Last Fall I covered an observation brought up by health watchers:
Both locally and nationally there have been great concerns expressed about fall, winter, and the flu season that usually accompanies them, as having both flu and Covid-19 would be truly miserable, tough on the hospital facilities, and, incidentally, quite dangerous. But flu is spread through the air, much like coronavirus, and if we’re social distancing, that might put a dent in this season.
And, indeed, the flu season has been minuscule this season, as the AP reports:
February is usually the peak of flu season, with doctors’ offices and hospitals packed with suffering patients. But not this year.
Flu has virtually disappeared from the U.S., with reports coming in at far lower levels than anything seen in decades.
Experts say that measures put in place to fend off the coronavirus — mask wearing, social distancing and virtual schooling — were a big factor in preventing a “twindemic” of flu and COVID-19. A push to get more people vaccinated against flu probably helped, too, as did fewer people traveling, they say.
While there’s also speculation that Covid-19 has physically pushed aside the flu, my suspicion is that we’ve been forced into living a more antiseptic life, and we’re reaping the consequences: fewer bugs to which we’re vulnerable are reaching us.
How that’ll play out next winter depends on how we weigh the benefits of socializing vs the negatives of the flu. But at least this burden on our health system has been alleviated, and is proof of the worth of social distancing and masking.
