Australian Medical Association pleading with Aussies to wear masks again
Australia’s peak medical body wants masks back for all indoor settings as a “dreadful” flu strain and Covid-19 overwhelm hospitals.
Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews says there are no plans to reintroduce mask mandates in indoor settings despite Australia’s peak medical body urging Aussies to voluntarily wear masks indoors.
A “dreadful” strain of influenza has gone from “zero to 100 faster than your favourite electric car”, says the president of the Victorian branch of the Australian Medical Association, Dr Roderick McRae.
He says the flu and Covid-19 together are wreaking havoc on GP clinics and hospitals around the country where the sickest people are not receiving adequate care and ambulances are being forced to wait on ramps.
And part of the problem is that Aussies have stopped wearing masks – even on public transport where in Victoria at least it remains mandatory to do so.
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The AMA is not calling for a reintroduction of mask mandates that proved so unpopular with many, but instead is asking people to take some responsibility to keep others safe.
“The community needs to decide what’s most important – not prejudicing the public hospital system or going to five football matches over five days a week,” he told The Age.
“Today the public hospital system is in crisis. We’ve heard of nothing but ambulance ramping from summer. It’s only set to get worse.”
Dr McRae told ABC Radio on Tuesday morning that pediatric departments are “clogged” and people need to make a sensible decision that is about more than just themselves.
“[Influenza] is rife in the community. The symptoms are very similar to Covid-19 because the body can only react in a couple of ways,” he said.
“Influenza is a dreadful dose or combination this year, and the nation is relatively unexposed because of Covid-19.
“What we’re coming down to is this massive conflict. [On one hand people are saying] ‘I just want to do what I want to do because I know best’ and [on the other] is community good.
“I’d invite [people] to pop down to their closest hospital to get an experience of the ambulances that are outside, to look at the staff as they’re leaving a shift.
“The staff just aren’t able to provide the level of care to the patients that need care.”
He said people should ideally be wearing N95 or filtration masks but “any old mask” helps because, “it makes people think, ‘Oh yeah, there’s something going around’”.
“All of these respiratory illnesses can be transmitted by you to an innocent party before you know you’ve got it,” Dr McRae said.
“We have a massive rub going on. It’s the senior members of our community with underlying chronic illnesses who are [most susceptible].”
My beautiful daughter who did everything including wearing KP295 masks everywhere she went, has tested positive for covid. The rest of us are sick but testing negative so far. I have a chronic lung condition and autistic daughter. Beyond angry at this let it rip business!
— Clementine_Ja (@Clementine_Ja) May 16, 2022
Speaking to reporters on Tuesday, Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews said there are no plans to bring back mask mandates but it would be up to the Health Minister Martin Foley to make a call on that.
“As you know, the law of our state vests those power with the Health Minister,” he said.
“I don’t believe he has advice to do that.
“It’s probably best to refer those matters to him.
“He consults with a group of people but it’s not approved by me or the Cabinet.
“They are, rightly, the important responsibilities that Martin Foley has.”
On Monday experts warned that kids are going to be hit equally hard.
Professor Ian Barr, deputy director of the WHO Collaborating Centre for Reference and Research on Influenza, told 3AW it’s the first major appearance of the flu in two years that have otherwise been dominated by coronavirus.
“[The resurgence] is likely to affect a lot more kids, that’s for sure. Whether it’s any worse or not remains to be seen.
“Certainly been a big upswing of influenza in Melbourne and the east coast of Australia over the past six weeks.
“There’s a difference between this flu and other flus – in young children these symptoms will persist, you’ll have fever, cough, muscle soreness and fatigue.”
It comes as Australia is bracing for a nationwide triple threat this winter with health experts warning of a surge in flu, cold and Covid cases.
A new report released this month revealed Australia has recorded almost 3000 influenza cases so far this year – its highest number of reports since 2019.
The 2022 influenza report card highlighted the country’s low influenza vaccination rate, representing only 11 per cent of the population.
Infectious disease expert Robert Booy told NCA NewsWire that both influenza and Covid were highly contagious viral infections that could lead to serious illness, hospitalisation or even death.
Australia is not the only country where authorities are urging the public to wear masks again.
The New York Times reports that Manhattan health officials on Monday strongly recommended “all individuals wear medical-grade masks in offices, grocery stores and other public indoor settings citywide”.
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