Name: Dallas County has logged only 2 flu cases, no deaths this season; officials credit coronavirus protocols
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Dallas County has logged only 2 flu cases, no deaths this season; officials credit coronavirus protocols

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5:15 PM on Apr 13, 2021 CDTMask use, social distancing and other safety protocols implemented to fight the coronavirus pandemic have almost wiped out influenza in Dallas County this flu season, health officials say.Dallas County Health and Human Services officials had recorded only two flu cases and no flu deaths through late March, compared with 18,186 cases and 25 deaths the entire previous flu season.Flu season begins in October and winds down in April, health officials say.“We avoided a catastrophe,” Dr. Philip Huang, DCHHS director, said of onetime fears about the possibility of a double pandemic. “We are blessed that a typical flu season didn’t materialize. The situation would have been catastrophic.”Huang said one lesson from the ongoing pandemic is that if people make coronavirus safety protocols a part of their daily routines, flu cases should significantly decline in the future.Related:“We showed that with these measures, we can inhibit flu spread,” he said. However, he added, “it should be noted that COVID is much easier to transmit and more lethal than influenza.”Dr. Sharon Davis, medical director of Los Barrios Unidos Community Clinic, said reduced travel and the use of influenza vaccinations have also helped with nearly wiping out flu this season.“Flu is an airborne disease, so if people are wearing masks, that keeps them from getting infected. There also has been much less people traveling both locally and internationally. And we have seen a very significant increase in people getting the flu vaccine,” Davis said.“Here at the clinic, doctors are very insistent on patients getting the flu vaccine, because if getting COVID is already very bad, falling ill with both COVID and influenza would be a disaster,” she said.According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, flu and COVID-19 have similar initial symptoms.Related:While both are respiratory diseases, the SARS-CoV-2 mortality rate is 110 times higher than that of seasonal flu — 1.1% vs. 0.01% — according to a March report by The Lancet medical journal.Stay-at-home orders that kept children out of classrooms also hurt the flu’s chances this year.“Children are big flu vectors,” Davis said. “They infect their classmates and infect their teachers. By not attending classes because of the pandemic, that transmission chain has been broken.”But rest assured, she said: Influenza is not a thing of the past.“Unfortunately, the flu will come back in the future,” she said. “But I don’t think with the force we have seen in past years, because people have learned how to stave it off.”Get email alerts on breaking news stories as soon as they happen.By signing up you agree to our

5:15 PM on Apr 13, 2021 CDTMask use, social distancing and other safety protocols implemented to fight the coronavirus pandemic have almost wiped out influenza in Dallas County this flu season, health officials say.Dallas County Health and Human Services officials had recorded only two flu cases and no flu deaths through late March, compared with 18,186 cases and 25 deaths the entire previous flu season.Flu season begins in October and winds down in April, health officials say.“We avoided a catastrophe,” Dr. Philip Huang, DCHHS director, said of onetime fears about the possibility of a...

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Abraham Nudelstejer

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Dallas County has logged only 2 flu cases, no deaths this season; officials credit coronavirus protocols

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