As the world focuses on COVID-19, it seems that flu – that other contagious respiratory disease caused by a virus – has almost disappeared.
Influenza activity is “extremely low” for this time of year, the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention said in its latest weekly report on U.S. influenza surveillance.
“The CDC is modest – the lowest is for flu,” said Dr. William Schaffner, professor of infectious diseases at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine in Nashville, Tennessee, said TODAY.
“The flu virus is not spreading in our population as usual.”
He and his colleagues have been doing flu surveillance since the 1990s and have never seen the level of disease near this low point, Schaffner noted.
Flu activity is “significantly down”, said dr. Nisa Maruthur, a primary care physician and associate professor of medicine at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, added.
About 136 people were hospitalized between 1 October 2020 and 16 January 2021 due to the flu, and there were 292 deaths related to flu during the period, reports the CDC. One child died.
The flu season is far from over – it usually starts in the fall and peaks between December and February.
But in comparison, 400,000 people were hospitalized for flu and 22,000 died, including 434 children, during the entire 2019-2020 season, which the CDC described as ‘serious’ for children aged 4 and under, and for adults of 18-49 years. old.
The flu activity charts look very different for the same week in January 2020, compared to 2021, with most states reporting minimal activity this year:
In 2020, high or very high flu activity dominated the map:
The change is not surprising, as the flu virus spreads through respiratory droplets, similar to the new coronavirus, and that people wear masks, take social distances and pay attention to hand hygiene to avoid COVID-19, says Dr. Waleed Javaid, Director of Infection Prevention. and control at Mount Sinai Downtown in New York.
“Fewer people are outside the environment, and hopefully people are even less likely to be outside if they are symptomatic,” Maruthur added. “In normal years, people who are symptomatic usually do not feel the same need to stay home.”
But the biggest contributor has to do with children, who are usually ‘the big spread engine’ for flu, Schaffner noted. Children are very contagious because they make more flu viruses than adults and shed it for longer periods of time.
But during the coronavirus epidemic, many children learn either from home or they wear masks and social distance at school.
“Children are not infected and do not bring the virus home to their elders,” Schaffner said.
This is why he thinks that the incredibly low flu activity during the coronavirus crisis will not be repeated in the coming years.
Yet masked wear can survive the epidemic, especially as it has become known to humans in recent years, Javaid said.
‘Would it be a best practice in the winter season to wear a mask? I tend to say yes, ”he remarks. “I think we should seriously consider using masks to reduce the flu season.”
It could reduce flu hospitals and deaths in the coming years, but there is no impact if only a few Americans continue to wear masks in the future flu seasons, experts say.
Some people already declare that they will maintain the mask habit as they have not had the snuff or any other cold and flu symptoms since the coronavirus.
Other lessons are that physical distance, the flu shot and staying home if you are symptomatic are also very effective, Maruthur added. More than 193 million doses of flu vaccine have been distributed since mid-January, the CDC said.
“We’re all used to people wearing masks now – it does not matter. I think we see a lot more of that and more careful behavior during the flu season, ”Schaffner noted.
“Wear your masks, social distance – do such things annually. I think we will see a lot more of the messages because it is now more socially acceptable and familiar to a lot of people. ”
Does a lighter than normal flu season so far this year mean the next one more problematic? Influenza is ‘very strange’, so there is no way to predict what will happen in 2022, said dr. John Torres, medical correspondent for NBC News, said. The main message is to get a flu shot in the fall, and still get one if you still do not have the flu activity popping up in the coming weeks.
