The flu season has been virtually non-existent this season – with the lowest hospitalization rate since these data were counted.
Only 165 flu-related hospitalizations were registered between October 1 and February 6, according to recent information from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
This compares with about 400,000 people who were hospitalized during the 2019-2020 flu season, which also recorded 22,000 deaths.
“This is lower than the average for this point of the season and lower than the rates for any season since routine data collection began in 2005, including the low severity of the 2011-12 season,” the CDC said.
With many schools closed, several schoolchildren remained at home during the global health crisis, which probably helped stop the spread of the flu, NPR reported.
“COVID can be easily transmitted among adults – very contagious – but the flu, I think, needs children to spread it among themselves and then resemble, if you will, the adults in their home and their neighbors,” said Dr. William. Schaffner, an infectious disease specialist at Vanderbilt University, told the Weekend Edition.
“Children are generally considered to have the flu distribution franchise,” he added. “They produce a lot more viruses, eliminate more viruses for longer periods of time.”
Last year, a record number of people received the flu vaccine – amid warnings from health experts about the unprecedented combination of the flu season and the deadly coronavirus pandemic.
Nearly 52 percent of people 6 months of age and older were inoculated, an increase of 2.6 percent from the previous season, the CDC said.
The mild season was also aided by COVID-19 safety measures, including wearing a mask and social distance.
“The flu was essentially non-existent,” this season, Schaffner said.
But he also warned that the flu could return in revenge in the fall.
“Many of us didn’t get a boost from meeting the flu virus this year, so we didn’t have a chance to build our antibodies,” he said. “All the more important to get vaccinated this fall.”