Upstate University Hospital employees and visitors will have to mask up again, a hospital spokesperson confirmed Thursday.

The hospital said the change comes after they've seen a rise in COVID-19 cases.

Mandatory masking will be in place for the next three weeks with plans to reassess after seeing the updated data related to COVID-19 rates.

The state Department of Health dropped masking guidance for hospitals in February of this year, nearly three years after the rules went into place at the start of the pandemic.

As far as other regional health centers, St. Joseph's Health and Crouse Hospital both said at this time, they are not implementing any changes to their current masking policies.