With COVID-19 cases remaining high, the mild influenza season has so far become a cautious plus.
During the last flu season, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention marked South Carolina as having high flu activity in December. This year, during the week of December 19, the SC Department of Health and Environmental Control reported an additional case of influenza, with a total of 50 cases this season.
More than 800 cases were reported in the same week during the last flu season.
Dr. Valerie Scott, a physician at Roper St. Francis Healthcare, said that in the past two months, the number of positive respiratory illnesses she has seen overall has also been dramatically lower compared to other years.
“It’s incredible, it’s really incredible,” she said.
Experts argue that while they cannot specifically say which aspect of the pandemic management COVID-19 had the greatest impact, it is possible that activities such as social distance and wearing masks are part of it.
A CDC report said that there are additional factors that can also be considered. A decline in global travel and the emergence of a vaccine may play a bigger role.
The CDC says it is also possible that the decline in flu cases is due to the fact that this moment is just the natural end of the previous flu season.
“It is difficult to know which part of this image is controlling the flu,” said Scott.
Charleston Mayor John Tecklenburg receives his flu shot from Sarah Rowe, a third-year pharmacy student at MUSC, and Joesph Kroll, from Delta Pharmacy, at the Gaillard Center on Tuesday, October 6, 2020, in Charleston. Health officials are still encouraging residents to get flu shots to prevent a double outbreak of COVID-19 and flu. Andrew J. Whitaker / Staff
Dr. Michael Schmidt is a professor of microbiology and immunology at the Medical University of South Carolina. He said that when he saw people wearing masks in public earlier this year, it was usually associated with patients about to receive a kidney transplant.
He says it’s a shame that there are still people skeptical about wearing masks, as they work on things beyond COVID-19.
“We know that masks can really protect us,” he said.
The use of masks has become a highly debated subject recently. Dozens of residents fought the mask laws.
Scott said he hopes that after the pandemic, it will be less of a problem for someone to put on a mask when they are sick. A patient recently told her that they plan to continue wearing a mask occasionally, long after receiving the vaccine.
“Hopefully, this will continue to move forward,” said Scott.
One of the biggest changes that can help control the flu revolves around people’s behavior when they get sick. Another patient told Scott that the benefit of the pandemic is that his spouse is washing his hands.
People also have a different view of being sick at work, said Scott. Before this year, an employee may still try to go to work if he feels a little sick or a cold coming on. This would increase your chances of spreading viruses like the flu.
“People don’t want to lose their jobs,” she said. “They will come to work with their arm hanging.”
With the COVID-19 vaccine now being administered in the United States, health officials still want the public to be aware of the threat of a double flu and coronavirus outbreak. Nick Masuda / Team
Now it is not uncommon to hear about people who decide to stay home after the slightest sign of a cold. Scott said this should be the ideal behavior that the general public would have about respiratory illnesses.
If a person becomes ill, perhaps they should consider wearing a mask or staying at home, she said.
Scott said that in the past, she was quite casual about going to an emergency room to visit a patient with respiratory disease. She hopes to be more careful in the future.
But experts emphasize that the current mild flu season does not mean that people should let their guard down. It is not uncommon for flu to increase after New Year’s Day.
Experts have more data about the flu and know how adaptive the virus can be. It is also possible for people to contract the virus from animals, such as dolphins.
That’s why some farmers put pressure on visitors to use foot covers when walking among animals, Schmidt said. In the past, the virus spread to entire flocks.
“It literally changes its cover so that it can hide from our immune system,” he said. “That’s why we receive a vaccine every year.”
With the number of COVID-19 cases still high, trying to control an additional flu outbreak will add more stress to the health care system. Therefore, experts are still encouraging people to get the flu shot.
Dr Nadine Rouphael, vaccine researcher and infectious disease specialist at Emory University, told The New York Times that prevention is especially important because of the stress that the COVID-19 pandemic has placed on the health care system.
“When we have a record number of deaths, why would you go to a hospital because of a vaccine-preventable disease?
Some health officials say the biggest conclusion of the pandemic is that there are more ways for people to protect themselves from the flu, in addition to covering a sneeze.
In fact, Scott said, this year was a learning experience.
Reach Jerrel Floyd at 843-937-5558. Follow him on Twitter @ jfloyd134.