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Coronavirus pandemic
OpinionComment
David Dodwell
David Dodwell

Inside Out | Global success in fighting flu shows a way out of coronavirus lockdowns

  • Instead of obsessing about case numbers, our leaders should focus on the transition from surviving the pandemic to living with it
  • Our success dealing with influenza show that once we are vaccinated and have masks on hand, the time has come to let us get on with our lives

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Demonstrators protest against mandated vaccines outside the Michigan State Capitol in Lansing, Michigan, on August 6. The selfishness of anti-maskers and anti-vaxxers must be brushed aside. Our political leaders must stand firm in insisting that in the struggle between personal freedom and communal obligation, there are times when care for the community comes first. Photo: AFP
David Dodwell
It was obvious, but I had not thought about it until I opened my August edition of Scientific American to the headline: “What Happened to the Flu?”. In short, the social distancing, hygiene and masking rules enforced worldwide to bring the pandemic under control have stopped seasonal influenza epidemics in their tracks.

The US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention says that since April last year, influenza cases have flatlined close to zero. Influenza deaths totalled about 700 during the entire 2020-21 flu season – which compares with 22,000 deaths during the 2020 flu season from January to March, and 34,000 deaths in the 2019 season.

Hong Kong’s Centre for Health Protection tells a similar story. As the Post reported last March, there were 356 flu deaths in 2019 and 113 in 2020. But for the influenza season that ended this past March, only one death was recorded.

The World Health Organization reports a similar flatlining. It estimates an annual average of 3 million to 5 million severe flu cases across the world every year and between 290,000 and 650,000 deaths. Examining survey data from the 14 months between November 2019 and the end of 2020, however, it found about 615,000 flu cases – 609,000 of them before April 2020 and just 5,730 cases in the nine months from April to December.

“Overall, the timing of annual global influenza circulation in 2020 differed from that of any season observed previously,” the WHO said. It differed in that the circulation disappeared.

05:26

Coronavirus spread would dramatically drop if 80% of a population wore masks, AI researcher says

Coronavirus spread would dramatically drop if 80% of a population wore masks, AI researcher says
Whatever the protests against mask-wearing in certain parts of the world, the evidence proves that masks are highly effective in stifling normal airborne pathogens. Sadly, they are not fail-safe enough to provide complete protection against a new, highly contagious virus like Covid-19.
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