February was typically the peak of the flu season, like doctors’ offices and hospitals used to be full of suffering patients, but that is not the case this year, too.
The Flu has mostly disappeared from the U.S., as reports register far lower levels than anything seen in many decades.
Experts state that measures imposed to ward against the novel coronavirus – wearing masks, social distancing and online schooling were a significant factor in keeping away from a so-called “twindemic” of COVID-19 and Flu. Increased pressure to get more people vaccinated against the Flu likely helped, too, as did fewer people travelling, experts added.
An alternative explanation is that the coronavirus has muscled aside Flu and other bugs more frequent in the cold season. Scientists don’t completely understand the mechanism that makes that work. Still, it would be on par with patterns previously seen in some flu strains predominate over others, according to Dr Arnold Monto, a University of Michigan flu expert.
Therefore, it is the nation’s “lowest flu season,” according to a surveillance system that spans across the past twenty-five years, Lynette Brammer of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says.
The news is not a big surprise for health experts. For many, it made sense that this would happen. The Coronavirus counter-measures are also some of the best ways to protect against the Flu. However, it’s not like authorities could have established mandatory measures solely against the Flu.
The significant decrease in terms of infected people is among the very few good things that came out of the pandemic.