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Leading scientists have hit out at a fresh push for Covid-era controls in an effort to stop winter flu.
They say current calls for mask-wearing, school “firebreaks” and bans on singing are unnecessary, unproven and risk harming children.
Their anger comes as hospitalisations surge with an average of 2,660 patients per day in a hospital bed with flu last week – the highest for this time of year.
And it comes as demand for A&Es and ambulance services is soaring with 2.35 million A@E attendances last month, more than 30,000 higher than November last year.
The increased demand comes with thousands of resident doctors set to go on strike from 17-22 December – sparking fears of major disruption for patients ahead of Christmas.
Last week a senior NHS boss urged people with cold or flu symptoms to start masking up in public once more.
But experts say there is no evidence to suggest this year’s wave is more dangerous – they believe it has simply arrived earlier than usual.
Daniel Elkeles, chief executive of NHS Providers, which represents NHS trusts, issued advice strikingly similar to the pandemic.
He said: “When you were talking about anything like Covid, I think we need to get back into the habit that if you are coughing and sneezing, but you’re not unwell enough to not go to work, then you must wear a mask when you’re in public spaces – including on public transport – to stop the chances of you giving your virus to somebody else.”
However Professor Carl Heneghan Director of Oxford University’s Centre for Evidence Based Medicine said mask evidence is clear – and underwhelming: “The best quality studies from over two decades including real world data… shows there is no measurable difference between infection rates in those who wear masks and those who do not,” he said.
He added: “For NHS leaders to suggest people should wear masks is irresponsible as it is not backed by the evidence.”
Dr Colin Axon, a physicist at Brunel University, London, who has studied masks and viral spread, said the common masks used cannot effectively filter out tiny virus-laden particles and are no more useful than “a comfort blanket.”
He said, “Multiple studies since 2008 show there is no good quality evidence that masks make a measurable difference to transmission rates.”
He added that masks also harm communication and create “unbelievable mountains of plastic waste.”
The scientists fear Britain is sliding back into reflex panic, copying Covid measures such as school closures that caused enormous damage to children.
Last week a number of schools brought in snap closures after spikes in absence.
St Martin’s School in Caerphilly shut for a “firebreak” after 250 pupils and staff fell ill.
Congleton High School in Cheshire closed for three days.
Other schools banned singing in assemblies and Christmas performance rehearsals.
Prof Dingwall, a Professor of Sociology at Nottingham Trent University and former member of Nervtag, the government expert panel on epidemics, said the Covid Inquiry had already shown how school closures “severely impacted” children and were “entirely disproportionate to the risk.”
He said the measures were based on poor science and “narrow thinking” as they did not account for harm that school closures had on social, emotional and educational development of children, nor the fact that pupils may rely on schools to escape abuse at home or for a proper meal. He added bans on carols and nativity rehearsals were based on flimsy and now debunked assumptions. “Let the children sing,” he said.
Prof Heneghan also attacked the school closures. He said: “It’s almost as if there is a feeling something must be done, this is something, let’s do it, even though there is no good justification.”
Despite intense headlines, scientists say there is no sign this flu strain is more dangerous.
“These data do not show any sign of a rapid rate of growth that will reach problematic levels… The reality is that rates are no higher than we would expect, but the flu wave appears to have come two weeks earlier than previous years,” one leading expert said.
He added school closures may give a false impression of success: “By the time a school decides to shut down… everyone will already have been exposed… The truth is that the same would have happened had they not shut down.”
Prof Heneghan said the real problem is lack of NHS preparation, not a deadly virus.
“This is not a flu problem, it’s an NHS problem… Every year supermarkets plan for a surge in customers at Christmas that they prepare for. Yet every year we have a surge in viruses in winter and the NHS is not prepared and we panic.”
Health Secretary Wes Streeting said: “There is a tidal wave of flu tearing through our hospitals. We are working with the NHS to make sure it is able to cope with this as best as possible, including already getting over 17 million patients vaccinated, 170,000 more than this time last year, with over 60,000 more NHS staff also getting their jab.
“We have recruited 2,500 more GPs and modernised GP appointment booking, keeping patients cared for in the community and out of hospital…I urge resident doctors not to inflict further damage on the NHS, vote for this deal, and call off the Christmas strikes.”
