NON-COVID respiratory illnesses plunged in Alberta

As COVID-19 struck Alberta, rates of respiratory illness not related to the novel coronavirus plunged, according to a new study from the University of Calgary and Alberta Health Services.

The stark trend indicates such measures as social distancing and masking taken to prevent the spread of COVID-19 also mitigated an array of respiratory diseases, according to one co-author of the study.

“No one ever anticipated that this would have such a dramatic effect,” said Dr. Eddy Lang, head of the emergency medicine department at the Cumming School of Medicine.

“I think we’ve covered an amazing way to reduce the burden of some of our biggest diseases and the ones that have the greatest burden on our society . . . There’s some potentially important global public health implications to what we’re seeing.”

The study examines the effect of COVID-19 on hospital admissions and emergency department visits between March 15, 2020 — when Alberta entered a state of public health emergency — and Sept. 23, 2020.

In that time, there was a 31 per cent reduction in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) admissions and a 26 per cent reduction in pneumonia admissions. (Postmedia News)