Fouch says public health measures to curb the spread of the coronavirus can weaken the flu season

Dr. Anthony Fauci, White House Coronavirus Countermeasures Advisor, said public health measures such as wearing masks and avoiding close contact with others will complicate the country’s response to the coronavirus pandemic in the upcoming flu season. He said it could help prevent the virus.

In a briefing on the importance of preventing influenza and pneumococcal infections during a pandemic, Forch said the United States was “most severely hit” by the coronavirus, with more than 7 million Covid-19 cases as of Wednesday. Said that it has killed 205,000 people.

“It’s a truly changing pandemic of historical nature, and we haven’t overcome it yet,” said Forch, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.

Health officials will soon face “diagnostic challenges” as the coronavirus coincides with the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s influenza season in the Northern Hemisphere. To tell He warned that the symptoms of both illnesses are so similar that they usually peak between December and February.

These common symptoms include fever, cough, shortness of breath, sore throat, malaise, stuffy nose or stuffy nose, headache, muscle aches or body aches, and potentially vomiting and diarrhea.

“When we enter the fall and winter months and the flu season, there is considerable concern that there will be a terrifying overlap of the two respiratory illnesses, flu and Covid-19,” he said.

Influenza kills 12,000 to 61,000 people each year in the United States and can hospitalize up to 810,000, according to Forch.

Meanwhile, Dr. William Schaffner, director of health care at the National Institute of Infectious Diseases, quoted a recent study from the Foundation, saying that only 59% of people will be vaccinated against the flu this season. Last year, less than half of adults in the United States were vaccinated against the disease, he said.

Good news: Procedures to prevent the spread of the coronavirus are also effective in preventing the spread of the flu, such as wearing a face cover, avoiding crowds, washing hands frequently, and disinfecting the surface.

“The steps to fight the flu and Covid-19 overlap a lot,” Forch said Thursday. “We don’t want to have these two illnesses together.”

AC DC Published studies In mid-September, the Southern Hemisphere flu season from April to July was found to be much more subdued than the previous year. According to data from Australia, Chile and South Africa, only 0.06% of the more than 83,000 samples collected returned positive, much lower than nearly 14% in the previous year.

“They were a very mild flu season,” Fauci said, adding that the United States could “do the same” if people were vaccinated and practiced public health measures.

The study also found that the flu had plummeted within the first two weeks of this year, when many states closed schools and encouraged social distance and wearing masks. However, researchers pointed out in the study that some of the decline may be due to people stopping seeking routine medical services.

Public health measures commonly proposed to curb the spread of Covid-19 along with the flu vaccine can “significantly reduce the incidence and impact of influenza” this season, researchers said. It was.

Fouch I warned this week The United States is “not a good place” as the cold season is approaching and the number of newly reported cases of coronavirus continues to grow to over 40,000 daily. He said the country should aim for new daily cases of less than 10,000 instead of the current approximately 40,000.

“Get yourself and your family vaccinated,” Fauci said. “I was vaccinated two days ago. I feel good and I am happy to have done it. I hope it protects me and my family.”