Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, takes off his face mask June 23, 2020, before testifying before a House Committee on Energy and Commerce.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, takes off his face mask June 23, 2020, before testifying before a House Committee on Energy and Commerce.
Kevin Dietsch/The Associated Press
A woman wearing a face mask and face shield gets ready for her routine COVID-19 throat swab Dec. 7 at a coronavirus testing site in Beijing.
The Oregon Health Authority and some doctors are telling people, including children, to wear masks again indoors during the Christmas holiday season citing recent rises in COVID-19, influenza and RSV cases.
The state’s top epidemiologist said Thursday, Dec. 8 the COVID-19 pandemic “is not over” and some doctors are instructing Oregonians to keep children away from “crowded indoor places” including stores and parties as Christmas and other holidays approach.
The state health agency and some Oregon physicians are making a renewed push for wearing masks. They point to increased hospital visits related to the three viruses.
“Masking works,” said Wendy Hasson, M.D., medical director of the pediatric intensive care unit at Randall Children’s Hospital at Legacy Emanuel Medical Center in Portland. “Anytime you have to go to an indoor crowded area during this surge, if you and your child can wear a mask, that will help protect the (health care) resources.”
Other doctors also joined Dean Sidelinger, M.D., OHA’s health officer and state epidemiologist, pushing for renewed indoor mask wearing. He called the current situation at Oregon hospitals “extremely serious.”
“Today, more hospitals are reaching a point of crisis in their adult bed capacity just as our pediatric hospitals moved to crisis care standards in the past two weeks,” Sidelinger said. “The combination of surging flu, RSV and COVID-19 cases is pushing hospitals past their current ICU bed capacity, which never happened during the darkest days of the COVID-19 pandemic in Oregon.”
He said the state saw an RSV upswing in October and November that continues to strain hospital systems.
“While the worst of RSV is behind us, many sick children will continue to require specialized care during the weeks to come,” Sidelinger said.
OHA said gatherings should be postponed or nixed “if your family includes young children, older adults or individuals with underlying conditions.”
Flu cases also are up in the Pacific Northwest and across the country. “We do expect flu activity to maintain its upward trajectory into the winter, particularly as the holiday season and gatherings with loved ones continue,” he said.
The state’s epidemiologist also said the COVID-19 pandemic “is not over” pointing to a 30% rise in intensive care unit (ICU) hospitalizations across Oregon during the past month.
Doctors joining OHA called for COVID-19 and other vaccinations and to have kids avoid indoor places and events.
“Now is not the time to go to crowded indoor places like indoor birthday parties, play places, restaurants, grocery stores,” Hasson said. “Anything you can do to keep your child out of a crowded indoor area will help.”
The move comes as Twitter owner Elon Musk reignited debates over COVID-19 mandates and shutdowns by sardonically calling for the prosecution of Dr. Anthony Fauci, the U.S. government’s and Biden administration’s lead doctor on the COVID-19 pandemic.
“My pronouns are Prosecute/Fauci,” said Musk stirring an already contentious debate over vaccine mandates, COVID-19 shutdowns and the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic which began in China in late 2019.
There have been more than 1.08 million deaths in the U.S. and 8,892 deaths in Oregon attributed to the coronavirus since early 2020, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control.
More than 75% of COVID-19 deaths in the U.S. were among patients ages 65 and older and more than 93% of pandemic deaths are among those ages 50 and older, according to the CDC.
