Flu cases plummet amid Covid precautions

‘The exact timing of flu season varies from year to year, so we cannot be complacent’

The amount of reported cases of influenza in the US reached record lows in December, amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

The Centres for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) “FluView” monitoring page for the week of 13-19 December recorded just 36 positive flu tests across the US.

This figure was dramatically down from the 7,703 cases that were recorded in the same time period in 2019, according to The Washington Examiner.

The positivity rate for influenza in the US also fell significantly in 2020, as only 0.10 per cent of flu tests came back positive, compared to the five year average of 15.8 per cent.

The CDC’s final “FluView” report of 2020 will be released on 4 January, but the CDC continues to state that “seasonal influenza activity in the United States remains lower than usual for this time of year.”

The decrease in the amount of reported cases of influenza in the US has coincided with an increase in flu vaccinations across the country.

As of 4 December 2020, the CDC’s most recent data for flu vaccinations, at least 189.4 million doses of the flu vaccine had been distributed across the US. That is the highest number of doses distributed during a single influenza season.

The CDC also reported that by 28 November 2020, 45.3 million flu vaccinations had been administered to residents in pharmacies, compared to just 31.1 million in 2019.

However, the rates of flu vaccination among children, Hispanic and pregnant people were among the same rates as in 2019.

Health experts have claimed that the decrease in flu cases has also been caused by Covid-19 precautions implemented across the US.

The CDC advised people in the US to wear face masks in public from 4 April 2020, while a majority of states implemented social distancing or stay-at-home orders at various points throughout the year.

Influenza season generally begins in the US in December, but due to a surge in coronavirus cases and deaths in the last quarter of 2020, numerous states brought back Covid-19 orders in the last couple of months of the year to help stop the spread of the virus.

Dr Ellen F Foxman, an immunologist and Yale Medicine Laboratory Medicine physician, told Healthline that the Covid-19 precautions might have helped lower the amount of flu cases last year.

“It is possible that the mitigation measures for SARS-CoV-2 [such as social distancing, remote working, and mask wearing] will help curb the spread of flu [and] other respiratory viruses as well, since these viruses are transmitted in similar ways,” Dr Foxman said.

However, despite the decrease in flu cases last year, Dr Foxman said that the amount of influenza cases could rise if people do not continue being careful.

“The exact timing of flu season varies from year to year, so we cannot be complacent, and it is very important for everyone to get the flu vaccine this year,” she added.

According to Johns Hopkins University, there are now more than 20.6 million people who have tested positive for the coronavirus in the US. The death toll has reached 351,590.