Hospitals, child and long-term care facilities in Longmont will hardly alter their mask wearing practices even after the Boulder County Board of Health Monday voted to lift the county’s indoor mask mandate.
Most will keep their in-house mask mandates to guard against the COVID-19 spread among their most vulnerable populations. They also operate under state and federal rules that still require masking.
The Wild Plum Center, for instance, is a federally funded Head Start and Early Head Start program. Despite Boulder County lifting its mandate, the facility is still under a federal mandate for all staff, volunteers and consultants who work with children to wear masks indoors, said Amy Ogilvie, executive director for Wild Plum, via email.
The federal rule applies to children ages 2 and up, Ogilvie said. “There are some exceptions to this for documented medical reasons and when eating and napping,” she said. “Ultimately, not much changes for us because of the federal mandate.”
Local business owners, however, said the change is welcome and will relieve the tension surrounding masks in the community.
“I miss not recognizing faces and not seeing their smiles when they come into the store,” said Jennifer Ferguson, founder of Bricks gift shop just off Main Street in downtown Longmont. “Last summer, when the mask mandate was lifted, it was like a breath of fresh air. I look forward to that again.”
Devin Quince, co-owner of Simply Bulk in Longmont, said via email that they never had any issues interacting with customers over mask wearing.
Still, Quince said, …”it will be nice to have the tensions removed of having to deal with people unwilling to follow the mandate and the aggression they displayed towards our employees and other customers.”
The county health board lifted a mask requirement for all indoor settings as of Friday as well for all childcare facilities, PK-12 schools, and youth activities regardless of vaccination status. Schools, childcare centers, private businesses and employees may choose to implement their own policy requiring masks for individuals in their space, a Boulder County Health news release states.
There will be no change to mask requirements for patients and visitors to UCHealth facilities in Longmont, said UCHealth spokeswoman Kelly Tracer via email. “All patients and visitors must wear a mask, even if they are vaccinated,” Tracer said.
As of Tuesday, Tracer added, mask guidance for staff, providers, contractors and vendors who are fully vaccinated against COVID-19 changed in non-clinical areas only. Staff and providers who are fully vaccinated are now allowed to remove their masks in certain non-patient and administration areas.
“Everyone must continue wearing masks in all public and patient care areas regardless of vaccination status,” Tracer said.
Across the Centura Health system, including at Centura-Longmont United Hospital, Public Health Orders continue to be followed requiring masks for patients and visitors, said Centura spokesman Kevin Massey, in an email. “...And we are requiring that caregivers be masked as well as in areas where patients or visitors are present,” Massey said.
The Hover Senior Living Community is also continuing to follow state and federal requirements related to masks for employees, said Holly Raymer, executive operations consultant.
