Healthcare Personnel Masking: Current Practices and Gaps in Standardized Thresholds

Among 172 healthcare institutions, masking policies varied widely, with seasonal or situational risk-based masking the most common approach and few institutions using fixed epidemiologic thresholds to guide decisions. The findings demonstrate a lack of standardized criteria for healthcare personnel masking and support development of more consistent, data-driven frameworks.

Gibas KM, Head T, Broadley M, Mermel LA. Healthcare personnel masking: current practices and gaps in standardized thresholds. Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol. 2026;47(8):815-822.