CDC Guidelines Require Masks For All Cook Children’s Employees

Since the beginning of the pandemic, Cook Children’s has followed the latest Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines.

Based on the latest guidance from the CDC, we will continue our current mask mandates for all Cook Children’s employees throughout the system (including areas such as the ROB and Calmont).

As you may have seen, the CDC revised its public indoor mask guidance, allowing most people to go without a mask whilein public indoor settings if they choose. However, those revisions do not include health care settings. Click here to read more from the CDC.

For the general public, the CDC now looks at hospital capacity and COVID-19 cases instead of transmission rates to decide risk levels. The CDC looks at the following to create community levels:

New COVID-19 admission per 100,000 population in 7 days.
The percent of staffed inpatient beds occupied by COVID-19 patients.
Total new COVID-19 cases per 100,000 population in the past 7 days.

For public indoor mask wear, the CDC states that:

At high level: everyone should wear their masks in public settings, including schools.

At medium level: People at higher risk for severe COVID-19 infection, such as the elderly and immunocompromised, should talk to their doctor about wearing a mask.

At low level: the CDC says that most people can go without masks in public settings, but that they should be vaccinated and boosted, and tested if they are sick.

The community spread level in Tarrant County is currently at medium.

For the protection of our employees throughout the system and following the CDC, we will require masks at this time throughout the system. As numbers continue to drop, we will re-evaluate the situation.

Thank you for your cooperation.