We continue to monitor respiratory virus activity (such as flu, COVID-19, RSV, and others) throughout the year. At Mass General Brigham, we tailor several actions, based on the respiratory virus level in the community. Throughout the year, regardless of the level of circulating viruses, you will see:

• Reminders to:
  • Practice respiratory hygiene and cough etiquette. This means covering your mouth when you cough/sneeze and washing hands afterwards.
  • Tell your care team if you are not feeling well before appointments.
• Testing of patients with symptoms of respiratory viruses as appropriate for current circulating viruses

We are monitoring respiratory virus activity for the 2025-2026 season. You will see different actions taken based on increasing levels of respiratory virus activity over the season:

• Mild/moderate levels of respiratory virus activity in the community. When we are in the mild/moderate level, you will see:
  • Reminders to:
    • Get vaccinated.
    • Practice respiratory hygiene and cough etiquette. This means covering your mouth when you cough/sneeze and washing hands afterwards.
    • Tell your care team if you are not feeling well before appointments.
• High levels of respiratory virus activity in the community. At the high level, you will see us take additional actions:
  • Your care team and other staff will wear a facility-issued face mask during direct interactions with patients in patient rooms and other clinical care areas where direct care is provided.
  • Patients and visitors will be strongly encouraged to wear a facility-issued face mask during direct interactions with staff in patient rooms and clinical care areas where direct care is provided. Patients and visitors do not have to mask if they prefer not to.
  • Masking is not required in lobbies and other common areas.

See below for a more detailed explanation about what data are used to determine mild/moderate and high virus activity levels.

Mass General Brigham relies on a measure from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) U.S. Outpatient Influenza-like Illness Surveillance Network (ILINet). 

ILINet has data from all 50 states, Puerto Rico, the District of Columbia, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. More than 110 million patient visits were reported during the 2022-23 season.

ILINet monitors to see how common virus illness symptoms are. These are the symptoms of fever plus cough or sore throat. CDC provides this data broken down by geographic region. The country is divided into 10 regions. All Mass General Brigham locations are within Region 1.

As a reminder, regardless of the time of year, please contact your care team if you have any of the following below before an in-person appointment:

• Have a fever or other flu-like symptoms
• Have an infection with a respiratory virus in the past 10 days

At any time of the year, patients should mask if they:

• Have a fever or other flu-like symptoms
• Have an infection with a respiratory virus in the past 10 days
  

You may wear your own N95 respirator or mask. If you choose to do this, you must wear a facility-issued mask on top. We ask all patients who are wearing masks to do this because some patients are required to wear masks. By wearing one of our masks on top of your home mask, it helps us know that the mask you are wearing is clean and effective. Thank you for understanding.

We are committed to ensuring that patients can access medical care in a safe and appropriate manner. We always take appropriate precautions to protect all patients. Our policies are based on public health guidance and that of our infection control experts. There are circumstances when masking is an appropriate medical intervention. In those circumstances, caregivers and/or patients will continue to mask, per our policies. Patients can ask, but providers determine when and if masking in a particular situation is clinically necessary.

We will always consider any requests for accommodations as required by the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Any requests of this nature should be made to your provider.