Masking at Healthcare Facilities

I agree. My family member is 75 with a complete heart block and I have to ask every time for healthcare workers to mask… one heart group refused to mask. We are leaving them.

AMEN! I have lung cancer and pulmonary fibrosis - even though I look healthy - and it would be extremely dangerous for me to catch any respiratory disease! I wear a N95 mask when I go out in public but it is very difficult for me to breathe through it.
I always ask my medical people (and my hairdresser) to wear a mask. I submitted a formal complaint after I went to local ED/Urgent Care for a Covid test over the weekend last January. I told them I was there for a test because I had symptoms, they had me sitting in the waiting room with everybody else. I got called right away for triage because my oxygen levels drop with exertion and the nurse wasn't wearing a mask. He knows I am there for a Covid test and he is not wearing a mask!!!! Then they have me wait back in the waiting room with everyone else! What idiots.

And not just Covid but also flu can kill you if you have lung problems! In Feb a family member had lung cancer, caught the flu and immediately died.

I 100 percent agree with you . It makes me so upset , that health care providers are not masking at all anymore . I am still masking . My husband has cancer and even at cancer facilities, no one is masking ! Horrible !

So awful and upsetting!!! I get so upset that health care providers are not masking at anymore .

The other things annoys me is social distance. I do not except everyone to be 6ft from me, but yesterday was at Mayo and when elevator arrived it looked like a clown car at circus. The just kept coming out. They were packed in there so tight. It is battle between being nice and saying "Sure we can fit two more" versus saying "Please take next one" . Especially in morning when busy or parking ramps. When I do let door shut rather then adding more people, I get dirty looks. I try to use the less busy elevators when possible, even though I need to walk farther.

Maybe should care mask just for elevator, I think I am more exposed there then anywhere else.

I mask almost everywhere I go, whether it is indoors or outdoors. And keep social distancing. Yes, there are a lot of looks from people, and even "mad dog" stares, but it is my health in question. As an active cancer patient, undergoing chemo, the risk is too great. Yes, I do ask my healthcare people to mask up. Others may not be aware of my health conditions, but I need to advocate for myself. If that means asking someone to mask up, wearing my mask as needed, or avoiding a place altogether, then that is what I do.
Ginger

Definitely carry a quality mask - N95 or KN95. Dr. Osterholm, Infectious Diseases, University of Minnesota - they often interviewed him on TV during Covid...he caught Covid and long Covid. He thought it was because of the time he didn't have his mask in the elevator!
And now there is measles showing up and that is really contagious!
I always watch the elevators at Mayo!

Thanks to each of you who responded to my post with your own masking experiences that validated my own. Medical staff in healthcare settings should be in the vanguard of protecting vulnerable patients' health by wearing a mask when they are caring for them. Many are vulnerable to infections due to immunosuppression, illness or simply advanced age. In the meantime, I plan to continue to mask, and if a care provider does not mask, I will politely ask them to mask. Please continue to post your own experiences or opinions about this.

I tell the receptionist right away when I check in, and have not had a problem

I’m confused about the way people are thinking, I know that in the beginning of the pandemic we were afraid of everything because we knew so little about the virus and how it spreads. Today people have gone in the opposite direction and are living life as though covid is no longer a threat to us. I am a researcher and what I know is that covid is still alive and doing harm to many people but today they report very little about it, sadly many people think that covid has gone and is just another flu or viral infection but only harmful to the sick and elderly people. Recently my eldest son got covid for the third time and he was very sick, the previous times he had covid he hardly noticed anything and tested negative in under a week. It’s not only harmful to the elderly and sick, but rather a continuous threat to all people. I also continue wearing a mask in public places and I don’t give a hoot to those who look at me with disapproval, we have to take responsibility for our own health and continue to make wise decisions to protect ourselves and even those around us.