“The bright side is that we are not seeing the flu. The flu is almost absent,” said Dr. Andra Blomkalns, Director of Emergency Medicine at Stanford Health.
“There is no doubt that this year is an extraordinary year,” said Kaiser Permanente flu expert Dr. Randy Bergen, who told ABC7 News that in early January, California would normally see a serious increase in cases of flu, but not this year.
“We are still testing thousands of people in our emergency room settings and in our hospitals for a combination of COVID and flu tests and we are essentially not seeing flu. Some weeks we will have no cases, others we will have maybe one or two cases.”
Some say that all precautions taken to prevent the spread of COVID-19 are keeping flu cases at bay. But if they are so effective with one virus, why not the other?
“It’s a great question,” said Stanford professor of global health, Dr. Yvonne Maldonado, who explained that part of the answer may lie in pre-coronavirus studies in recent years, which have revealed a strange type of competition between viruses.
“It could be something about infection with a virus that can somehow decrease the risk of infection with others,” said Maldonado. “Now, whether it’s immunity or if they just suppress the growth of another virus, it’s not very clear, but there is certainly an indication from a few years ago that viruses can compete.”
Another contributing factor – many more people received flu vaccines this year.
And many children are not at school and do not meet with friends as often as they normally would.
“Flu always starts in schools. It starts with children, ”said Bergen.
Experts warn people not to let their guard down. There is still a long time this winter for the flu to return.
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