Grande Ronde Hospital Lifts Masking Requirements Following OHA Announcement
By Garrett Christensen on Tuesday, April 4th, 2023 in More Top Stories Northeastern Oregon News
LA GRANDE – (Release from Grande Ronde Hospital) Effective April 3, 2023, at 12:01 AM, Grande Ronde Hospital lifted our masking requirements in alignment with updated public health guidance from the Oregon Health Authority (OHA) and Oregon’s Occupational Safety and Health Authority (OSHA).
On March 3, the OHA had announced they would rescind provisions requiring workers, patients and visitors in health care settings to wear masks. This change was due to data supporting the overall decline, and the expected continuation of that trend, of last fall’s surge of respiratory pathogens.
On Friday, March 31, Oregon’s OSHA released their statement that they also would rescind their “COVID-19 Workplace Requirements for All Workplaces” in alignment with OHA. GRH had been waiting for this final announcement in state agency alignment before sharing the news with our employees. We were able to do so last Friday afternoon.We want to remind our community that there has always has been, and will continue to be, a need for masking in some patient care situations and settings. We encourage patients who are= sick to please continue to mask when coming into one of our facilities for care. In addition, there may be patients, visitors and staff who choose to continue to mask per their personal comfort level.
