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What’s Going on with the Flu?
Impact of COVID-19 social-distancing on the flu
Last week, I was talking to a friend about concerns epidemiologists voiced over potential clashes between COVID-19 and the flu. It reminded me of the tropical storms Laura & Marco — two already fierce storms joining to become one deadly mix. Disease experts fear potentially bad outcomes if patients contract both illnesses simultaneously, creating a Fujiwhara effect in the world of infectious diseases.
The official flu season doesn’t start for another couple of months, so time will tell if this concern comes to fruition. However, the good news is the flu season hasn’t clashed with COVID-19 at this point. In fact, what we have seen since the spring are sharp declines in influenza cases. Of course, the number of flu cases normally declines at the end of spring as the flu season ends, but this year the numbers were additionally impacted by measures taken to prevent the spread of COVID-19 (Broadfoot, 2020).
In January 2020, Dr. Anthony Fauci, of the National Institute of Allergies and Infectious Diseases, warned of the potentially long and harsh flu season. At that time, the B strain, normally showing up in February or March, began months earlier. The flu season in 2019–2020 was expected to be one of the worst seasons in decades (“2019–2020 Flu Season…,” 2020).
