Cases of the flu are down dramatically from previous years, thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic. | stock photo
Cases of the flu are down dramatically from previous years, thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic. | stock photo
Since COVID-19 emerged last year, cases of influenza are dramatically lower than they have been in previous years, according to Bridge Michigan.
The coronavirus has been a disaster for Michigan residents. However, the pandemic has inspired people to use safety precautions that have caused flu cases to become almost nonexistent. Additionally, the safety measures have caused a decrease in some other respiratory ailments as well.
During the peak of an average flu season, the last week in February, the state’s labs declared just four new cases of influenza. That number falls short when compared to the 488 new cases reported at this time last year. There were 284 cases reported in 2019 and 536 cases in 2018 during the same week.
Parents and teachers know that the winter months always bring a seemingly endless cycle of common colds and other less-serious infections. However, since the pandemic, those, too, are down in the number of cases being reported. Experts say that this year was the first year that they haven't had flu symptoms themselves.
“This is the first winter that I haven't had the sniffles, even for a day,” Dr. Natasha Bagdasarian, a public health doctor with the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS), told Bridge Michigan. "It has been delightful.”
Though health authorities do not regularly track cold or other respiratory symptoms, three health experts questioned by Bridge Michigan echoed Bagdasarian’s remarks.
Doctors at John Hopkins University School of Medicine also confirm the flu case numbers are down this year.
“Though caused by a different virus from the one that causes COVID-19, the flu is also a respiratory viral disease, so everything we are doing to slow transmission of COVID-19 -- such as wearing face masks, frequent handwashing and physical distancing -- should also reduce transmission of flu,” said Eili Klein, PhD, associate professor of emergency medicine at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, according to the Johns Hopkins Newsroom.
After warning signs in the fall of a likely “twindemic,” a wave of coronavirus cases in the middle of this year's flu season, perhaps experts can now breathe a sign of relief that spring is coming.
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