JOLIET, IL — While AMITA Health Saint Joseph Medical Center continues to treat a rising number of coronavirus patients, hospital officials are advising their nurses to continue to reuse the same surgical mask until it falls apart, an email obtained by Joliet Patch shows.

Starting Friday, all employees within the medical center are required to wear a surgical mask inside the building. The only exception will be if employees are eating and ensuring 6-foot distancing, or when employees are in their offices by themselves with their door closed, the document indicates. "Masks will be distributed at the hospital entrances, along with a paper bag in order to support its reuse," wrote Lynn Watson, chief nursing officer/vice president patient care services in an email to employees obtained by Patch.

As a result of Watson's email, Patch has learned that some hospital employees now fear they may get the coronavirus or inadvertently spread the virus because of the directive requiring reuse of masks until they are falling apart. "This mask should be re-used until it has lost its integrity," Watson wrote, citing as examples the surgical mask being soiled, damp and ripped. "Please ensure you take this mask/bag combination home with you so you can mask upon entering the building each day. At this time, we are not endorsing cloth masks."

Watson's email explained to AMITA St. Joe's nursing staff that the N95 masks are not being distributed to the vast majority of employees who work at the hospital.