VIRUS PRECAUTIONS STALL FLU TRANSMISSION
Dramatic drop in flu deaths seen in kids, adults this season
In the shadow of the past year’s coronavirus surge came a less noticeable, but more positive infectiousdisease trend: Influenza and other common viruses have nearly disappeared.
The flu is circulating at such low levels that officials know of only one child in the United States who has died of it this flu season, a striking deviation from the dozens of pediatric deaths in other recent years.
This season’s death toll is a marked decline from the 2019-2020 flu season, when the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported 195 children died of the flu. While influenza typically keeps circulating in March and April, experts say a combination of coronavirus precautions and existing immunity has so far nearly eradicated infection levels and, by extension, deaths.
“I think that that obliteration of the flu epidemic, which was seen globally, tells us that the way that influenza is transmitted from one person to another might really have been impacted by the use of masks, more than anything else,” said Flor Munoz, a member of the American Academy of Pediatrics’ infectious diseases committee.
Influenza spreads reliably each fall and winter, although with different dominant strains and at varying levels. But this year’s coronavirus pandemic has caused many people to keep their distance from others, avoid travel and work from home, stalling flu transmission.
Widespread mask-wearing may be particularly helpful because face coverings limit the spread of the droplets that carry influenza, Munoz said. A dominant pathogen, like the coronavirus that causes COVID-19, can also crowd out other viruses by conferring partial immunity to them. Combined with the flu vaccine and existing immunity, those factors have made flu circulation nearly negligible.
The result has been that only about 0.1 percent of flu tests are coming back positive, compared with 20 to 30 percent at this time in other years, said Lynnette Brammer, who leads the CDC’s domestic influenza surveillance team. Adults are also experiencing a dramatic drop in influenza deaths, with about 450 so far this season, compared with roughly 22,000 last year.