Cloth mouth masks will no longer be allowed in Flemish care institutions. Visitors will be required to wear a surgical mask, while healthcare staff at a range of establishments will be required to wear an FFP2 face mask. Care Team Leader Karen Moikins has learned that this has been identified before.
Cloth face masks are prohibited to both employees and visitors in residential care centers, rehabilitation centers, psychiatric homes, and institutions for people with disabilities.
Some hospitals are also moving away from cloth face masks. For example, AZ Groeninge in Kortrijk announced on Wednesday that from Friday “only surgical nose masks for the mouth are allowed”.
The Care Task Force is also expanding the commitment to FFP2 mouth masks for employees, which has been in place in residential care centers since Monday, to other institutions. This will also apply in day care centers, convalescent homes, psychiatric care homes and the PWD sector where vulnerable people are cared for, Moykens says.
Elsewhere in the disability sector and rehabilitation centers, FFP2 masks will be recommended. And in family and home care, we look at where and when this mask is needed.
In all Flemish care institutions, employees who have had high-risk contact will have to wear an FFP2 mask for ten days after such contact, said the head of the care working group.
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