Maayan Jaffe-Hoffman August 3,
Social distancing, mask wearing and increased personal hygiene, along with higher rates of flu vaccination, could reduce the number of cases of the respiratory virus in Israel and worldwide this year, according to public health professionals.
“There are some hints from the Southern Hemisphere that the
public health measures to prevent COVID-19 also
reduce influenza,” chairman of the Israeli Public Health Physicians Association
Prof. Hagai Levine told The Jerusalem Post. “There will now be a
very unique situation that may teach us how to better prepare for the flu
season even after COVID-19 is over.”
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention,
both COVID-19 and the flu are spread in a similar
manner, via person-to-person contact or between people who are within about two
meters of each other. Both are spread mainly by droplets made when people with
the illnesses cough, sneeze or talk. These droplets can land in the mouths or
noses of people who are nearby or possibly be inhaled into their lungs.
Furthermore, both can be spread via touching a surface or object
that has the virus on it, as well as from infected people with very mild
symptoms, before they begin showing symptoms, or who are asymptomatic.
Because flu and COVID-19 share similar symptoms – fever, cough,
shortness of breath, fatigue, sore throat, body aches and headaches – people
experiencing these symptoms will likely be more inclined to visit their doctor
or even seek care in the emergency department, whereas in the past they may have
stayed home and rested.
THERE IS precedent for believing that the measures in place to
stop the spread of the novel coronavirus will positively impact the country’s
experience with seasonal flu. Already in May, these measures were found to have
shortened the flu season in the Northern Hemisphere by about six weeks,
according to the World Health Organization.
Since an estimated 290,000 to 650,000 people typically die
worldwide from seasonal flu, that means the shorter season could have spared
tens of thousands of lives.
FLU SEASON is at its peak this month in the Southern Hemisphere,
Leshem added. He said there does not seem to be anything unique about the flu
strain there – it does not seem to have a propensity for higher or lower
incidents than last season.
An important aspect this winter will be whether the local
population is vaccinated against the flu. On Sunday, Health Minister Yuli
Edelstein said that Israel has three million doses of the vaccine and is
working to obtain more, though he said they were not yet readily
accessible.
Prof. Levine, who is also a Hebrew University-Hadassah
epidemiologist, said that in Israel every year, flu season crushes the health
system and sick Israelis are hospitalized in the corridors.
“If we can, by proportional measures, prevent the outbreak of
flu, maybe we should do it every winter – wear masks, take better care that
sick people do not go to school and work,” he said. “These simple measures
could actually prevent many deaths.”
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