Covid-19 precautions are thwarting the flu

Photo: Bloomberg
Photo: Bloomberg

Summary

Masking, social distancing and other efforts to stop the coronavirus are dampening this year’s influenza season

As the coronavirus rages across the US, the country has so far blunted the impact of influenza and other seasonal respiratory viruses.

US laboratories are finding significantly fewer flu cases among tested patients so far this year, compared with previous flu seasons, thanks to efforts to stamp out Covid-19.

“We are seeing very low levels of influenza so far," said Daniel Jernigan, director of the influenza division at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Between mask wearing, social distancing, and measures such as bar closures, “all of those things are impacting influenza," he said.

Clinical laboratories tested 22,474 patient samples, mostly nasal swabs, for influenza during the week ended Dec. 5, and only 40, or 0.2%, came back positive, according to data from the CDC. During the same period last year, more than 11% of over 41,000 samples were positive.

The number of positive flu samples at US public health labs is also lower than in years past, according to the CDC data. These labs are currently processing more patient samples than in previous years because of the explosion of testing for Covid-19.

A less severe flu season is a welcome development during an out-of-control pandemic, say health authorities, who earlier in the year feared that a potentially dangerous collision between the coronavirus and the seasonal flu would overrun doctors’ offices and emergency rooms. Doctors and public health officials urged Americans to get flu shots, and laboratories moved to prepare to distinguish whether feverish, coughing patients have influenza or Covid-19.

In the Southern Hemisphere, Covid-19 precautions practically wiped out the flu this year, offering hope for a lighter flu season in the US and Europe. It wasn’t certain whether the season in the US would follow suit, but influenza’s spread in the country appears to be following a similar pattern.

Flu-related hospitalizations are also down. There haven’t been enough lab-confirmed hospitalizations to meet the CDC’s threshold for beginning to report such data, Dr. Jernigan said. The threshold is 300 hospitalizations. Normally, the US would have passed that mark by now.

“There are a lot of available databanks we have access to, and right now they’re all telling us the same story," said Jeffrey Kahn, the chief of infectious diseases at the Dallas-based Children’s Health hospital system. “There’s very little activity."

A lower number of flu-related hospitalizations is good news for hospitals, public health authorities say, many of which are stretched with Covid-19 patients.

“If you can have increased bed capacity in your hospital because fewer people are getting sick from the flu, that helps you," said Imelda Dacones, president and chief executive officer of Northwest Permanente medical group. A lighter flu season also means fewer doctor’s office visits, so physicians can conserve resources for more severe illnesses or other medical issues, Dr. Dacones said.

Other seasonal viruses have also taken a hit this year, public health authorities say. In September through November of 2019, Children’s Health saw 892 cases of RSV, a common respiratory virus that usually infects children. During that same period in 2020, the system reported a single case.

Flu cases over the same period dropped too, from 722 cases in 2019 to four in 2020.

“That is just astonishing to me," Dr. Kahn added. “The top priority right now is to get this pandemic under control. By doing that, we’re also having a profound effect on some of these other viruses." The lower rates are another sign that Covid-19 mitigation measures are helping to beat back Covid-19 as well, Dr. Kahn says.

The flu season is still in its beginning stages and case rates could change in the coming months, health experts say, especially if people start to drop precautionary measures. Health authorities are still urging people to get flu shots this year. The last time the numbers were comparatively low at this point in the year was during the 2011-12 flu season, which had an increase in cases in late January but remained mild overall, Dr. Jernigan said.

As of early November, roughly 49% of U adults had been vaccinated for the flu this year, up slightly from the 44% who got flu shots over the same period a year ago, according to the CDC.

“The best thing we can hope for is that people get vaccinated, they’ll continue to adhere to mitigations requested, and therefore flu will be kept down as much as it can for the rest of the season," Dr. Jernigan said.

Anthony DeBarros contributed to this article

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