{"id":228754,"date":"2021-03-02T07:54:55","date_gmt":"2021-03-02T07:54:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/?p=228754"},"modified":"2021-03-04T06:32:47","modified_gmt":"2021-03-04T06:32:47","slug":"amid-covid-19-pandemic-flu-has-disappeared-in-the-us","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/?p=228754","title":{"rendered":"Amid COVID-19 pandemic, flu has disappeared in the US"},"content":{"rendered":"

Mike Stobbe \u2013 AP Feb 25, 2021<\/strong><\/h1>\n

February is usually the peak of flu season, with doctors\u2019 offices and hospitals packed with suffering patients. But not this year.<\/p>\n

Flu has virtually disappeared from the U.S., with reports coming in at far lower levels than anything seen in decades.<\/p>\n

Experts say that measures put in place to fend off the coronavirus \u2014 mask wearing, social distancing and virtual schooling \u2014 were a big factor in preventing a \u201ctwindemic\u201d<\/a> of flu and COVID-19. A push to get more people vaccinated against flu probably helped, too, as did fewer people traveling, they say.<\/p>\n

Another possible explanation: The coronavirus has essentially muscled aside flu and other bugs that are more common in the fall and winter. Scientists don\u2019t fully understand the mechanism behind that, but it would be consistent with patterns seen when certain flu strains predominate over others, said Dr. Arnold Monto, a flu expert at the University of Michigan.<\/p>\n

Nationally, \u201cthis is the lowest flu season we\u2019ve had on record,\u201d according to a surveillance system that is about 25 years old, said Lynnette Brammer of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.<\/p>\n

Hospitals say the usual steady stream of flu-stricken patients never materialized.<\/p>\n

At Maine Medical Center in Portland, the state\u2019s largest hospital, \u201cI have seen zero documented flu cases this winter,\u201d said Dr. Nate Mick, the head of the emergency department.<\/p>\n

Ditto in Oregon\u2019s capital city, where the outpatient respiratory clinics affiliated with Salem Hospital have not seen any confirmed flu cases.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s beautiful,\u201d said the health system\u2019s Dr. Michelle Rasmussen.<\/p>\n

The numbers are astonishing considering flu has long been the nation\u2019s biggest infectious disease threat. In recent years, it has been blamed for 600,000 to 800,000 annual hospitalizations and 50,000 to 60,000 deaths.<\/p>\n

Across the globe, flu activity has been at very low levels in China, Europe and elsewhere in the Northern Hemisphere. And that follows reports of little flu in South Africa, Australia and other countries during the Southern Hemisphere\u2019s winter months<\/a> of May through August.<\/p>\n

The story of course has been different with coronavirus, which has killed more than 500,000 people in the United States. COVID-19 cases and deaths reached new heights in December and January, before beginning a recent decline.<\/p>\n

Flu-related hospitalizations, however, are a small fraction of where they would stand during even a very mild season, said Brammer, who oversees the CDC\u2019s tracking of the virus.<\/p>\n

Continues \u2026 https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/flu-has-disappeared-us-pandemic-2145d999319b53d8a32a829a324f398d<\/a><\/p>\n

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Also see:<\/p>\n

Not a single case of flu detected by Public Health England this year as Covid restrictions suppress virus<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n