COVID-19 Outbreak Information Updates (Reboot) [over 150.000,000 US cases (est.), 6,422,520 US hospitilizations, 1,148,691 US deaths.]

ƒMasking can feel like a thing of the past in the US, even in cities such as New York and Los Angeles that once embraced the precaution.

But as healthcare facilities grapple with a “tripledemic” of respiratory viruses – with Covid, flu and RSV surging simultaneously – experts are once again urging the public to don face coverings.

“I would not go into a grocery store without a mask,” says John Swartzberg, clinical professor emeritus of infectious diseases and vaccinology at the University of California, Berkeley.

“I wouldn’t go into rapid transit without a mask. I wouldn’t go into an airplane or be in an airport without a mask,” nor would he attend a crowded outdoor event such as a concert without one, Swartzberg says.

Still, after nearly three years of mixed messaging from officials, with many Americans seeming to have moved on from Covid – and a president who has said “the pandemic is over” even as hundreds die every day – will anyone listen?

As of 2 December, the CDC reported a seven-day average of 4,201 Covid hospitalizations and 254 deaths. Meanwhile, the flu and RSV seasons have come unusually early, with flu hospitalizations at their highest in a decade.

On 2 December, the agency reported 8.7m cases of the flu, including 78,000 hospitalizations and 4,500 deaths, this season. And we haven’t seen the worst yet, given that it’s been less than two weeks since Thanksgiving, with many more holiday gatherings to come, Swartzberg says.

The good news: “Masks work against Covid, masks work against RSV, masks work against influenza and masks work against other respiratory viruses,” Swartzberg says. “They really do work to help prevent people from getting infected and the consequences of that infection.”…….

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news...demic-covid-flu-rsv-us?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other