Mason Health gears up for illness season

Washington’s COVID state of emergency ended Oct. 31, but for Mason Health and General, not much has changed.

“There’s a big health care exclusion. We have to continue masking … patients, visitors, staff — we all continue to mask,” Chief Nursing Officer Melissa Strong told the Journal. “That is a requirement. We have expanded our visitor hours, we went back to pretty much pre-pandemic visiting hours.”

COVID is not over.

Kimberly Cooper, program manager for infection prevention and employee health and safety, said Mason County is one of eight counties in the state at high transmission levels. Ac...