Flu Season Yields Exceptionally Low Number of Cases

Four months into the Northern Hemisphere’s flu season, confirmed classes of influenza are nearly nonexistent, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) Weekly U.S. Influenza Surveillance Report, last updated on Friday.

Statistics for the week ending January 2 found the number of influenza positives reported by public health labs remains much lower than usual, despite a higher than normal number of tests performed. Only 0.1% of respiratory specimens tested positive for influenza.

The percentage of visits to health care providers for flu-like illnesses for the same week was at 1.6%, which is below the national baseline of 2.6%.

U.S. health experts predicted a mild flu season for 2020-2021 after studying the rates of influenza in the Southern Hemisphere. They believed the low number of flu illnesses in Australia and other Southern Hemisphere countries may have been an indirect benefit of practices to control the spread of COVID-19, such as social distancing and wearing masks.

However, experts urge caution as the flu rates could spike later in the season. They recommend that anyone who hasn’t received the flu vaccine yet should do so as soon as possible.