As of March 6, all facilities located within the Jackson VA Health Care System are at level HIGH.

The Veterans Health Administration's (VHA) recent changes to its COVID-19 Operational Plan provide more flexibility to medical centers in regard to masking requirements. In alignment with the updated plan, the Jackson VA Health Care System will continue to base our masking guidelines on health protection levels.

Additionally, the three VHA COVID-19 Health Protection Levels – low, medium, and high – align with CDC’s Community Transmission levels, which are based on new COVID cases and percentage of positive tests.

Under HIGH protection levels, universal masking is required in all areas frequented by Veterans, visitors, and employees.

There are two exceptions—where masks are required regardless of health protection level or health care facility conditions:

• High-risk areas such as chemotherapy units, acute inpatient medical/surgical units, intensive care units, post-transplant units, dialysis units, etc. universally require masking.
• Individuals with suspected or confirmed COVID-19 or other viral respiratory infections will be required to mask.

COVID Health Protection levels will continue to be monitored and updated to reflect any changes each week. Any changes to the current health protection level will be displayed at facility entrances, email notifications and social media.

Visit www.va.gov/coronavirus-veteran-frequently-asked-questions/ for questions and answers regarding the VHA COVID-19 Health Protection Levels.

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