Mainly thanks to social aloofness and wearing a mask – as well as higher flu vaccine intake – there are almost no flu deaths this season.
Why it matters: The dramatic decline in infections from influenza and other circulating respiratory viruses has given the U.S. healthcare system a welcome change at a time when COVID-19 is extremely popular.
In numbers: According to the CDC, the US recorded just five deaths from flu in the 52nd week of 2020, a period that usually represents the peak of the flu season.
- That’s 40 times fewer deaths than in the same week in 2019, and more than 130 times fewer deaths than during the severe 2017 flu season.
- According to data from BioFire Diagnostics, levels of nearly all common respiratory and gastrointestinal viruses are currently nearly undetectable.
How it works: It turns out that if you drastically reduce travel worldwide, close public workplaces and schools, and promote mask and handwashing, you’re cutting off chances for common pathogens to spread.
- It also helps that a record number of doses of flu vaccines have been shipped this season, with an estimated 53-54% of American adults receiving an injection by the end of December, significantly more than the same time last year.
The big picture: Historically low levels of flu and other common viruses are happening at the same time as the US COVID-19 pandemic is at its worst.
- This is not surprising: although common viruses have been circulating for years and there is a baseline level of resistance among the population, no one had encountered SARS-CoV-2 before emerging in China a year ago, and the virus continues to spread rapidly through the population.
What to watch: With each week passing with unusually low flu levels, susceptibility to the virus will increase, potentially causing the US to have a hard rebound in the future.
- That may be what is happening in Australia, where flu cases were virtually non-existent during the winter season, only to return in December, when flu is usually absent in the Southern Hemisphere.
It comes down to: While it’s good to see fewer deaths from flu, SARS-CoV-2 is devastating the US on a very different scale, with more Americans dying from COVID-19 last week than the total flu deaths last season.