The dominant guidance Floridians have heard recently from state leaders on the wearing of masks to combat COVID-19 has been, “Stop.”
Dr. Joseph Ladapo, Florida’s Surgeon General, mocked the use of masks at a news conference last week in Panama City. Departing from the advice of medical organizations, Ladapo asserted that masks don’t protect against spread of the coronavirus and suggested that researchers who claim masks are useful had been taken over by “zombies.”
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A day earlier, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis hectored a group of high school students who wore masks as they served as the collective backdrop for his news conference in Tampa.
“You do not have to wear those masks. I mean, please take them off,” DeSantis said, pointing a finger at the students. “Honestly, it’s not doing anything, and we’ve got to stop with this COVID theater. So, if you want to wear it, fine, but this is, this is ridiculous.”
Meanwhile, the wearing of masks still prevails at medical facilities in Polk County, and face coverings have not disappeared from all stores and restaurants.
A pair of large signs prominently posted just inside the entrance to Watson Clinic’s main facility in Lakeland announce in all capitals: “For the safety of our patients and team members, facemasks are required at all locations.”
Lakeland Regional Health, which operates the largest hospital in Polk County, continues to require its employees to wear masks and asks that visitors to the hospital and patients at its other facilities also wear face coverings.
“We’re evaluating the guidance that’s being given to the public,” LRH’s Chief Operating Office, Terry Hamilton, said. “But, as a health-care facility, we’ll probably be one of the last groupings to take off our masks, just because our number one commitment is to patient safety.”
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the federal government’s main agency promoting public health, continues to recommend the use of masks that cover the mouth and nose. The coronavirus that causes COVID-19 spreads mostly through respiratory droplets, medical experts say, and properly fitting masks can limit the transmission of virus particles through the air.
A range of studies in the United States and other countries has found that mask wearing reduces the community spread of COVID-19. The research has been conducted by Stanford University and Yale University, the University of Cincinnati and the National Academy of Sciences, among others.
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On its website, the CDC calls mask wearing “a critical public health tool” and says that “any mask is better than no mask.”
The guidance adds: “Wearing a well-fitted mask along with vaccination, self-testing, and physical distancing, helps protect you and others by reducing the chance of spreading COVID-19.”
Ladapo and DeSantis have repeatedly criticized the CDC and Dr. Anthony Fauci, the White House’s Chief Medical Advisor, for recommending the use of masks.
CDC recommendations
The CDC has revised its guidance on COVID precautions throughout the pandemic. In December, the agency shortened the recommended period of isolation after infection from 10 days to five, followed by another five days of wearing a mask to reduce the chance of infecting others.
As of Thursday, the CDC’s COVID Tracker site listed the community transmission level for Polk County as “substantial,” the same status as for most other Florida counties. (The rate remained high in five counties.)
The CDC bases the transmission level on COVID-19 prevalence in a county. Community transmission is deemed to be high when the rate exceeds 100 cases per 100,000 residents.
The CDC listed Polk County’s case rate at 63.9 per 100,000 as of Thursday. The county had been rated as high for much of December through February, during the surge driven by the omicron variant. The local prevalence rose as high as 2,063 per 100,000 residents in mid-January.
The CDC website also contains a COVID-19 Community Levels tool that lists the infection risk for each county as either low, medium or high. Those ratings are based on an analysis of hospital beds in use, hospital admissions and COVID-19 cases in a county, the site says.
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The page listed Polk County at a high community level of COVID-19 as of Thursday. As a result, the CDC recommended wearing a mask indoors in public places.
The Florida Department of Health’s website makes no mention of masks in the sections devoted to preventing COVID-19. Neither does the website for the Florida Department of Health in Polk County, the local office of the statewide agency.
Dr. Joy Jackson, director of the local health department, was not available for an interview. Spokesperson Pamela Acosta-Torres said the department encourages local residents to assess the risks and decide for themselves what protective measures to take.
She directed The Ledger to guidance from the CDC and the governor’s office. DeSantis’ official website declares that it is time to end “COVID theater” and quotes chosen doctors as saying that mask use is ineffective.
Masks at hospitals
The three organizations that operate hospitals in Polk County are all maintaining rules that direct employees and visitors to wear masks.
Lisa Razler, a spokesperson for BayCare Health System, said the network has not changed its policies for mask use at its hospitals, clinics, ambulatory surgery centers and urgent care centers. BayCare operates Winter Haven Hospital and Women’s Hospital and Bartow Regional Medical Center, as well as clinics and urgent-care offices in Polk County.
