Disclosed are techniques related to wireless communication system in which a network node is allowed to puncture a reference signal (RS) to deliver high priority data (e.g., URLLC data) to a user equipment (UE) that is not currently being served by the network node. In an aspect, the RS comprises a puncturable subset and an unpuncturable subset. In an aspect, the puncturable subset comprises resources of the RS that are allowed to be punctured, and the unpuncturable subset comprises resources of the RS that are prohibited from being punctured. In an aspect, the network node transmits the RS such that unpuncturable subset indicates whether or not the puncturable subset of the RS has or has not been punctured.