by Guy Page
Rutland Regional Medical Center (RRMC) has dropped its pandemic-era mandatory masking and vaccination policy, a spokesperson said Monday.
“At the present time, COVID-19 infections rates in our community and among our staff are low,” Director of Communications and Community Relations Kevin Robinson said. “As a result, the hospital has made several changes including relaxing our visitation policy to allow two visitors per patient, lifting mandatory masking in non-patient, non-public areas, and suspending mandatory testing for unvaccinated staff. Should infection rates creep up again, we stand ready to reimplement these policies because they are extremely effective at reducing the spread of COVID.”
The VT Dept. of Health Covid-19 dashboard for today shows 87 cases in Rutland County, compared to the state’s three triple-digit ‘hot spots’ of Chittenden, Washington and Windsor counties.
The Vermont State House also rescinded its mandatory masking policy – except in some employee work spaces and in committee rooms. Masks are still strongly recommended, but not required, in the cafeteria, hallways, and other public spaces.