MADISON, Wis.– While the COVID-19 pandemic continues to rage in the United States, the country is feeling relief from another popular respiratory disease.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and local doctors are describing this influenza season as unusually mild.
“This one hardly looks like a flu season,” said UW Health Medical Director of Infection Control, Dr. Nasia Safdar. “It usually starts around November, December, a few weeks or so and continues through February or March.”
UW Health has treated an influenza patient so far during the 2020/2021 influenza season. At that time, during the 2019/2020 season, they had treated 971 patients and 149 patients in the previous season.
.@UWHealth treated a flu patient this year. ONLY ONE. Doctors say the actions we take to protect ourselves from COVID-19 are also helping to protect us from other respiratory illnesses. # News3Now pic.twitter.com/032AW0mFJw
– Gabriella Bachara (@GabbyBachara) February 6, 2021
“Some seasons are better than others, but in one where we hardly have any cases, I can’t remember that happening in recent memory,” said Safdar.
A CDC map shows that both the state of Wisconsin and the country have minimal flu activity.
“Historically, almost without precedent,” said UW-Madison professor of medical history, Richard Keller.
Both Safdar and Keller say there are many contributors to this mild season, the most obvious of which is the care with COVID-19.
“Masking, hand washing, not getting involved in big meetings, all of these things are helping to reduce flu transmission,” said Safdar.
Less international travel and fewer tests are also possible causes of the low number of cases.
It is very difficult to say whether people will choose to wear a mask during future seasons of respiratory infection.
“People tend to think of the flu as a very mild and uncomfortable disease, rather than the killer it certainly can be,” said Keller.
If there is anyone who thinks Safdar expects people to get out of the pandemic, it is recognizing that when people are sick, they should stay home.
“You shouldn’t be going to school. You shouldn’t go to work, ”said Safdar. “This has always been the recommendation, but it has been applied in a variable way and many people have not necessarily followed it.”
The only downside to a mild flu season is that it can make it difficult to predict which strain might be popular next year and that affects vaccine planning, according to Keller.
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