Coronavirus Precautions Linked To Low Flu Cases In Colorado

Has the coronavirus essentially beaten the flu into submission in Colorado?

Yet another week of wildly low influenza numbers released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirms that may very well be the case.

For the week ending Jan. 30, flu activity remains minimal in all states and U.S. territories. At this time last year, flu activity was high in 45 states, New York City and Puerto Rico.

In the same week, 18,531 tests were processed at clinical laboratories throughout the United States, according to the CDC. Of those, only 25 were positive for influenza. At public health labs, 9,102 tests were processed, and only three were positive for influenza — two were influenza A strains, while the other was positive for influenza B.

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So far this flu season, 1,499 tests — or a meager 0.1 percent — have come back positive for influenza, according to CDC data.

“Normally, this time of year, we’d be running 20 to 30 percent positive,” Lynnette Brammer, the head of the CDC’s Domestic Influenza Surveillance team, told FiveThirtyEight.

Around 22 flu hospitalizations have been reported in Colorado so far this season, compared to 22,306 COVID-19 hospitalizations in our state. No flu outbreaks have been reported, but 3,627 coronavirus outbreaks have been reported since the pandemic began in Colorado.

Nationwide hospitalizations for influenza-like illnesses also remain low for the week ending Jan. 30.

A total of 155 influenza-associated hospitalizations have been reported since Oct. 1. This puts the current hospitalization rate at 0.5 per 100,000 people, which is lower than average for this point in the season and comparable to the overall rate seen at this point during the 2011-12 season.

In all fairness, the coronavirus can’t take full credit for this year’s low flu numbers.

But you can.

This massive shift, experts told FiveThirtyEight, is likely tied to the precautions we’ve taken to avoid catching COVID-19: mask-wearing, social distancing, obsessive cleaning of surfaces (which likely does way more to prevent the flu than it does coronavirus), and keeping kids out of classrooms.

“The major vector for influenza is children,” David Topham, co-director of the New York Influenza Center of Excellence in Rochester, told FiveThirtyEight. “If they don’t get to breathe on each other like normal, they also can’t transmit as much flu. And that trick still works, even if flu isn’t the reason we’re keeping them distanced.”

COVID-19 remains the largest contributor to mortality in the United States. According to this week’s flu report, 28.4 percent of deaths that occurred in the United States during the week ending Jan. 30 were attributed to pneumonia, influenza and COVID-19.

However, of the 6,424 deaths reported for that week, 5,648 had COVID-19 listed as an underlying or contributing cause of death on the death certificate, and only four listed influenza.

So far this flu season, only one pediatric death has been reported.

A year ago, the CDC had reported at least 22 million illnesses, 210,000 hospitalizations and 12,000 deaths from the flu.

So, will this unfathomably quiet flu season last?

A future outbreak is inevitable, experts say. Its timing isn’t.

In the past, flu seasons have remained relatively quiet only to boil over in February, Shweta Bansal, a disease ecologist at Georgetown University, told The Atlantic.

“We may not be out of the woods yet,” Bansal said. Or perhaps, should certain behaviors recede in the summer, an off-season outbreak could occur.”

The groups most at risk of the flu are older adults, very young children, pregnant women, and those with certain chronic medical conditions, according to the CDC.

According to the CDC, symptoms of the flu include:

• Fever or feeling feverish/chills (though not everyone with flu will have a fever)
• Cough
• Sore throat
• Runny or stuffy nose
• Muscle or body aches
• Headaches
• Fatigue
• Vomiting and diarrhea in some patients, though this is more common in children than adults.

The flu is a highly contagious illness, which is why the CDC urges everyone to take the following steps to protect themselves and others:

• Take time to get a flu shot: While there are many different flu viruses, a flu vaccine protects against the viruses that research suggests will be most common. The CDC says it’s not too late to get this year’s vaccine.
• Try to avoid close contact with sick people.
• While sick, limit contact with others as much as possible to keep from infecting them.
• If you are sick with flu symptoms, you should stay home for at least 24 hours after your fever is gone except to get medical care or for other necessities. (Your fever should be gone for 24 hours without the use of a fever-reducing medicine.)
• Cover your nose and mouth with a tissue when you cough or sneeze. Throw the tissue in the trash after you use it.
• Wash your hands often with soap and water. If soap and water are not available, use an alcohol-based hand rub.
• Avoid touching your eyes, nose and mouth. Germs spread this way.
• Clean and disinfect surfaces and objects that may be contaminated with germs such as the flu.
• Take flu antiviral drugs if your doctor prescribes them.