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31
Dec
Face masks return to doctors' surgery as flu season rages on
As the winter flu epidemic continues to rage, at least one local doctors’ practice has asked affected patients to wear masks when visiting the surgery.
Harrogate's Church Avenue Medical Group, which has more than 11,000 patients on its books, sent out the text message yesterday (December 30) morning:
In light of the significant rise in influenza cases recently, if you have flu-like symptoms, please can you wear a mask if you are coming into the surgery.
We have masks available at reception. Thank you.
The request comes as the NHS continues to grapple with an unusually bad flu season. Numbers of cases started to rise earlier in the season than usual, and this month NHS England said flu hospitalisations had surged by more than half in just one week, plunging the NHS into a “worst case scenario” situation for December.
Just before Christmas, it revealed there were more people in hospital with flu than ever before at this time of year.
A contributory factor has been this winter’s dominant strain of flu. A mutated form of H3N2 virus, named sub-clade K, is believed to be 5-10% more virulent than normal, according to analysis by the Pandemic Sciences Institute at the University of Oxford.
To protect the public, and the smooth running of other services, the NHS has requested that people come forward and book their flu vaccination as early as possible. This can be done online here.
In a clinical review of evidence published in the British Medical Journal (BMJ) earlier this year, 11 experts said that in community settings “any mask use is protective during epidemics, especially if used early, when combined with hand hygiene”.
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