Hospitals and health care facilities should drop mask requirements, medical experts say

In the Annals of Internal Medicine, several physicians — including infectious disease specialists — wrote that it’s time to remove masking requirements in health care facilities.

In an April 18 journal entry in the Annals of Internal Medicine, an academic medical journal, several physicians — including infectious disease specialists — wrote that it’s time to remove masking requirements in health care facilities. "We should adapt mask policies to reflect this new reality." "Masks do have downsides, such as impaired communication and disrupted human connection." "Universal masking in health care is a policy whose time has come and gone ... for now." Melissa Rudy is health editor and a member of the lifestyle team at Fox News Digital. 

"While critically important in the earlier phases of the pandemic, we’ve entered a more stable phase, with substantial population-level immunity, durable protection against severe disease, a series of less virulent variants, and other important and favorable changes," said corresponding author Erica S. Shenoy, M.D., PhD, in a press release.