Measures to control coronavirus have brought flu infections to 'historic lows.' Scientists want to keep it that way.

https://news.yahoo.com/measures-to-control-coronavirus-have-brought-flu-infections-to-historic-lows-scientists-want-to-keep-it-that-way-182216307.html

Alexander NazaryanNational Correspondent
,Yahoo News•September 17, 2020

Lockdowns and protective measures like the widespread wearing of face masks as a result of the coronavirus pandemic have driven influenza infections to record lows, according to a new Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study.

The authors of the study urge such measures to remain in place in order to keep the flu from returning, as it customarily does with colder weather, which will soon drive people indoors across much of the U.S. “If extensive community mitigation measures continue throughout the fall, influenza activity in the United States might remain low and the season might be blunted or delayed,” the researchers write in their new study.

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The findings show an astonishing drop in influenza infections both at home and abroad. In the U.S., for example, there was a 98 percent decline in samples testing positive when comparing the October 2019-February 2020 period with March-May 2020, a sharper and more pronounced reduction than the nation has seen in recent years. And even though seasonal drops in flu infections are to be expected, the new study says that “interseasonal circulation” of the influenza virus “is now at historic lows.”

The weekly average of positive lab results is now 0.2 percent, compared with 2.35 percent in 2019. The positive rate is usually between 1 and 2 percent.

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The new study points to “growing evidence” that masks not only keep an infected person from spreading viral particles but also keep healthy people from getting sick.

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