More U.S. hospitals are requiring masks and limiting visitors as health officials face an expected but still nasty post-holiday spike in flu, COVID-19 and other illnesses.
While many experts say this season likely won’t prove to be as deadly as some other recent winters, it still could mean hundreds of thousands of hospitalizations and many thousands of deaths across the country.
New York City last week instituted a mask mandate for the city’s 11 public hospitals. Similar measures were ordered last week at some hospitals in Los Angeles and Massachusetts. Some hospitals reinstated masking rules for employees months ago, in anticipation of a seasonal rush of sick people.
A slightly higher pollen count in the air can make it “harder to breathe”. Hell, someone who doesn’t understand how to wear cologne/perfume makes it “harder to breathe”. Entertaining that even slightly just emboldens the idiots.
But yeah. Masking every day from 9 to 5 (or 4 to 23…) sucks. I would kind of expect the associated callouses to be developed by this point, but I do “get it” at the crazier hospitals/floors. But the waiting rooms and lab techs tend to have significantly more “down time” while also having a LOT more exposure to people who are actively sick. Which, ignoring covid for the moment… is still shitty.