April 23. Atrium Health is now requiring everyone entering one of its facilities to wear a mask, including patients, permitted visitors and vendors.

Atrium Health staff is already wearing masks while at work, whether or not their responsibilities include direct patient contact.

All patients arriving at acute care, skilled nursing or behavioral health facilities will need to be masked and will wear a mask anytime they leave their room, including therapy sessions and going for tests.

Any visitors and vendors who are permitted to enter these facilities will also be required to wear a mask. Patients, visitors and vendors may wear their own masks or will be issued a surgical mask, if they don’t have one.

On Friday, April 3, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommended that Americans wear “cloth face coverings fashioned from household items or made at home from common materials … as an additional, voluntary public health measure.”