In Southern California, most hospitals never ended their mask mandates after the COVID-19 pandemic. But now, more mandates are returning. ...
Hospitalizations are up sharply in major cities, including Los Angeles, New York and Chicago.
Health officials are advising the immunocompromised to mask in public to prevent illness, and in Wisconsin, a major health care group is reinstating a mask mandate beginning next week.
Some of the highest levels of influenza are now in Western states, several of which have already topped the peaks recorded during the worst of last winter's flu season.
Combined infection with bird flu and human flu could lead to mutations of new viruses that could have dangerous public health consequences, agencies have warned.
This is following the news that mutations of bird flu have occurred within a Louisiana patient and a teenager from Canada who both suffered with severe symptoms, potentially raising the risk of serious human infection among others.
