As Covid-19 and influenza-related hospitalizations have continued to rise, hospitals in California, ... [+]
Remember face masks? You know those things that multiple scientific studies have shown can significantly reduce the transmission of respiratory viruses? Well, as Covid-19 and influenza-related hospitalizations have continued to rise, hospitals in California, Illinois, Massachusetts, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Washington and Wisconsin have been—guess what—reinstituting face-mask requirements.
That shouldn’t be too surprising. After all, hospitals tend to be where sick people go. That includes people who have various medical conditions—such as heart disease and cancer—that make them quite vulnerable to more severe Covid-19 and flu outcomes. Hospitals are also where people often go when they are sick with Covid-19 or the flu. And having people who really shouldn’t be exposed to the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) mixing in an unprotected manner with those more likely to carry the SARS-CoV-2, in the words of that Olivia Rodrigo song, is a bad idea, right?
Although many hospitals around the U.S. did not have face-mask requirements for much of 2023 so that you could see everyone’s beautiful noses and mouths, December saw a reversal of this stance in different parts of the country. For example, in Massachusetts, the Mass General Brigham hospitals are now mandating that healthcare staff must wear face masks when directly interacting with patients as long as the respiratory illness rate among patients remains above 2.85%. The Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston has had face-mask requirements in place for both patients and staff since Decemeber 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 website has the following: “As of Dec. 20, all people must wear a mask when entering or while inside all areas of UPMC.” It says that this requirement “applies to all people, including patients, visitors, staff, and others,’’ with the exception of children aged 2 years old and under.
In California, the Los Angeles County Public Health website says, “All healthcare personnel working in licensed healthcare facilities that provide inpatient care in LA County, regardless of COVID-19 or Influenza vaccination status, ARE REQUIRED TO wear a respiratory mask when in contact with patients or when working in patient-care areas when the COVID-19 Hospital Admission Level in Los Angeles County meets or exceeds the CDC's Medium Level.”
If you look at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention respiratory virus level map, you’ll find that California is colored brown just like Nevada, Colorado, Virginia, North Carolina, New Jersey and New York City. Brown means that the state or city currently has “very high” levels of respiratory virus activity. States with even higher levels—the highest of the very high—are those in a purple haze, namely New Mexico, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Tennessee, Georgia and South Carolina. In fact, well over half the states in the U.S. have above “moderate” activity, with Pennsylvania, Texas, Ohio, Florida and other states being in the high activity range.
Is this winter surge surprising? In the words of Dr. Evil from the Austin Powers movies, “how about no?” The past three years have seen winter surges in Covid-19 cases that have started in November. So, take a wild guess as to what began happening in November 2023? Yes, yet another Covid-19 surge. Covid-19-related hospitalizations and deaths have continued to rise over much of the past couple months. They went up by 16.7% and 10%, respectively, the week leading up to December 23, according to the CDC Covid Data Tracker.
These numbers shouldn’t be too surprising since political leaders haven’t been doing a whole lot to stop the spread of the virus in 2023, except maybe telling people to get vaccinated. Vaccination can reduce the risk of more severe Covid-19 outcomes and perhaps the risk of getting infected to some degree. But the Covid-19 vaccine is not like the measles vaccine. Vaccination alone is not going to really stop the spread of the virus. The key is to layer on other interventions such as face mask use and the filtration and purification of indoor air. Otherwise, chances are still quite high that you will get infected if people around you are coughing, sneezing, singing or breathing out the SARS-CoV-2 into the air, even if you’ve been triply, quadruply or quintuply vaccinated.
The trouble is many people seem to be acting as if the SARS-CoV-2 doesn’t exist anymore or that Covid-19 is no worse than the common cold. Both presumptions would be wrong—wrong as a bathtub gong. The virus is still circulating. It is still killing people. It is still leaving people on ventilators. It is still causing long Covid.
