As flu cases spike, is it time to start wearing masks again?

By Paul Hunter, Professor of Medicine, University of East Anglia

With flu season arriving early and NHS leaders encouraging people with symptoms to wear masks in public, a question arises: do masks actually work against the flu?

The short answer is that the evidence remains surprisingly weak. Studies conducted before the COVID pandemic generally found that masks made little to no difference in the spread of flu in everyday settings. There is little reason to think this has changed, although the COVID pandemic has taught us more about when masks can be helpful in reducing the spread of respiratory diseases.

This matters because flu cases…

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