NEW YORK – February is usually the peak of flu season, with doctors’ offices and hospitals suffering from patients. But not this year.
Influenza has virtually disappeared from the US, with reports coming in at much lower levels than anything seen in decades.
Experts believe that measures to ward off coronavirus – mask wear, social distance and virtual training – have been a major factor in preventing a ‘twindemy’ of flu and COVID-19. A push to get more people vaccinated against the flu has probably also helped, as have fewer people traveling.
Another possible explanation: the coronavirus caused flu and other bugs that are more common in the fall and winter. Scientists do not understand the mechanism behind it, but it will correspond to the patterns seen when certain flu strains dominate over others, said dr. Arnold Monto, a flu expert at the University of Michigan, said.
According to a surveillance system that is about 25 years old, this is the lowest flu season we have had so far, said Lynnette Brammer of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.