In hospitals, viruses are everywhere. Masks are not.

Amid an uptick in Covid infections, administrators, staff and patients are divided on the need for masks in health care settings health.

Liv Grace suffered from respiratory infections three times in four months. Each occurred after a visit to a medical provider in the Bay Area.

Mx. Grace, 36, a writer who uses both genders, was infected with respiratory syncytial virus, which led to pneumonia, in December after being treated by a nurse wearing a surgical mask who complained that her children were sick with the virus.

Mx. Grace contracted Covid after a visit to a cancer center for an infusion in February. And there was the pale, coughing phlebotomist who drew blood in April, just before coming down with Covid again.

Mx. Grace was born with a rare immune deficiency linked to lupus and takes a drug that depletes the cells that produce antibodies. This combination leaves the body unable to fend off pathogens or recover quickly from infections.

Since the start of the pandemic, Mx. Grace rarely ventured anywhere other than health care settings. But hospitals, by their nature, tend to be hotbeds for disease, including Covid, even when community rates are relatively low.

“People like me who are very high risk and very sensitive people will always get sick when we are sitting in virus soup,” Mx. Grace said.

Facing a potential wave of coronavirus infections this fall and winter, relatively few hospitals – mainly in New York, Massachusetts and California – reinstated mask requirements for patients and staff members. The vast majority have not, and almost none require it for visitors.

As of Thursday, several Bay Area counties had announced the requirement to wear a mask for health care facility staff treating serious illnesses. -at-risk patients, including infusion centers, beginning November 1.

The order does not apply to Berkeley facilities, including the Alta Bates Summit Center, part of Sutter Health. network - where Mx. Grace was treated.

“We continue to monitor the impact of Covid-19 in our communities and work with state and local health departments to ensure any additional masking and public health. “The requirements are embedded in our policies,” a Sutter Health spokeswoman said in a statement.

Among patients, healthcare workers and experts In public health, opinions are sharply divided on whether and when to institute masking mandates in hospitals.

Brigham and Women's Hospital, which is part of the Mass General Brigham system, currently requires masks only in hospital settings. Yet some of its own experts disagree with this policy.

Hospitals have an ethical obligation to prevent patients from becoming infected on site , regardless of what they might choose to do elsewhere, said Dr. Michael Klompas, a hospital epidemiologist at Brigham and Women's. he said about patience...