South Carolina health professionals talk about COVID-19 precautions that can help control the flu.Feature

The number of cases of COVID-19 is still high, so the past mild season of influenza has been a cautious and bright place.

During the last season of influenza, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention marked high influenza activity in December in South Carolina. In the week of December 19th this year, the SC Health and Environmental Administration reported one additional case of influenza, for a total of 50 cases this season.

More than 800 cases were recorded in the same week of the last flu season.

Dr. Valerie Scott, primary care physician at Roper St. Francis Healthcare, said in the last two months she has seen dramatically fewer positive respiratory illnesses overall than in other years. ..

“That’s amazing, really amazing,” she said.

Experts cannot say exactly which aspect of COVID-19 pandemic management had the greatest impact, but activities such as social distance and wearing masks may be part of it. Insist.

There are also additional factors that can be considered, according to the CDC report. The decline in global travel and the emergence of vaccines could play a greater role.

According to the CDC, the decrease in influenza cases may be due to the natural end of the previous influenza season.

“It’s hard to tell which part of this picture controls the flu,” Scott said.

Dr. Michael Schmidt is a professor of microbiology and immunology at the Medical University of South Carolina. When he saw people wearing masks in public earlier this year, he said it was often associated with patients seeking a kidney transplant.

He says it’s a shame that some people are still skeptical about wearing masks because they’re working on something other than COVID-19.

“We know that masks can actually protect us,” he said.

Wearing a mask has become a very controversial issue these days. Dozens of residents have fought the mask law.

Scott said he hopes that after the pandemic, wearing a mask when someone is ill is at least not a problem. A patient recently told her she would continue to wear a mask from time to time after vaccination.

“Hopefully it will keep moving forward,” Scott said.

One of the biggest changes that can help manage the flu is focused on people’s behavior when they get sick. Another patient told Scott that the advantage of a pandemic was that his spouse washes his hands.

According to Scott, people have another view that they are sick at work. Prior to this year, employees may try to go to work even if they feel a little sick or have a cold. This increases the likelihood that viruses such as the flu will spread.

“People don’t want to lose their jobs. They will come to work with their arms hanging,” she said.

Now it’s not uncommon to hear stories of people who decide to stay home after the slightest signs of a cold. Scott said this should be the ideal behavior the general public has with respect to respiratory illness.

She said that if a person gets sick, they probably need to wear a mask or consider staying at home.

Scott said in the past he was pretty casual about going to the emergency room to visit patients with respiratory illness. She hopes to be more careful in the future.

However, experts emphasize that the current mild flu season does not mean that people should be vigilant. It is not uncommon for influenza cases to surge after the New Year.

Experts have more data on the flu and know how adaptable the virus is. It is also possible to get the virus from animals such as dolphins.

That’s why, according to Schmidt, some farmers encourage visitors to wear foot covers as they walk around the animals. In the past, the virus had spread throughout the herd.

“It literally changes that coat so that it can be hidden from our immune system, which is why we vaccinate every year,” he said.

The high number of cases of COVID-19 puts additional stress on the healthcare system when trying to manage additional influenza outbreaks. As a result, experts still encourage people to get the flu vaccine.

Dr. Nadine Rufael, a vaccine researcher and infectious disease specialist at Emory University, told the New York Times that prevention is especially important because the COVID-19 pandemic puts stress on the healthcare system.

“Why go to the hospital for a vaccine-preventable illness when there are record numbers of deaths,” he said.

Some health officials say that the biggest point from a pandemic is that there are more ways people can protect themselves from the flu, other than covering sneezing.

If anything, this year was a learning experience, according to Scott.

reach Gerel Floyd At 843-937-5558. Follow him on Twitter @ jfloyd134.