Ohio hospitals take their masks off
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Illustration: Natalie Peeples/Axios
Many local health care providers and their patients can now see each other's faces again for the first time in roughly three years.
What's happening: Central Ohio's three adult hospital systems — OhioHealth, Mount Carmel and OSU Wexner Medical Center — ended their COVID-19 mask mandates today for staff, visitors and asymptomatic patients.
- Nationwide Children's Hospital ended its mandate Monday, a spokesperson tells Axios.
Why it matters: The hospital policies were the final major COVID restrictions in place locally.
- Rescinding them doesn't mean the pandemic is technically over, but it's another signal that most folks and places are behaving like it has ended.
State of play: In a joint statement, adult hospital officials said "decreasing COVID-19 and influenza-related illnesses and increasing immunity in the region" led to the decision.
- As of Thursday, 457 Ohioans were hospitalized for COVID, according to the Ohio Hospital Association's dashboard.
- During the Omicron variant's peak in January 2022, that daily number surpassed 6,700.
- Vaccines are now available for everyone over 6 months old — though just under 16% of Ohioans had received an updated booster shot as of yesterday, per state data.
Of note: Masks are still required in hospitals' high-risk settings and recommended for people with respiratory symptoms.
What they're saying: The official end of a pandemic, much like its start, can be difficult for epidemiologists to measure because of a lack of consistent testing, Ayaz Hyder, an assistant professor with OSU's College of Public Health, tells Axios.
- The pandemic was defined for many by "the limitations that it placed on their behaviors and their lifestyle," he says, and now people must assess their own individual risks when making choices.
Reality check: A national public health emergency is still in place. The World Health Organization still considers COVID a pandemic and a public health emergency of international concern.
- The national health emergency is expected to end May 11, which will impact the pricing and coverage of tests and vaccines, Axios' Tina Reed reports.
Meanwhile, President Biden signed a resolution on Monday ending the national COVID emergency, which ceases flexibility for federal programs like Medicare and Medicaid.
Bonus: COVID milestone dates
May 15, 2020: Outdoor dining, bars and salons reopened after first closing in mid-March.
- Indoor dining resumed May 21.
May 19, 2020: First statewide stay-at-home order rescinded.
Feb 11, 2021: Statewide curfew order rescinded.
June 2, 2021: Statewide mask mandate, building capacity limits and social distancing rules rescinded.
June 18, 2021: Ohio's state of emergency lifted.
Aug. 26, 2021: Columbus City Schools returns students to fully in-person classes, the last local district to do so.
Jan. 26, 2022: Universal contact tracing discontinued.
March 7, 2022: Final citywide mask mandate rescinded.
- City schools followed suit on March 8 and OSU on March 11.