A fringe of the scientific advisors to various Western governments for the COVID epidemic have given interviews where they advocate for mask-wearing and social distancing to continue in perpetuity even after COVID because of influenza, but they seem to assume it would only make sense if everyone wore a mask all the time. Influenza spreaders often spread the virus before they start to feel ill and think to put a mask on.
Given how much less dangerous influenza is I would expect even half measures to have a marked effect. We don't need to stamp it out entirely, we just need to curb it. The shot helps, but so would wearing masks when you're obviously sick.
In 2019-2020 Alberta had 1,595 hospitalized and 41 deaths. This year Alberta had 0 cases of lab tested influenza. That's how much of an effect the current COVID restrictions and renewed awareness of the flu vaccine had on the virus. I'm sure just wearing a mask when you're obviously sick would help close that gap.
I'm curious if that's just because zero flu cultures were ordered this year. People may have had the flu and covid, but they weren't testing for the flu.
My feeling from speaking to doctors (including an ENT specialist) is that while in our perception Covid eclipses everything else, for them it's just another infection on top of everything else.
So I would be very surprised (and see no indication) that doctors suddenly stopped doing standard diagnostics.
Everyone presenting with flu-like symptoms at the clinics and hospitals that are part of the surveillance system get tested for about 30 pathogens. No one has stopped testing for flu.
Alberta has a population of 4 million people. 1,595 hospitalized and 41 deaths will simply strike many people as insignificant against that population, too small to justify lifestyle changes like wearing a mask. Considering how even during this time of COVID, many people have been observing restrictions only because they were warned the healthcare system might collapse (and thus affect them, too), not because they felt a drive to save every single life – and now that vaccines are being rolled out and the largest danger seems to have passed, masks are coming off left and right.
Why all the time? Can't we identify conditions where flu is most likely to spread and encourage mask wearing specifically in those situations? When things are back to normal I will probably still wear my mask on the subway for example, especially during rush hour in the winter. But walking around outside I would feel no need. I'm not sure exactly where the right balance would be as far as public willingness versus effectiveness in preventing spread, but it's definitely not going to be "everybody should wear masks all the time".
Just want to touch on the last sentence--putting a mask on once you feel sick can still lower the amount of people you give a virus to since you're lowering the number of days that you are easily transmitting.
I think wearing a mask when you feel sick and possibly masking up en masse for certain seasons of the year, if it has a measurable impact, is worth it. I really don't mid wearing my mask so if Nov., Dec., and Jan. I have to wear a mask in stores I really don't care at all.
