Masks Debate Resurfaces During Super Flu

 
With the Christmas social season just getting going this is the best time to be a virus as people mingle and spread god knows what to each other which is why the NHS are warning that a record number of flu patients are currently in hospital and people should weigh up the merits of wearing face coverings.
Downing Street have said only that wearing a mask to help prevent the spread of respiratory illness: 'Was something people can consider' but they are urging those who haven't already had the flu jab to drag themselves somewhere with a nurse waiting for them with a syringe.
The problem this year seems to be that the Flu version currently doing the rounds is particularly transmissible and i have heard it referred to as a 'SuperFlu' by medical professionals a few times already which sounds scary as anyone who has had a non Super Flu will know, it is not fun and can be downright dangerous and have long lasting effects so if we can do something to prevent giving the misery to others, why not?
Wearing a mask when in close proximity to others is something simple we can do and as we found out in the Covid years, getting vaccinated, washing and sanitising hands, wearing masks and keeping our distance works and shouldn't be controversial although there are some whack-jobs who will try and argue otherwise but we know how that ends up, ask Meatloaf but you would need to do it via a Medium because just after wanging on about Covid being a hoax and all the precautions unneeded, he sadly discovered it wasn't a hoax and they were very much needed.
So what is so super about this particular variant when flu season it is an annual event anyway?
Professor Meghana Pandit, NHS national medical director, explained that this partuclar variant, influenza A/H3N2 to give it the proper title,  has been around since 1968 and there have been over a dozen such changes in that time but what is so special about this type is that it has started earlier than normal flu season which usually peaks after the Christmas get together's but this time has reached the numbers you generally see peak in early January and that means it is much more in circulation before getting its Christmas Bonus of parties and get together's.
Based on the data from the UK Health Security Agency, it is younger people getting infected more as their immune systems are less experienced at dealing with flu viruses and this particular strain is great at finding an immunity gap in children that isn’t present in other age group so adults are less likely to become infected overall, as they typically have an immune system which is more experience and resistance with the influenza, having already been exposed to many flu viruses over their lives.
The recommendations from the NHS this year are therefore getting vaccinated is still the best thing you can do to protect yourself and if you are sick, stay home and rest and take sensible precautions to avoid spreading the virus to others which includes masks which as we found out during Covid, are worn not to prevent you from catching a virus but to prevent the wearer from expelling virus-laden respiratory droplets into the air when coughing, speaking, or breathing for some other poor sod to breath in.