Remember masks? You know, the things that various clinical studies have shown can particularly decrease the transmission of respiratory viruses?Well, as hospitalizations from Covid-19 and the flu continued to rise, hospitals in California, Illinois, Massachusetts, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Washington, and Wisconsin (guess what) reinstated the requirement to wear face masks.
This shouldn’t come as too much of a surprise. After all, hospitals are regularly the place where people with health problems go. This includes other people suffering from various medical conditions, such as heart disease and cancer, that make them highly vulnerable to more severe consequences from Covid-19 and influenza. Hospitals are also the place where people in poor health pass. other people die when they are in poor health with Covid-19 or the flu. And having other people who really shouldn’t be exposed to severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) mixing unprotected with those who are more likely to bring SARS-CoV-2, in the words of this song by Olivia Rodripass. That’s a bad idea, right?
While many hospitals in EE. UU. no required masks for much of 2023, so you might see everyone’s beautiful noses and mouths, December saw a reversal of that stance in other parts of the country. For example, in Massachusetts, Mass General Brigham Hospitals now requires health care personnel to wear masks when interacting directly with patients, as long as the rate of respiratory illness among patients remains above 2. 85%. The Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston has implemented the need for masks for patients since Dec. 18.
In Illinois, Cook County Health indicates on its website that “CCH will be requiring masks for all staff, patients and visitors (age 2 and older) in waiting rooms and exam rooms beginning on Tuesday, December 26.” The CCH website went on to say, “Masks have been shown to significantly reduce transmission of COVID-19 and other viral illnesses. Wearing a mask can help protect yourself and others.”
In Pennsylvania, the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center’s online page says, “Beginning Dec. 20, all other individuals will be required to wear a mask upon entering or indoors in all UPMC areas. “It clarifies that this requirement “applies to all people, including patients, visitors, staff and others,” with the exception of children over 2 years of age and younger.
In California, the Los Angeles County Public Health online page says: “The entire body of physical care workers working in licensed physical care facilities providing inpatient care in Los Angeles County, regardless of vaccination status against COVID-19 or against the flu, MUST wear a respiratory mask when in contact with patients or when running in patient care spaces when the COVID-19 hospital admission point in Los Angeles County meets or exceeds the CDC average point.
If you take a look at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s map of respiratory virus grades, you’ll see that California is brown, as are Nevada, Colorado, Virginia, North Carolina, New Jersey, and New York City. Brown means that the state or lately the city has “very high” degrees of respiratory virus activity. The states where the degrees are even higher (the highest of the highest) are the ones in a purple haze, namely New Mexico, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Tennessee, Georgia. and Carolina del Sur. De fact, a good part of the U. S. states. U. S. states have activity above “moderate,” with Pennsylvania, Texas, Ohio, Florida, and other states in the upper activity range.
Is this winter increase surprising? In the words of Dr. Evil from the Austin Powers movies: “What if not? The last 3 years have been marked by a winter surge in Covid-19 cases that began in November. So guess what will happen in November 2023? Yes, another wave of Covid-19. Covid-19 hospitalizations and deaths have continued to rise during the last two-month high. They increased 16. 7% and 10%, respectively, in the week before the 23rd December, according to the CDC Covid data tracker.
These numbers shouldn’t come as a surprise, as political leaders haven’t done much to prevent the spread of the virus in 2023, other than perhaps telling others to get vaccinated. Vaccination can lessen the threat of more severe Covid outcomes. -19 and perhaps the threat of igniting to some extent. But the Covid-19 vaccine is not like the measles vaccine. Vaccination alone will not prevent the spread of the virus. The key is to overlap other interventions, such as wearing a mask and filtering and purifying indoor air. Otherwise, the chances of you getting inflamed are still quite high if other people around you cough, sneeze, sing, or exhale SARS-CoV-2 into the air, even if you’ve been triple, quadruple, or quintuple vaccinated.
The challenge is that many other people seem to act as if SARS-CoV-2 no longer exists or as if Covid-19 is no worse than a cold. Both assumptions would be false, as false as a gong in a bathroom. The virus is still circulating. He continues to kill other people. People are still on ventilators. This still causes a lot of Covid.