MADISON, Wis. – While the COVID-19 pandemic is still raging in the United States, the country is feeling relief from another popular respiratory illness.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and local doctors describe this flu season as extremely mild.
“This one does not feel like a flu season at all,” said Dr. Nasia Safdar, medical director of infection control at UW Health said. “Usually it starts around November, December gives or takes a few weeks, and it lasts until February or March.”
UW Health has so far treated one patient for flu during the 2020/2021 flu season. By this time during the 2019/2020 season, they had treated 971 patients and 149 patients the season before.
.@UWHealth treated one patient for flu this year. NOT ONE. According to doctors, it helps us to protect ourselves against COVID-19 from other respiratory diseases. #New3Now pic.twitter.com/032AW0mFJw
– Gabriella Bachara (@GabbyBachara) 6 February 2021
“Some seasons are better than others, but one where we have almost no cases, I can not remember it happening in recent memory,” Safdar said.
A CDC map shows that the state of Wisconsin and the country have minimal flu activity.
“Historically, almost unprecedentedly,” said Richard Keller, professor of medical history at UW-Madison.
Both Safdar and Keller say there are many contributors to this mild season, of which the COVID-19 precautions are the most obvious.
“Masking, hand hygiene, not big gatherings, all of these things help limit the spread of flu,” Safdar said.
Fewer international trips and fewer tests are also possible causes of the small print.
It is too difficult to say whether people prefer to throw on a mask during future respiratory infection seasons.
“People tend to view flu as a fairly mild, nuisance disease, rather than the killer it can definitely be,” Keller said.
If anyone thinks Safdar hopes people take away the pandemic, it is the recognition that when they are sick, they should stay home.
‘You should not go to school. You should not go to work, ”Safdar said. “It was always the recommendation, but it was applied variably and many people did not necessarily follow it.”
The only downside to a mild flu season is that, according to Keller, it can be difficult to predict which strain might be popular next year and what the vaccination plans.
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