At least five NHS trusts in England have brought back mask requirements due to Covid’s autumn resurgence and some are also reimposing social distancing guidelines with threats of future of visitor bans. The Mail has the story.
Sites in Suffolk, Essex and Gloucestershire now require all visitors to wear face coverings when in their hospitals. Some are also asking patients to wear masks and reimposing social distancing guidelines, in scenes reminiscent of the earliest days of the pandemic.
Although coverings have been sentenced to history in daily life, trust bosses have argued that hospitals are “not the same as a supermarket or a restaurant”.
Patients on wards already tend to be very unwell, meaning they are particularly vulnerable to the brutal effects of Covid and other respiratory infections.
Stricter rules – including visitor bans – could be brought in over the coming weeks if virus rates and admissions continue to trend upwards, health chiefs have hinted.
Some academics have already called for a widespread return of face masks in public settings, in order to thwart the spread of the virus this winter. But the Government has made no hint that a return of pandemic curbs are on the horizon, even in the face of spiralling cases.
The Princess of Wales was pictured wearing a covering today while surrounded by masked NHS medics during a visit to the Royal Surrey County Hospital’s maternity unit in Guildford.
Hospitals were told to move back to pre-pandemic practices in June, ushering in one of the final stages of No. 10’s ‘living with Covid’ plan.
Guidance set out that masks could be brought back in healthcare settings to reduce the spread of the virus, if local infection rates increased. Decisions were left in the hands of local health chiefs, as opposed to blanket rules.
The U.K. Health Security Agency guidance still sets out that all NHS medics should keep wearing masks when working with Covid patients and those vulnerable to the virus. All confirmed cases should also be masked when in hospital.
Latest surveillance data suggests Covid is on the rise in England, fuelled by what experts say is the combination of a ‘back-to-school’ effect and waning immunity against infection.
Is this supposed to be living with Covid? Have they not noticed yet that the masks and distancing aren’t achieving anything?
Worth reading in full.
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