WATERTOWN, New York (WWNY) – A significant uptick in Covid cases has one health system telling people to wear masks at its facilities.

Samaritan Health is now requiring masks to be worn in patient care areas as well as public areas in their buildings, including the hospital, cancer treatment center, and senior living care facilities. Other Samaritan facilities will ask you to use a mask if you’re showing symptoms.

It’s because Covid cases at the hospital’s emergency department have jumped 675 percent.

During the week of October 22, the ER saw 4 cases of Covid. Last week, that number hit 31.

“Especially around these holidays you want to keep everyone as healthy as possible and make sure you’re doing what we call good source control, keeping symptoms at bay, keeping people masked when they have any respiratory illness at all,” said spokesperson Leslie DiStefano.

The new masking policy at Samaritan will stay in place until cases retreat.

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