Even as coronavirus was devastating populations around the world, killing 3.7 million people globally, doctors and public health officials noticed something else was missing: There was almost no flu.
One child died from flu this year in the US. In 2019-2020, there were 199 flu-related deaths in children and 144 the season before that. Flu cases, usually counted in the tens of millions, only accounted for a few thousand this year in the US.
“Flu hasn’t been anywhere, with the exception of some reasonable activity in western Africa,” said Richard Webby, an influenza specialist at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis.
“No one has seen it. That includes countries that have done lockdown. It includes countries that haven’t done any lockdown. It includes countries that have done a good job controlling the pandemic. It includes countries that haven’t done a good job,” Webby told CNN.
It’s not entirely clear why. Many experts believe that measures taken to help control coronavirus also prevented the spread of influenza. It’s also possible that coronavirus somehow outcompeted or interfered with flu.
