I recently ran across some news in a local paper that got my attention. Masks are back in parts of New York State. From the Hudson Valley Post, December 9, 2025:
Masks have returned to the Hudson Valley, and some places are making them mandatory again.
If you have been out and about in the Hudson Valley lately you may have noticed something you probably hoped you would never see again. Thanks to an already vicious cold and flu season, more and more people have gone back to wearing hospital masks when interacting with the public.
While most of these masks are being worn voluntarily, there are some businesses that are making it mandatory for those who have chosen not to vaccinate.
There’s no universal mask mandate this time around (unless you are an ICE storm trooper, but that’s another story.) That being said, people are being asked to wear masks in businesses and other places where the spread of disease can be a problematic, with those who have not gotten vaccinated for this year’s round of seasonal infections getting asked to cover up. (One of the things that makes Covid so dangerous is that people can be infectious without having any symptoms.)
The call for masking up is based on some concerning numbers:
Health officials say flu, RSV and COVID cases are all rising sharply across New York. NBC New York reports that the week after Thanksgiving brought one of the steepest jumps in flu cases since before the pandemic. There were fourteen thousand five hundred six confirmed cases statewide that week, which was an increase of about eighty percent from the week before. Hospitalizations have also climbed, with doctors reporting a steady stream of RSV and COVID patients on top of all the flu cases.
All of that activity has pushed many health care facilities to tighten rules again. Instead of a blanket policy that hits everyone, the requirement is now aimed at people who skipped their recommended vaccines or boosters. Hospitals say it is an easier way to protect vulnerable patients during the height of respiratory virus season.
emphasis added
There seems to be a rise in flu, RSV, and Covid all over the U.S. and elsewhere in the world, not just in the Hudson Valley according to the University of Minnesota Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy. (CIDRAP)
CIDRAP looks like a good source of reliable health information now that NIH, CDC, and FDA have all been compromised by RFK Jr. and the conspiracy theorists he’s enlisted in his crusade against science. Signing up for CIDRAP newsletters is one way to stay on top of things. — xaxnar
No single protection — be it masks, vaccines, handwashing, etc. — is 100% effective at controlling the spread of the viral diseases that become a problem at this time of year, but each of them (vaccines especially) provides a measure of protection, and combining them makes a huge difference.
One of the things that was learned from the Covid pandemic was that requiring people to wear masks combined with distancing led to a huge drop in flu infections.
Precautions taken to fight the COVID-19 pandemic, including wearing masks and distancing, are likely the major reason for a steep decline of flu cases in the U.S., according to experts.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)* recently reported that it had logged 1,316 positive flu cases in its surveillance network between September 2020 and the end of January 2021. During that same period last year, the CDC had recorded nearly 130,000 cases.
* from 2021, before NIH, CDC and FDA were gutted and turned over to quacks and crazy people.
Politicization of mask mandates was one reason thousands of Americans died during the pandemic. Elsewhere in the world wearing masks was a common practice even before the pandemic. In Japan it ties in with a culture that places a value on consideration for others and cooperation, and it goes back long before Covid.
…Demand for masks increased rapidly in Japan following the spread of influenza in the country starting in 1918. Apparently, informative posters were put up in the streets to encourage people to wear masks at that time. Later, influenza spread again in 1934, and masks grew hugely popular in Japan as a means to prevent infection. From then on, masks became more and more widespread in Japan each time influenza spread. In this way, the practice of wearing a mask if one has a cold or is unwell gradually took root among Japanese people.
Vaccines are still a key element in controlling infectious diseases. TheCriticalMind recently posted about the measles outbreaks affecting hundreds. Measles is notoriously infectious, and vaccination is extremely important in controlling its spread.
There are effective vaccines for flu, RSV, and Covid, and despite what the disinformation claims now coming from Washington DC say, they are safe and make a huge difference. Now that America is entering into an era of deliberate antivaxx policies coming from the Federal government**, wearing masks to prevent spreading disease at this season is more timely than ever.
If you are visiting a hospital, clinic, nursing home, or other location where controlling disease is a concern, you may want to check ahead to see if they have instituted mask policies. Please put something in comments if you are seeing anything about masks where you live, and if you are seeing reports about flu, RSV, and Covid infection numbers. If you are not already vaccinated for this season’s viral strains, you may want to check with your healthcare provider about getting them taken care of before the changes in Obamacare subsidies hit and healthcare gets disrupted.
** No NIH, CDC or FDA recommendations were used in this diary.
