WASHINGTON – Closures and protective measures, such as the widespread use of face masks in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, have pushed flu infections to record levels, according to a new from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The study’s authors urge these measures to remain in a position to prevent the flu from returning, as is the case with the colder climate, which will soon take others inland in much of the United States. possibly stay low and the season may be abrupt or delayed,” the researchers write in their new study.
The review is published Thursday in the CDC’s Weekly Morbidity and Mortality Report, a compendium of the agency’s latest findings. The study looked at influenza infections in the United States from the expiration of 2019, when the flu season began, until early 2020, when blockades began across the country in reaction to coronavirus.
The study also assessed how influenza affected southern hemisphere countries, where winter lasts from June to August, according to the knowledge of the World Health Organization of Chile, Australia and South Africa.
Effects show an unexpected drop in influenza infections both at home and abroad In the United States, for example, there is 98% minimization in positive samples when comparing the era of October 2019 to February 2020 with March-May 2020, a more pronounced relief than the country has experienced in recent years. And while a seasonal decrease in influenza infections is expected, the new study indicates that the “off-season circulation” of the influenza virus “is now at traditionally low levels. “
The weekly average of positive laboratory effects is now 0. 2%, up from 2. 35% in 2019. The positive rate is between 1 and 2%.
Commenting on the new study, Sonja Olsen, epidemiologist at the CDC’s National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, said: “Actions to prevent the spread of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, Array . . . they could decrease having an effect on influenza this fall and winter in the United States if practiced widely. However, it is highly unlikely that it will be said with certainty what will happen during the next flu season, so it is vital to prepare for anyone and COVID-19. Receiving a flu vaccine provides the most productive influenza coverage during any flu season, and is more vital than ever in 2020-2021 due to the current COVID-19 pandemic. “
Last February, most Americans realized the coronavirus, which originated in China and then spread to the Middle East and Europe. At first, President Trump and many of his allies publicly argued that COVID-19, the coronavirus disease, is no worse than the flu. To date, COVID-19 has killed about 200,000 Americans. Flu kills an average of 30,000 to 40,000 Americans a year.
The 3 southern hemisphere countries included in the survey also experienced “very low influenza activity” during the recently concluded influenza season, a potentially encouraging signal to the United States. In all 3 countries, there were a total of 51 cases of influenza from the 83,307 samples analyzed. This yielded a positivity rate of 0. 06%, well below the 13. 7 positivity recorded between 2017 and 2019.
Minimizing influenza infection is a small ray of hope given the human and economic disaster caused by coronavirus. Still, the sharp drop suggests that prophylactic measures, such as social esttachment and masks, that target one virus may also oppose another.
Public fitness officials are involved in a double attack of coronavirus and influenza can also overwhelm hospitals. “It’s imaginable that the virus attack in our country next winter is actually even more complicated than the one we just went through,” said CDC Director Robert Redfield. The Washington Post last spring, in part because Americans might have to deal with both viruses.
Trump tried to get Redfield to withdraw that claim at a press conference in the White House, but Redfield did not, supporting Dr. Anthony Fauci, the leading immunologist at the National Institutes of Health. “We’ll have a coronavirus in the fall. I am convinced that, ” said Fauci at the same briefing.
Measures taken against coronavirus are those that can also mitigate the effect of influenza, if others adhere to the protective measures that have been in place since last spring. “The use of community-based mitigation measures for COVID-19 “pandemic,” CDC researchers write, “in addition to flu vaccination, is likely to be effective in reducing onset and having an effect on influenza, and some of these mitigation measures would possibly play a role in preventing influenza in prolonged seasons. “»
Mitigation practices advocated through investigators are familiar to the maximum number of Americans, although some have refused to adopt them: “masks, social estification, school closures, and telework. “
Trump continued to denounce the masks, saying this week that there were clever reasons not to wear them, but from a public fitness perspective, those reasons do not exist, he also called for the reopening of schools for face-to-face teaching, rejecting arguments that he has not yet done so.
The new study highlights “increasing evidence” that the mask not only prevents an inflamed user from spreading viral particles, but also prevents other healthy people from getting sick.
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