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Hospital staff are appalled.
In an email sent Wednesday, which CNN obtained from a nurse at a Sanford Health hospital, CEO and Chairman Kelby Krabbenhoft addressed 50,000 healthcare system workers, explaining his decision.
“I contracted the virus, I felt the uncertainty that accompanied the word ‘positive’,” he wrote.
“I had late coughs and fatigue … but I’m back in my office,” he added.
And he will be without a mask.
Citing “growing evidence” that he is now immune to the virus, Krabbenhoft said: “the fact that I wear a mask defies the effectiveness and purpose of a mask and sends a false message according to that I am likely to be infected with or that I could transmit it. no interest in using masks as a symbolic gesture. ”
There is not yet much evidence as to whether having been infected once provides immunity against re-infection of the virus, and no evidence as to whether people who have recovered from an infection can pass the virus on to others. There have been several documented cases of people getting infected a second time after recovering from a bout with the virus.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is working to learn more about reinfection and is recommending that people wear masks whether or not they have contracted Covid-19.
“It’s appalling to read this from a hospital CEO,” the Sanford Health nurse, who didn’t want to be named for fear of losing her job, told CNN. “We are supposed to be leaders in the community. How can we be taken seriously when it comes to our CEO?”
Sanford Health, which includes 46 hospitals and 1,400 doctors, is headquartered in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, where city council voted this week to approve a mask mandate. This is the first mask warrant in the state, where Covid-19 cases have skyrocketed since August.
“Kelby Krabbenhoft’s email was based on his own experience with Covid-19 and his personal opinions on the virus. They do not reflect the views of our healthcare system as a whole,” said Micah Aberson, vice-president executive chairman of Sanford Health, in a statement to CNN.
They also took to social media to encourage the wearing of masks on Friday. “Our health care providers have called on our communities to do their part by wearing masks and physically distancing themselves to slow the spread of the virus. This is the best way to reduce the stress on our health system,” published an article on the Sanford Health Facebook page. said.
Masks have been a point of contention in South Dakota, where Governor Kristi Noem has refused to issue a mask warrant. “You can choose to wear a mask and be concerned about the virus. And if people are scared I’ll remind them, they should stay home,” Noem said at a press conference Wednesday.
“The masks have been a token issue that frankly frustrates me,” Krabbenhoft said in the email. “The ‘again, again’ behavior of mask use by the general population violates any notions of serious infectious management that I have been trained to adhere to, so part of that is absurd.”
Krabbenhoft wrote that he was “an old scrub technician from my youth” – part of a team that would work in an operating room – and recognized the importance of masks for people who have not had Covid-19.
“For people who have not contracted the virus and can acquire it and then spread it, it is important for them to know that the masks are just smart to use and in their best interest,” he said. declared.
“When it comes to immunity, science is evolving and we must continue to follow CDC guidelines,” Sanford Health management said in another email to Krabbenhoft on Friday.
“Whether you have had the virus or not, it is recommended to wear a mask when you cannot be socially distant,” the general management’s email said.
As for the number of Covid-19 cases and hospitalizations in the state, Krabbenhoft told South Dakota’s Argus Leader on Thursday that he believes it was under control. “There is no crisis,” he says.
The Sanford Health nurse called her comments a “slap in the face.”
South Dakota is among the states with the highest new cases and hospitalizations per capita in the country over the past week, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.
The CDC guidelines cites a number of studies showing that masks reduce the risk of transmitting or catching the virus by more than 70% in various cases. In multiple scenarios, when officials told people to wear masks, infections and deaths declined dramatically, the CDC noted.
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