“In these areas, visitors, staff and physicians are still required to wear masks because we have high risk patients, such as those with weakened immune systems, that we need to protect,” Razler said by email.
As of Thursday, she said, mask use was optional in corporate offices and administrative buildings where patients are not seen.
AdventHealth, which operates hospitals in Davenport and Lake Wales, has also continued its mask policies.
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“Based on the CDC’s updated algorithm regarding masking in health care settings, all AdventHealth West Florida Division hospitals, which include AdventHealth Heart of Florida and AdventHealth Lake Wales, will continue to require masks at this time,” spokesperson Amber Smith said by email. “We will continue to monitor and evaluate the community transmission rates to ensure the well-being of our patients, visitors and employees.”
Watson Clinic, based in Lakeland, has continued to screen patients entering its facilities and to request that they wear masks since early in the pandemic.
“Watson Clinic continues to require masks for employees, patients and visitors,” Kelly M. Lonsberry, Senior Associate Administrator of Human Resources, said in an emailed statement. “As a healthcare facility, our priority is to provide the safest possible environment for the care of our patients.”
Hamilton of Lakeland Regional Health said he understands that many Americans are weary of wearing masks after two years of the worldwide pandemic. But he noted that the Lakeland hospital had about 80 patients positive with COVID-19 as of Wednesday and several more with other infectious conditions.
The CDC listed 84 new hospital admissions of Polk County residents testing positive for COVID-19 over the seven-day period ending Tuesday.
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Hamilton said LRH relies on guidance from the CDC, which offers detailed recommendations for health-care workers on its website. The agency says that “source control,” its term for masking, along with physical distancing, when possible, are recommended for everyone in a health-care setting.
While universal mask use is “generally safest,” the CDC says that exceptions can be considered for those who are up to date on COVID-19 vaccinations in counties with low or moderate community transmission. That suggests a possible relaxing of mask requirements if Polk County’s transmission level drops further.
Visitors are complying
Some Americans have chafed against mask recommendations throughout the pandemic, and Polk County, like many other places, has seen protests against mask mandates in schools.
Polk County Public Schools required students and staff to wear masks during the previous school year but made face coverings optional for the 2021-2022 school year. The Polk County School Board in November rescinded a policy allowing it to impose mask requirements during a pandemic.
Though DeSantis and some other politicians have disparaged mask use, Hamilton said that Lakeland Regional Health has not had a problem with visitors or patients refusing to wear masks.
“Fortunately, this is a very, very rare occasion,” he said. “We offer masks at our visitor entrances and they’re free and we try to make them ubiquitous in the hospital. And our visitor liaisons and our security guards who are at the entrances offer these to visitors who may be unaware and ask them to wear them, and very rarely do we have a problem.”
Asked if the comments from DeSantis and Ladapo have made it more difficult to require the wearing of masks, Hamilton paused before answering.
“I work with a great group of doctors and nurses, whose opinions, whose training we trust, to take care of the general community,” he said. “And we’re always going to try to do the best thing for the patients that we serve and try to remain focused on that. And with many issues, there’s a lot of noise, and we’re always going to follow the law. We have to follow the law, but beyond following the law, we’re going to do the best thing for our patients.”
Hamilton said LRH’s approach to infection control has proved successful, as shown by the hospital’s inclusion in Leading Hospitals in Early COVID Care, a list released recently by Healthgrades, a medical information company. The Lakeland hospital is among 24 on the list, based on an analysis of data from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services for the first three quarters of 2020.
The hospitals had lower-than-average COVID mortality rates while treating the highest volume of patients, Healthgrades said in a news release.
Most retail chains have directed workers to wear face coverings through much of the pandemic, though that is changing. Employees in many stores, including pharmacies, are no longer wearing masks.
Meanwhile:Publix no longer requires masks for vaccinated employees, according to website
Publix Super Markets, based in Lakeland, had begun allowing vaccinated employees to cease wearing masks last summer. But the emergence of the delta variant, which spawned a prolonged spike in cases last August, prompted the company to reinstitute mask requirements for all workers.
With COVID-19 rates dramatically falling in recent weeks, Publix recently made mask use optional for all employees, regardless of their vaccination status, according to its website.
Gary White can be reached at gary.white@theledger.com or 863-802-7518. Follow on Twitter @garywhite13.
