Some Wisconsin Residents With Compromised Immune Systems Feel Betrayed by Removal of Hospital Mask Mandates

Thursday, June 15th, 2023 -- 2:00 PM

(By Jonah Beleckis, Wisconsin Public Radio) When Chamomile Harrison returned to the hospital for another oncology appointment, she noticed the change immediately.

According to Jonah Beleckis with Wisconsin Public Radio, the workers taking her blood for tests were maskless. So were the workers who connected her to machines for an MRI. Harrison’s doctor was massless, as well, until she asked him to put one on.

The hospital had rescinded its masking policies imposed at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, citing low respiratory infection rates and similar decisions from other hospitals across the country. But for Harrison, the retreat meant the return of longtime fears.

For eight years, Harrison has been receiving treatment for a brain tumor. Her body is extremely vulnerable to COVID-19 and other illnesses that are of mild concern to others. A common cold or broken bone could be fatal without treatment, according to her family. When hospitals imposed masking policies during the pandemic, Harrison felt more protected. Now, she feels exposed once again. 

"It felt like a betrayal," she said. "This entire pandemic has felt like one betrayal after another." Harrison, 24, lives in Jefferson County in southeastern Wisconsin with her mother. When they trekked five hours to a Minnesota hospital in April, they estimated a quarter of the people in the hospital were wearing masks.

Some doctors are urging the return of masking mandates at hospitals. Dr. Kaitlin Sundling is a UW Health pathologist and an assistant professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s School of Medicine and Public Health. She is trying to gather public support for overturning UW Health’s decision in early May to scale back its mask mandates.

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