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influenza season may be pretty modest this yr thanks to measures take to stop the spread of COVID-19 , accord to a new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention ( CDC ) .
In the report , bring out Thursday ( Sept. 17 ) in the CDC journalMorbidity and Mortality Weekly Report , the researchers note that grippe activity in the U.S. right now is at " historical low , " and that datum from the Southern Hemisphere — which has just gone through its winter — showed " virtually noinfluenzacirculation . "
However , nothing is sure when it comes to the flu time of year , peculiarly during the middle of apandemic . So it ’s still important to prepare for both flu and COVID-19 this fall and winter , and to get aflu shot , the report says .
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Flu activity in the U.S. overleap sharply in March , when it became apparent that COVID-19 was circulating widely across the state . This drop belike includes a real downslope in flu activity — a side force ofschool closure , remain - at - abode orders , social distancingand mask - wearing that train to slow the spread of COVID-19 — as well as less reporting , as few citizenry went to their doctor when they had influenza - like symptoms .
Overall , the number of samples that U.S. research laboratory submitted for flu tests ( an index of flu activeness ) dropped 61 % , from nearly 50,000 per calendar week from September 2019 through February 2020 , to 19,500 per workweek from March through May of this year . Even more dramatic , there was a 98 % drop in the number of samples that tested positive for flu during this prison term , from 19 % to 0.3 % .
This summer , flu activity has stay on extremely low , with just 0.2 % of sample testing positive from May through August , compared with 2.35 % during that same period in 2019 , 1.04 % in 2018 and 2.36 % in 2017 , the theme said .
There ’s been very little influenza natural process in the southerly Hemisphere as well . From April through July ( during the Southern Hemisphere ’s drop and wintertime , or efflorescence flu season ) , there were only 51 positive influenza tests out of more than 83,000 masses quiz in Australia , Chile and South Africa , for a positiveness pace of 0.06 % . In direct contrast , during April through July in the years 2017 to 2019 , nearly 14 % , or 24,000 out of 178,000 people , tested prescribed for grippe in those three countries .
ab initio , reject in flu activity were mostly impute to physician try for COVID-19 rather than the flu . But even when public health official made renewed efforts to test for grippe ( and deport an enough number of influenza trial ) , there was still " little to no influenza virus " detected , the report order .
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The finding suggest that " community mitigation strategies implemented to forbid thespread of COVID-19 … seem to have well reduced infection of influenza in all these countries , " the report said .
If these strategy continue through the fall " influenza activity in the United States might persist low and the season might be dull or delayed , " the authors write .
But given that multitude may not necessarily stick with measuring stick mean to slow the spread of COVID-19 , it is important to plan for flu this capitulation and wintertime . COVID-19 has made convey a flu scene this year " especially important , " not only to reduce the risk of flu , but also to scale down the burden on the health upkeep organization responding to COVID-19 , the CDC says .
The findings also suggest that , in the hereafter , officials might think apply some of the COVID-19 mitigation mensuration during season with high grippe action , particularly among those at high risk for flu complications .
in the beginning published on Live Science .
