Essentia Health Patients + Visitors Encouraged To Wear Masks

If you're planning on visiting any Essentia Health facility, you are encouraged to wear your own cloth mask to help limit the spread of COVID-19.

According to officials with Essentia Health:

This follows recent guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that encourages all people to wear face coverings in places like clinics and hospitals, where it’s not always practical to maintain six feet of separation between individuals.

If you do not have your own mask, Essentia Health will provide one for you.

Until now, Essentia Health hospital staff and some clinic staff involved in direct patient care have been practicing continuous wearing of a Level 1 procedure mask. Now, all Essentia Health staff will be wearing masks.

The reason behind this is the documented fact that people infected with COVID-19 are able to transmit the virus to others while remaining asymptomatic.

If you have your own mask, please wear it to Essentia Health.  While they will provide masks for those who don't have them, it does take away from staff inventory whenever they have to provide for patients and visitors.

You can check out the video below for instructions on how to make your own mask to wear in public.