The Flu’s Return Puts Health Officials In ‘Uncharted Territory’

ACROSS AMERICA — The flu all but disappeared in the United States after large numbers of Americans stayed home in response to the coronavirus. However, as the country begins to reopen, it's not a question of if the flu will return but when, health officials say.

As the United States entered into fall last year, there were fears the country would see a "twindemic" with the nation battling both the flu and COVID-19 at the same time. But, the "twindemic" never happened, and the flu season all but disappeared, according to a report from The New York Times.

Since September, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has logged around 2,000 cases of the flu in the country. Under normal circumstances, the number of cases in that same time frame would be around 206,000, according to The Times.

Scientists credit the measures implemented by health agencies responding to the coronavirus as a key reason the country saw the dramatic reduction in flu cases. But they don't know if any one action, like more frequent handwashing or vigilant masking wearing in public, was a contributing factor.

With more people getting vaccinated against COVID-19 and returning to normal activities like going out to eat and spending time with friends, the flu's return is inevitable, according to The Times. Scientists aren't sure what the flu will look like when it does come back.

"We're in uncharted territory," Richard Webby, a virologist at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee, told The Times. "We haven't had an influenza season this low, I think as long as we've been measuring it. So what the potential implications are is a bit unclear."

It's estimated that 9 million to 45 million people nationwide get the flu each year, according to the CDC. Of that amount, around 12,000 to 61,000 people die from it.

The flu's dormancy has made it difficult to determine how to tailor the annual flu vaccine. With fewer people getting sick, scientists have had trouble predicting which flu strains the vaccine should protect against, The Times reported.

Because of this uncertainty and the low rates of infection, scientists theorize the return of the flu may lead to larger outbreaks across America. They’ll likely also occur outside the normal flu season.

However, there is an upside, according to The Times.

Because the flu hasn't been circulating as much during the pandemic, flu strains haven't been able to mutate, and it could mean the current vaccine will still be effective.

Read the rest of The New York Times' story on the re-emergence of the flu by visiting the paper's website.