People walk outside wearing masks throughout the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic within the Harlem area of the Manhattan borough of Recent York City, Recent York, February 10, 2022.
Carlo Allegri | Reuters
The Centers for Disease Control Prevention on Monday encouraged people to wear masks to assist reduce the spread of respiratory illnesses this season as Covid, flu and RSV flow into at the identical time.
CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky, in a call with reporters, said wearing a mask is one among several on a regular basis precautions that folks can take to scale back their possibilities of catching or spreading a respiratory virus throughout the busy holiday season.
“We also encourage you to wear a high-quality, well-fitting mask to stop the spread of respiratory illnesses,” said Walensky, adding that folks living in areas with high levels of Covid transmission should especially consider masking.
The CDC director said the agency is considering expanding its system of Covid community levels to take note of other respiratory viruses corresponding to the flu. The system is the premise for when CDC advises the general public to wear masks. But Walensky encouraged people to take proactive motion.
“One needn’t wait on CDC motion as a way to put a mask on,” Walensky said. “We’d encourage all of those preventive measures — hand washing, staying home if you’re sick, masking, increased ventilation — during respiratory virus season, but especially in areas of high Covid-19 community levels.”
About 5% of the U.S. population lives in counties where the CDC is officially recommending masks as a result of high Covid levels. The CDC continues to recommend masking for anyone travelling by plane, train, bus or other types of public transportation, Walensky said.
Individuals with weak immune systems and those that otherwise face a heightened risk of severe disease must also consider wearing a mask, the CDC director said.
Walensky strongly encouraged everyone eligible to receive their flu shot and Covid booster. Flu vaccination coverage is lagging for at-risk groups — children under age 5, pregnant women, and at-risk seniors — compared with last yr, the CDC director said. There isn’t a vaccine for RSV.
“I need to emphasise that the flu vaccine could be life saving and importantly, there’s still time to get vaccinated to be protected against flu this season and its potential serious consequences,” Walensky said.
The flu has arrived early and hit the U.S. hard with hospitalizations at a decade high for this time of yr. Greater than 8.7 million people have fallen in poor health, 78,000 have been hospitalized, and 4,500 people have died from the flu this season, in accordance with CDC data. Fourteen children have died from the flu up to now this season.
Greater than 19,000 people were hospitalized with the flu throughout the week ending Nov. 26, nearly double the previous week, in accordance with CDC data.
People hospitalized with Covid also increased 27% throughout the week ending Dec. 2, in accordance with CDC data. And respiratory syncytial virus, or RSV, has been hospitalizing children at higher rate than in previous years. Walensky said RSV appears to have peaked within the Southeast and should be leveling off within the Mid-Atlantic, Recent England and Midwest though circulation of the virus stays high in much of the nation.
“We now face yet one more surge of illness. One other moment of overstretched capability and really one among tragic and sometimes preventable sadness,” Walensky said, as she thanked health-care employees for his or her service throughout the repeated surges of illness they’ve confronted because the Covid pandemic began.
Dr. Sandra Fryhofer, board chair of the American Medical Association, said the circulation of Covid, flu and RSV at the identical is a “an ideal storm for a terrible holiday season.” Fryhofer said she understands many persons are uninterested in receiving repeated Covid shots, but getting vaccinated is the perfect method to avoiding falling in poor health over the vacations.
“You could possibly get really, really sick this yr and damage your holiday celebrations for those who do not get vaccinated,” Fryhofer said during Monday’s call.
The Kid’s Hospital Association and the American Academy of Pediatrics last month asked the Biden administration to declare a public health emergency in response to the surge of pediatric hospitalizations from RSV and the flu.
Correction: Dr. Walensky said this season is “one other moment of overstretched capability and really one among tragic and sometimes preventable sadness.” This story has been updated to properly reflect the quote.
