“The silver lining is that we don’t see the flu. The flu is almost absent,” said Dr. Andra Blomkalns, director of emergency medicine for Stanford Health.
“There’s no doubt that this year is an extraordinary year,” flu expert Kaiser Permanente, Dr. Randy Bergen, told ABC7 News that in early January, California would normally have a serious increase. in cases of influenza, but not this year.
“We still test thousands of people in our emergency settings and in our hospitals for a combination of COVID and flu tests, and we essentially don’t see the flu. Some weeks we will not have cases, others we will have maybe one or two cases. “
Some say that all precautions taken to prevent the spread of COVID-19 keep cases of the flu at bay. But if they are so effective with one virus, why not the other?
“It’s an extraordinary question,” said Stanford Global Health Professor Dr. Yvonne Maldonado, who explained that part of the answer may lie in pre-coronavirus studies in recent years, which have revealed strange competition between viruses.
“It could be something to do with a virus infection that can somehow reduce the risk of infection with others,” Maldonado said. “Now, whether it’s immunity or just suppressing the growth of another virus, it’s not very clear, but there’s certainly an idea from a few years ago that viruses can compete.
Another contributing factor – many more people have received flu shots this year.
And many children are not at school and do not gather with friends almost as often as they normally would.
“The flu always starts in schools. It starts with children,” Bergen said.
Experts warn people not to take off their guard. This winter there is still enough time for the flu to return.
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