VA Further Relaxes Mask

The VA has further relaxed mask-wearing requirements at its medical facilities, one of the few federal workplace settings in which those policies imposed due to the pandemic have remained in effect.

The department said it is making the change "to reflect our new reality" now that the public health emergency has ended, although adding that it still will require masking of employees, patients and visitors in the "highest-risk areas and situations." Those will include transplant units, dialysis, chemotherapy units, emergency and urgent care, open bay medical intensive care units, and spinal cord injury and community living centers. (Visitors, however, are now allowed to unmask in those settings when in a veteran's room or visiting with one outside.)

Masks also continue to be required for those with a suspected or confirmed COVID-19 infection or other viral respiratory infection; healthcare personnel upon request of a patient, caregiver, or family member; or as determined necessary by local leadership.