A&E doctor's urgent warning for Brits to start wearing masks again in crowds
Brits must wear face masks again in crowded places - or suffer a "gnawing whole body ache," an A&E doctor has warned.
Cases of coronavirus and flu rose last month and, last week, doctors said at least 100,000 are likely to be at risk of contracting Long Covid soon. When Dr Saleyha Ahsan, an A&E medic, forgot to wear a mask for a short flight recently, she was unwell with a four-week viral illness.
Since her recovery, she's been mindful to always don a mask in crowded places - and has today urged other Brits to follow suit. The medic wrote: "If you want to spend winter without an irritating cough rattling through your chest day and night (you know, that cough doing the rounds in the office, or supermarket) or that gnawing whole body ache, where even your hair hurts — then wear a mask."
A highly infectious strain of Covid known as JN.1 is likely to drive a rise in the virus this month, Sir Andrew Pollard, who is a professor of infection and immunity at the University of Oxford, said. He has spoken out as hospitals across the country have had to close wards, and even declare critical incidents recently for various reasons. Hospitals can only operate effectively - and avoid cancelling operations and appointments - if infection control measures are maintained inside and outside wards, experts say.
A paramedic is seen by a line of ambulances outside a hospital (AFP via Getty Images)A paper published in the BMJ in May 2020 on a retrospective study of 335 people found masks to be 79 per cent effective in reducing transmission from infected people to others, Daily Mail reports. In the publication, Dr Ahsan refers to a study in the Journal of Medical Devices and Sensors in February 2021 found that "correctly wearing masks of all kinds... reduce[s] the overall risks of Covid-19 infection and enhance[s] general protection from coronavirus".
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"I was in A&E a few weekends ago, getting back into clinical work after a break (doing a PhD). The last time I was on was two winters ago during the second wave of Covid," Dr Ahsan continued.
"Walking into the A&E department, it was like time had stood still; people being swabbed for viral infections, many of the tests positive, and patients with respiratory problems being brought in by ambulance — many of them elderly and vulnerable... This time round, it wasn’t just Covid-19: today we’ve got respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) and influenza adding to the virus cocktail floating around us and overwhelming A&E departments."
In mid-December, Mary Ramsay, the director of public health programmes at the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) warned: "Flu levels are starting to rise, so get your vaccine now to get winter strong." Professor Steven Riley, the director general for data and surveillance at UKHSA, said people with respiratory illnesses, including Covid, should limit contact with others particularly older or vulnerable people.
Before Christmas, the Mirror reported how Brits were being urged to "use common sense" to prevent the spread of respiratory diseases. The last official coronavirus restrictions were axed nearly two years ago, much to the concern of some communities.
Dr Catherine Hyams, who works at Southmead Hospital Bristol, told the Mirror: "You really want to see close relatives and be close to them and at the same time, you don't want to put them at risk (if they are vulnerable). These are balanced judgments that each person makes for them and their family.
"These are really difficult decisions but I think using common sense is the best approach. Social contracts are really important to people. They are important to children, important to the elderly, and really important to families. I suppose it's what the great British public do best actually, and it's using common sense."
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