NoVA's Top Hospital Systems Launch 'Wear A Mask' Campaign

NORTHERN VIRGINIA — Four of Northern Virginia's top health care organizations started a campaign Wednesday with a simple message about fighting the coronavirus pandemic: Wear a mask.

HCA Northern Virginia, Inova Health System, Novant Health UVA Health System, and Virginia Hospital System came together to fund a “wear a mask” public service campaign that will feature print, digital and social media messages in English and Spanish encouraging the public to wear masks.

Top medical officials at the four hospital systems said they agree that surges in positive coronavirus cases occur in communities where masks are not worn in outdoor and indoor public spaces where people gather.

Recent studies in Health Affairs, The Lancet and other medical journals, compared the growth rate of the coronavirus before and after mask adoption. They show mask adoption led to a significant slowdown in daily coronavirus growth rates over time.

Internationally, countries where large percentages of the public wear masks or mandate them have had significantly lower infection and death rates due to COVID-19.

“In Northern Virginia, we are succeeding, which is one of the reasons we have been able to progress to Phase 3,” Stephen Motew, MD, chief, clinical enterprise at Inova Health System, said in a statement. “Infection and death rates in the region have remained stable and relatively low, but we are not out of the woods.”

According to the Virginia Department of Health, Virginia's new cases of the coronavirus on Wednesday included 205 in the state's eastern region, which includes the Tidewater area, and 203 in more high populated Northern Virginia.

Current hospitalizations vary widely in the state. In the eastern region of Virginia, where mask-wearing is not as common as in Northern Virginia, 508 people were hospitalized with COVID-19 as of Wednesday. Northern Virginia currently has 254 patients hospitalized, up from a low of 183 in late July, but below the 818 patients in hospitals on April 30.

“Science has proven that masks are effective in slowing the transmission of the virus,” said Zan Zaidi, MD, clinical physician executive at Novant Health UVA Health System. “We see this in communities where mask adoption has been embraced — statistics show a reduction in death and infection.”

HCA Northern Virginia includes Dominion Hospital, Reston Hospital Center and StoneSprings Hospital Center. Inova Health System operates five hospitals in Northern Virginia. Novant Health UVA Health System operates hospitals in Manassas, Haymarket and Culpeper. Virginia Hospital Center operates a 394-bed hospital in Arlington.

“We cannot let our guard down,” said Jeffrey DiLisi, MD, senior vice president and chief medical officer of Virginia Hospital Center. “We must keep at it, to protect one another and ourselves from a virus for which there is not yet a vaccine or a cure.”