Please read the message below first sent as an email from Roberta Schwartz, Executive Vice President
and Chief Innovation Officer of Houston Methodist:
We are experiencing a COVID-19 surge right now, five months after infection rates had stabilized late this summer. This uptick is due to COVID-19 variants, waning immunity, and lack of vigilance in our community about wearing masks and getting updated boosters. We are temporarily returning to some stricter measures to keep everyone safe at a time when transmission levels in and around Harris County are higher and our numbers of patients and employees with COVID-19 are quickly trending upward. As of today, we have almost 300 patients in our hospitals with COVID-19. Unfortunately, that means we need to act now.
We are now requiring everyone to mask everywhere in our hospitals, outpatient facilities and doctor’s offices.
Again, these are temporary measures to keep everyone safe during this surge—we must protect the sick and vulnerable members of our community. Our patients need us to stay healthy, so I strongly encourage our employees to be as vigilant as possible. As a reminder, it is required that you wear a mask in our hospitals in public spaces and in patient-facing spaces, as well as administrative buildings –masks for everyone, everywhere!
We know that enforcing the visitor mask rule might be challenging at times. Please do the best you can and explain we are trying to keep their loved one safe. We also will communicate directly with our visitors and patients in a variety of ways, so they are aware of the new temporary mask requirement. Please do not hesitate to escalate a problem to your leaders.
What else can we do? If you have not already done so, get the bivalent booster, which is proving to be effective in lessening the impact of getting COVID-19. You can schedule one through employee health.
Also, during this surge, we ask that you try to schedule virtual meetings when possible, and test before large gatherings such as retreats. Please remember not to come to work if you feel ill and test for COVID-19 from home. Consider keeping a supply of tests at home. Those are available from retail pharmacies with no co-pay using insurance or for free at www.COVID.gov/tests. If you test positive on a home test, please contact employee health with your results.
We must work together to stem this surge before it becomes too dangerous for our communities. In the health care environment, we need to be particularly vigilant. Our community counts on us to be here and available to take care of all their health care needs. Thank you for all you do, every day. Being safe for our community when it needs us the most is an important part of Leading Medicine.
Roberta L. Schwartz
Executive Vice President
Chief Innovation Officer
Houston Methodist Hospital
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