Flu and COVID-19 Could Make for a Rough Fall and Winter

The last two flu seasons in the U.S. were mercifully mild—one of the few silver linings of the pandemic, as COVID-19 mitigation measures likely also prevented many cases of influenza. But our luck may run out this year. Australia, which often serves as an (imperfect) predictor of what’s to come for the U.S., has had its worst flu season in half a decade this year, CNN reports. Flu season also started early in Australia this year, another possible harbinger of what’s to come in the Northern Hemisphere. Dr. Alicia Fry, chief of the epidemiology and prevention branch within the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) influenza division, cautions that “if you’ve seen one flu season, you’ve seen one flu season”—meaning the virus is unpredictable and guesses about it aren’t always accurate. “Whether it will be a severe season or a mild season, or what to expect, or what viruses might circulate—that we really just don’t know,” Fry says. [time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”] Nonetheless, there are some factors that could set up the U.S. for a more serious flu season this year, says Dr. Brandon Webb, an infectious disease specialist at Utah’s Intermountain Medical Center. Flu season severity varies quite a bit from year to year, depending on factors including immunity in the population and which influenza strain is circulating. “Individuals who get influenza the year ...
Source: TIME: Health - Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Tags: Uncategorized COVID-19 healthscienceclimate Source Type: news