Liv Grace came down with respiratory infections three times over the course of four months. Each occurred after a visit to a medical provider in the San Francisco Bay Area. Grace, 36, a writer who uses they/them pronouns, was infected with respiratory syncytial virus, which led to pneumonia, in December, after they were treated by a nurse wearing a surgical mask who complained about her children being ill with the virus. Grace got COVID after a visit to a cancer center for an infusion in Februar
Facing a potential wave of coronavirus infections this fall and winter, relatively few hospitals mostly in New York, Massachusetts and California have restored mask mandates for patients and staff members. The vast majority have not, and almost none require them for visitors.