NEW YORK – February is usually the peak of flu season, with doctors’ offices and hospitals full of suffering patients. But not this year.
Flu has all but disappeared from the US, with reports coming in at much lower levels than ever before.
Experts say measures taken to ward off the coronavirus – mask wearing, social distancing, and virtual education – were a big factor in preventing a “twin chemistry” of the flu and COVID-19. An attempt to get more people vaccinated against the flu also likely helped, as did fewer people traveling, they say.
Another possible explanation: The coronavirus flu and other bugs that are more common in the fall and winter are essentially muscular. Scientists don’t fully understand the mechanism behind it, but it would be consistent with patterns seen when certain strains of flu prevail over others, said Dr. Arnold Monto, a flu expert at the University of Michigan.
Nationally, “this is the lowest flu season we’ve ever had,” according to a surveillance system that’s about 25 years old, said Lynnette Brammer of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.