The Illinois State Dental Society asked Gov. J.B. Pritzker to update the state's COVID-19 protocols for healthcare facilities to be in line with changes made by the CDC.
The CDC updated its recommendations for healthcare personnel Sept. 23, including clarifying that screening testing of asymptomatic healthcare personnel should be at the discretion of the healthcare facility and indicating that healthcare facilities could choose not to require universal source control, such as masking, when community transmission levels are not high.
According to the state dental group, Illinois has not updated its executive order to align with these changes, and still requires that dental offices test unvaccinated staff weekly and enforce universal masking. The group said in an Oct. 12 news release that this difference has caused confusion among dental practices and asked Gov. Pritzker to update the state's executive order to reflect the CDC's recommendations.