follow suit, noting in their policies that they reserve the right to reinstate masking when community transmission rises.

Sonoma, one of California’s wealthiest and most liberal counties, reinstated an indoor mask mandate as of Nov 1, warning of a heightened risk of Covid, flu and other respiratory diseases as winter approaches.

The new health order requires staff and visitors at nursing homes, long-term care facilities, rehab centers, infusion clinics and dialysis centers, which serve medically vulnerable people.

The above shows Sonoma County, California, where the face mask mandate is in place

For the week ending in Week 48, Nov 3, public health labs identified 348 flu viruses. The vast majority, 341, were influenza A, while only 7 were influenza B

County health officials also urged hospitals and urgent care clinics to implement the same policy.

Dr Karen Smith, the county’s interim health officer, said: ‘The risk to vulnerable patients of Covid, flu and other respiratory viruses in health care remains significant.

‘So, it continues to be important for face masks to be used in patient care areas when the seasonal risk of exposure to one or more viruses is high.’

The order was built on a pre-pandemic masking policy first adopted by the county in 2017 and is designed to be reapplied each respiratory virus season unless officially rescinded.

In addition to masking, the county is encouraging all residents aged six months and older to stay up to date with vaccines for covid, flu and RSV.

In the latest weekly data, public health laboratories reported a significant increase in flu activity, with 72 new positive cases detected in the week ending Nov 3, bringing the seasonal total to 770 positive cases since late September.

The percent positivity rate has increased sharply and consistently over the last nine weeks, rising more than 13.5 times since the start of the period to more than seven percent.

Covid and RSV, meanwhile, continue to circulate, but the CDC has not updated its figures for either disease since September.