America’s leading public health official is recommending Americans to wear a mask this flu season to stop the spread of illnesses such as COVID, the flu and RSV.
Mandy Cohen, M.D., MPH, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), said in the video posted to her social media accounts that Americans could take precautions to protect themselves against respiratory illnesses heading into the holidays.
Masks have largely fallen by the wayside in the U.S. A regular sight during the first two years of the pandemic, mask orders have largely vanished across the U.S. Just a fraction of Americans still say they regularly wear a mask outdoors.
However, Dr. Cohen’s warning comes as the CDC once again reported a sharp increase in COVID hospitalizations this week. The number of Americans hospitalized with the virus increased 11% during the week that ended on November 25, an increase of around 20,000.