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Did you know anyone who had the flu this year? The U.S. saw historically low levels of influenza this past season. The precautions we took against transmitting COVID-19 has everything to do with it. In the 2019-20 season, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s national map of flu activity showed so many active cases that in some states, the CDC designated the incidence “very high.” This year, the map showed “calm activity” on the CDC’S public health radar. We are talking very low numbers: In late March, labs reporting to the CDC had just 1,585 samples test positive for flu of any kind. Last year over the same period, there were more than 183,000 positive samples. “Nobody has seen a flu season this low, ever,” says William Schaffner, MD, an infectious disease expert at Vanderbilt University.
Flu numbers are down in Canada, too. “It's absolutely incredible to have a complete non-event flu season,” says Isaac Bogoch, MD, an infectious disease specialist at the Toronto General Hospital Research Institute. “I didn't admit one person with influenza during the Christmas block at Toronto General Hospital in 2020.”
All these medical experts - and many more whose commentary I’ve read - agree that the precautions people have been taking to prevent contracting or spreading COVID-19, including masking, social distancing, frequent hand-washing, and being less mobile, as well as getting a flu vaccine, also reduced the flu.
So far, the CDC says nearly 194 million doses of flu vaccine have been distributed in the U.S. this flu season, topping last year by about 20 million doses. Another factor was less adult contact with kids, who shed flu virus for longer than adults do, a day or two before they show symptoms, says Jennifer Nayak, MD, a pediatric infectious disease specialist at the University of Rochester Medical School. “Shedding virus – whether flu or COVID-19 - before you are symptomatic makes it really hard to contain an infection,” she says. “Young children sneeze, cough, and slobber on adult caregivers, making them very good at spreading germs.” But, many kids were kept home this winter for virtual classes, and birthday parties were canceled. In other words, fewer kids had less frequent contact with adults, so flu contagion was significantly contained.
There’s an important message here that I can’t emphasize enough: When your doctor counsels that it’s safe for you to do so, get vaccinated against flu and COVID-19. It’s the smart and right thing to do. Don’t depend on herd immunity. You have a responsibility to be part of the herd to protect others, as well as yourself.
Helen Susan Edelman Livesmart Project Director Livesmart@classroomenrichment.org Facebook.com/crlivesmart