NHS hospitals are telling patients, visitors and staff to wear face masks due to rising levels of winter bugs and low vaccine take-up, despite the lack of good evidence that they work. The Telegraph has more.
An early flu season has piled pressure on the health service, with the number of patients in hospital with influenza more than tripling in two weeks.
The rate of hospitalisations from flu increased from 1.8 per 100,000 toward the end of November to 5.53 in the week ending December 8th, data from the U.K. Health Security Agency (UKHSA) show.
Combined with high rates of Covid, vomiting-bug norovirus and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) in children, some NHS hospitals have ushered in a return to face masks.
Hospitals across Lincolnshire introduced mandatory face masks for patients and visitors across some areas on Friday.
The United Lincolnshire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust said: “The additional infection prevention and control measure is being re-introduced in some high-risk areas due to an increase in respiratory illnesses such as COVID-19, Influenza A and RSV in the county’s hospitals and community settings.”
Read more: NHS Hospitals Bring Back Mask Mandates
