Respiratory infections are on the rise in Island County, prompting the implementation of a mask mandate at WhidbeyHealth.

Conor O’Brien, the medical center’s public relations manager, confirmed that beginning Jan. 7, patients, visitors and staff will need to be masked in all clinics and hospital settings. The mandate will remain in place indefinitely.

WhidbeyHealth officials made the decision Tuesday morning and posted an announcement on Facebook that afternoon. O’Brien explained the mask mandate is intended to prevent the spread of infections in an environment where high-risk patients and health care workers are in close, frequent contact.

The most recent available data from the county reports that 16.7% of residents’ emergency department visits during the week of Dec. 28 were for acute respiratory infections, ranging anywhere from those as mild as the common cold to those as severe as COVID-19. Influenza and respiratory syncytial virus, or RSV, are on the rise specifically. Currently, 2.9% of emergency visits are for the flu, and 0.8% for RSV.

Emergency visits for COVID-19 are few, decreasing since the WhidbeyHealth hospital system performed nearly 20 positive COVID-19 tests in September, the county reports.

Health care facilities located within the North Sound Accountable Community of Health — serving Island, San Juan, Skagit, Snohomish and Whatcom counties — now collectively surpass a 14% threshold for respiratory infection-related emergency visits. At that point, Island County Public Health recommends implementing mask mandates on the premises of such facilities.

According to the county, 3% of emergency visits in the North Sound region are for the flu and 0.8% for RSV.

O’Brien explained that mask mandates can be repealed once the region is below the 14% threshold for two consecutive weeks; the threshold is calculated by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

“Island County and the North Sound ACH region have just met the threshold,” he explained. “The greater Seattle-area health care organizations have been under masking mandates since mid-December.”

Statewide, 16.4% of emergency visits were for respiratory infections the week of Dec. 28, according to Washington’s Department of Health. The flu, RSV and COVID-19 are increasing throughout the state as well.

O’Brien added that “mandatory masking protocols will be reviewed every week or as new epidemiological data become available.”