A spike in hospitalizations and confirmed cases of COVID and respiratory illnesses has prompted the City of St. Louis Department of Health to recommend masking indoors for all city employees effective immediately.
Employees are not required to wear a mask but are strongly encouraged to do so. This recommendation is based on the simultaneous marked increases in COVID-19, influenza, and RSV activity. St. Louis County has not made a similar recommendation.
Dr. Mati Hlatshwayo Davis, St. Louis health director, said in a release that respiratory viruses cause a significant health burden in our community during winter and “this year is no exception.”
“Influenza, RSV, and COVID-19 diagnoses and hospital visits have been sharply increasing, particularly since the Thanksgiving holiday. This recommendation doesn’t come lightly — it is data-driven and focused on lowering community transmission of potentially deadly diseases.”
In the month between Thanksgiving (week ending November 25, 2023) and Christmas (week ending December 23, 2023):
• COVID-19 hospitalizations within the St. Louis Health Service Area (HSA) increased by
38%, with 270 individuals hospitalized with the disease during the week of December 23
(Centers for Disease Control and Prevention).
• Influenza cases in the City of St. Louis rose 455%, with individuals aged 25-49 years
seeing the highest number of infections, followed by children aged 5-14 years (City of St.
Louis Department of Health).
• Publicly available testing data shows Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) positive tests increased by 34%, with 400 positive tests during the most recent week with data available.
“If we all do our part and voluntarily mask up, we can expect the number of cases and hospitalizations to decrease over the coming weeks,” Davis said.
Davis also lamented that as of December 1, 2023, only 11% of St. Louis City residents had received the most up to date COVID-19 vaccine.
It is important that residents stay up to date with vaccinations to maintain adequate protection
against these winter viruses, particularly as they evolve and new variants emerge,” she said.
With the activity of winter viruses rising at such a rapid pace, we must take action to slow
transmission and prevent strain on our hospital systems.
Davis said city residents’ “hard work” has kept St. Louis running throughout the pandemic.
Prevention strategies to limit the spread of respiratory viruses include:
· Getting vaccinated
· Getting tested, especially when symptomatic
· Staying home when sick
· Covering coughs and sneezes with your sleeve or a tissue, not your hand
· Avoid touching eyes, nose, or mouth
· Washing hands often, for at least 20 seconds
· Wearing a high-quality, well-fitting face mask
· Cleaning/disinfecting objects and surfaces regularly
St Louis and St. Louis County governments let pandemic-related requirements for face coverings in public spaces expire in March 2022.
St. Louis Public Radio reported this week that BJC HeathCare put a mask requirement for employees in place again last month, citing rising rates of RSV, flu and the coronavirus.
The four major hospital systems in the region had dropped their mask requirements in March 2023.
The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has placed St. Louis and St. Louis County in a “medium” hospitalization level, a tool the agency uses to illustrate how prevalent the coronavirus is in a community.
The CDC recommends people in counties with “medium” coronavirus hospitalization levels wear an N-95 or other high-quality mask if they’re at risk for becoming extremely sick. The agency also recommends people self-test for the virus before encountering people vulnerable to severe illness and wear masks while indoors with them.
