Royal Alex becomes first Alberta hospital to bring back required masking

Health-care workers, contractors and patients now have to wear masks in some parts of the Royal Alexandra Hospital, in an effort to slow the spread of COVID-19.

The central Edmonton facility became the first to enact the rules under a new Alberta Health Services directive that came into effect Wednesday.

A spokesperson confirmed Friday it is the only hospital to do so, so far.

"The decision to implement the directive was made by site leadership, at a site level," Kerry Williamson told CTV News Edmonton.

"Patients and visitors are not required to wear a mask in these areas, however masking is required for patients, designated support persons and visitors in the Royal Alexandra Hospital emergency department, and labour and delivery assessment/treatment areas."

Williamson stated no patient will be denied services if they refuse to wear a mask.

"AHS continues to respect the choice to voluntarily wear a mask in all areas and encourages those who want to wear a mask to continue to wear one," he wrote.

"Masking is just one strategy out of a package of preventive measures."

Hospital workers, contractors and volunteers have to mask up in "patient-facing areas" but not in places where patients are not allowed, including meeting and break rooms.

There were 12 units of the Royal Alex on COVID-19 outbreak status, as of Tuesday.

In Alberta, there were 857 COVID-19 cases, 145 hospital admissions and seven people in the ICU with the virus from Oct. 1 to 7, according to the latest figures on the province's dashboard.

Sixty-one respiratory virus outbreaks were reported in the province for the same period, the highest count since December.