LEBANON— Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center resumed masking requirements for its staff on Monday in response to increasing rates of respiratory illnesses.

Staff are now required to wear masks when entering patient rooms and treatment areas, Cassidy Smith, a spokeswoman for DHMC, said in an email Thursday. However, unless a staff member is symptomatic or has had a recent COVID-19 exposure, masks are not required at workstations or in shared spaces such as hallways and cafeterias.

Patients and visitors who do not have respiratory symptoms are encouraged, but not required, to wear masks in DHMC’s facilities.

“These measures are in line with those taken at the majority of academic medical centers in New England,” according to Smith, who added that Cheshire Medical Center in Keene, N.H., New London Hospital, and Mt. Ascutney Hospital and Health Center in Windsor, other members of the Dartmouth Health system, have also returned to masking. Alice Peck Day Memorial Hospital in Lebanon, another DH member, had not yet resumed masking as of Thursday, Smith said.

This is the first time that DHMC has amended its mask policy since April 10, 2023, when the medical center loosened COVID-related restrictions and made masks optional for asymptomatic patients and visitors.

Valley Regional Hospital in Claremont, Gifford Medical Center in Randolph, and Woodsville’s Cottage Hospital have not changed their mask policies as of Thursday afternoon. Wearing a mask is optional for both staff and patients at those institutions.

Hospitals in New Hampshire are seeing increasing numbers of patients and staff with respiratory illnesses, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that elevated trends are being seen across most areas of the country, the New Hampshire Hospital Association announced in a press release Wednesday.

The increases are expected “given the time of year and a lack of universal masking in the general public,” Maryellen Apelquist, a spokeswoman at Gifford Medical Center in Randolph, said in an email Thursday. She noted that masks are readily available at hospital entrances and that “patients who are experiencing symptoms are asked to mask.”

In the last two weeks of December, the number of patients seeking treatment for respiratory illness in New Hampshire jumped significantly and remains at a high level, according to the CDC’s index of activity levels. Although Vermont saw some increase in the same period, its level of respiratory illness remains low, according to the same CDC data.

Hospitalizations related to COVID-19 have been trending upward since August, and in the first week of January, Vermont saw 59 new admissions of patients with COVID-19.

In New Hampshire, the Department of Health and Human Services reports that 72 hospitalized patients were treated for COVID-19 on Jan. 4.

The increase in patients seeking treatment for respiratory illness threatens to put a strain on resources in some hospitals. The New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services’ data shows that only 10.2% of staffed hospital beds statewide are available. The New Hampshire Hospital Association on Wednesday attributed the high levels of occupancy to workforce shortages, a high level of demand, and “a continued inability to discharge patients due to constraints being experienced in long-term care and home care.”

“Hospitals are busy and beds are full,” the hospital association statement read.

As of mid-December, CDC hospital occupancy data indicates that approximately 70% of all staffed beds in Vermont are occupied.

The hospital association reminds people to stay current with vaccines and immunizations, including flu, RSV and COVID-19, and to “remain vi gilant about basic health care and hygiene, such as regular handwashing to stay healthy.” It also encour ages the wearing of masks in crowde d indoor spaces.

The Thetford Volunteer Fire Department announced Wednesday that it has partnered with the State of Vermont to make free COVID tests available to residents on Friday, Jan. 12, from 1:30 to 4:30 p.m. at the Thetford Hill station located at 2829 Route 113. More pickup dates will be posted soon.

Christina Dolan can be reached at cdolan@vnews.com or 603-727-3208.