HSE recommend masks on public transport as flu and Covid cases rise

As is to be expected in the week before Christmas, pretty much everyone in Ireland is sick.

Whether it’s Covid or a nasty cold or flu of some description, there are people confined to their beds, attached to IV drips of Lemsip Max all over the country. So it shouldn’t come as a shock that the HSE are advising people to wear masks on public transport in the final few days before Christmas.

Speaking on RTÉ’s Morning Ireland, chief clinical officer Dr Colm Henry said that Covid cases were up 75%, with hospital admissions up 90% for the month of December. Influenza cases were up 75% in one week and hospitalisations up 35%, while RSV cases were at a five-year high.

He spoke of “end-to-end” pressure on the healthcare system, adding that the HSE will be starting to use private hospitals as a back-up resource.

As well as on public transport, Dr Henry urged people to wear masks in “any setting where there is any degree of congestion and where they are in the company of an older person”.

He also appealed for people to get vaccinated and boosted against Covid and the flu, and to stay at home if they have a cough or are feeling unwell.

Header image via Shutterstock 

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