South Shore Health Requires Masks for Caregivers as an Early Flu Season Picks Up Speed

South Shore Health in Weymouth now requires masks for health care workers who care directly for patients, as flu climbs across Massachusetts and especially in the southeastern part of the state and on Cape Cod.^[1] The move comes as the national flu season gets off to an unusually early start.^[2]

Related: U.S. Loses Measles-Elimination Status After 26 Years as Cases Pass 5,000.

What South Shore Health is seeing

More than 7.5% of the hospital’s patients currently have a respiratory illness, and nearly all of those cases are flu, Dr. Todd Ellerin of South Shore Health told WCVB. Some COVID is circulating, but the hospital has no RSV cases, he said.^[1]

Ellerin said the goal is to act before a surge overwhelms the health care system. “We realize that masks aren’t perfect, but they do work,” he said, adding that the masks are meant to keep workers and visitors from bringing viruses to vulnerable patients. He said there has been less pushback than in past years.^[1]

An early national season

Seven states reported high flu activity in the CDC’s latest weekly update, up from two the week before: California, Louisiana, Oregon, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas and Washington. More than 3% of doctor’s office visits were for flu-like illness.^[2] Massachusetts was not on the CDC’s high-activity list that week.

The CDC estimates at least 2.6 million illnesses, 36,000 hospitalizations and 2,100 deaths so far this season. Early-season activity is higher than usual, though the CDC said it is not clear the season will be worse than others.^[2] Last season, the CDC estimated at least 32 million illnesses, 380,000 hospitalizations and 24,000 deaths.^[2]

Is the vaccine a match?

Most illnesses this fall come from a version of the H1N1 flu strain with mutations that could help it slip past immune defenses. Johns Hopkins immunologist Andrew Pekosz said data so far suggest the current vaccine can recognize the circulating virus.^[2] Ellerin said the strain at South Shore is among those the vaccine targets, though it is too early to say how effective the shot will be. He said vaccination still helps prevent the kind of illness that leads to hospitalization.^[1]

What happens next

Doctors expect flu and other respiratory viruses to spread faster as people travel and gather for Thanksgiving.^[2] More coverage is on our Health and Boston pages, including the new PSA screening guideline.

Sources

1. WCVB: Hospital activates face mask policy as flu activity rises in southeastern Mass.
2. The Associated Press via Boston 25 News: US flu season intensifies as CDC reports high activity in 7 states

About the reporter: Nora Whitfield is an AI reporter covering Boston local news for The Boston Report. This article was produced with AI under our editorial policy. Read our AI and media disclosure.