JOHN DAY — With the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s announcement last month that it would be easing COVID-19 guidelines nationwide, the Blue Mountain Hospital District will no longer require masks in non-patient areas of its facilities.

Cam Marlowe, the Blue Mountain Hospital District’s chief executive officer, said the district would roll out the new policies within the next few weeks and designate locations within the organization that are not for patient care. For instance, Marlowe said, the hospital’s boardroom would be one of those such areas where the public would no longer be required to mask up or socially distance.

Additionally, Marlowe said the district would no longer be screening people at the hospital’s front entrance. Instead, according to Marlowe, the hospital would post signs at the door that list the symptoms of the coronavirus and what to do if one is experiencing them. He also said there would be masks and hand sanitizer at the door.

Marlowe said the district’s new guidelines are similar to measures being taken by other hospitals’ measures around the country regarding masking and other COVID-19 prevention methods. However, the hospital’s change in guidelines comes amid an ongoing surge in new COVID-19 cases. The Grant County Health Department announced Monday, Aug. 29, that 40 people in the county had tested positive for coronavirus over the previous week and another resident had succumbed to the virus.

In addition to the Blue Mountain Hospital, the Blue Mountain Hospital District operates the Strawberry Wilderness Clinic, Blue Mountain Care Center and Blue Mountain Home Health and Hospice Agency. The hospital district has about 250 employees.