Face Masks Are Back! Mutant Flu Sees Return To Masks As Cases Soar To Crisis Levels
It’s winter time which means there’s a new extra-mutated ‘superflu’ doing the rounds, and it’s hit so hard and early this year that experts are suggesting we mask up like the good old days of Covid-19 and the pandemic.
NHS staff and patients are already masking up in some hospitals, with Frimley NHS Foundation Trust announcing today that staff ‘will wear fluid-resistant surgical masks due to ‘the current high number of flu cases in our hospitals and the local community’.
They follow hospitals in Surrey, Sussex, and Swindon, in bringing back masks in A&E, and other clinical areas.
Rita Arora, a pharmacist with C.E. Harrod in Fulham, London, says face masks and hand sanitisers are flying off the shelves, just like during the pandemic era.
She told Metro: ‘People are treating it like they were treating Covid. They’re employing the same kind of mentality around don’t want to get sick, don’t want to spread anything.’
This year’s flu season is being driven by a new strain of H3N2 with seven mutations, which means it’s really good at evading immunity. There are currently three times more patients hospitalised with flu in London than there were this time last year, and the NHS is fully expecting a ‘historic crisis’, to the point they’re advising people to ‘stay home‘.
Professor Nicola Lewis, World Influenza Centre director at the Francis Crick Institute, said: ‘We haven’t seen a virus like this for a while, these dynamics are unusual. H3 is always a hotter virus, it’s a nastier virus, it’s more impactful on the population.’
Great Western Hospitals NHS Trust said: ‘Latest data shows a significant rise in flu cases at Great Western Hospital, with flu hospitalisations increasing by 63% in the past week, and with more mixing and socialising expected in the run-up to Christmas, the numbers are likely to rise further.
‘To help reduce the spread of infection and keep everyone safe, we are asking all staff, patients and visitors to wear a face mask or face covering in our admission areas, including our Emergency Department, Children’s Emergency Unit, Medical Assessment Unit, Paediatric Assessment Unit, Surgical Assessment Unit, The Meadows, Neonatal Unit and Delivery Suite.
‘It is also highly recommended that staff, patients and visitors wear a face mask in other clinical areas in the hospital.
‘Face masks will be provided on arrival to the hospital, for those who are clinically able to wear one.’
A lot of people will be freaking out at this news and believe it’s a precursor to another full-on lockdown or something, but I think we’re a long way away from plastic barriers in shops, facial visors and social distancing. This is basically the same thing that happens every year, even though they’re insisting it’s extra bad this winter. I guess it will only get worse over Christmas as people start meeting up and mingling, but as is the case every winter, it won’t be nearly as bad as the media makes out. Well, at least we hope not, anyway.
For the rich old man who was called a ‘creep’ for offering a man $100k to take her mask off on the plane, click HERE.
