MANSFIELD – The 33.9 million cases of COVID around the world kept eyes glued to television and computer screens for 15 months. However, what wasn’t accounted for was the unusual amount of flu cases reported.
In Richland County, a total of six flu cases were reported during the flu season from October 2020 to March 2021.
“In 2021, we had one case of influenza A [and] five cases of influenza, B for a total of six. No hospitalizations,” said Richland Public Health educator Reed Richmond.
Richmond credits people wearing a mask, social distancing, not gathering in crowds and frequent handwashing as factors to keeping flu cases low. The other major factor in decreasing cases was more children attending school remotely, rather than in person.
“The fact that we didn’t have kids in school full time definitely reduced a number of cases, because it reduces the spread among the adult population, as well,” Richmond said.
In the prior year, Richland County had a total of 1,282 flu cases, with 94 hospitalizations.
In the past 20 years, Richland County had 46 deaths a year on average from flu or pneumonia, according to Reed Richmond.
Nationwide, the Centers for Disease Control, reviewed the 2020-2021 data from this past season and found the lowest number of hospitalized patients across the country.
OhioHealth hospital systems had three positive flu tests compared to 331 in March 2020 of that same week.
“We were very worried going into this winter that we might see a surge in both COVID and flu, and the fact that we did not see a surge, in fact, we saw a significant decrease in flu, was really a benefit to our hospitals as far as resource management. And it was obviously a benefit to the community, who didn’t see as much respiratory illness due to the flu,” said Vice President of Medical Affairs Dr. Gavin Baumgardner at OhioHealth Mansfield and Shelby Hospitals.
Similar to Richland County, Knox and Ashland County saw drops in flu cases. In fact, there were no reported cases for the 2021 season in either county.
“Starting in October through the beginning of this year there have been no influenza cases reported and nobody hospitalized with influenza,” said Pam Palm, Knox Public Health public information officer. “That has never happened as long as we’ve been [keeping track of] inflammation. There’s never been a time when we’ve not had a flu case.”
“According to our Director of Nursing, not very many people were actually even testing for influenza because COVID was the overriding thing that we were seeing cases of, so when somebody came in with respiratory symptoms [Covid] was usually what they got tested for,” Palm said.
Though it was unusual not to record any flu cases in the 2020-21 season, there was also a limited testing for influenza and health officials concentrated on COVID-19. The Knox Community Hospital conducted complete respiratory panels on patients presenting with respiratory issues, but not testing positive for COVID-19.
“What we saw in Knox County last year was not unusual compared to other counties in Ohio,” Palm said. “The precautions put in place to prevent the spread of COVID-19 – specifically facial coverings, social distancing, frequent hand-washing, surface cleaning and size limits on gatherings – helped to also prevent the spread of the flu.”
The Knox County Health Department also heard comments from the public, as well as staff, that families saw less of the common cold and allergy reactions. Palm said she wouldn’t be surprised if she saw more people wearing masks during future flu and cold seasons, especially for those who are most susceptible such as the elderly and immune-compromised.
Many factors played a role in the low amount of flu cases the world saw this past flu season. However, it brings to question what the upcoming season could look like. As October approaches, Richmond projects Richland County could see a spike in flu cases.
“One of the things that didn’t happen is we didn’t put up our immunity against the common flu… So there’s a chance that the flu could be really bad this year because people are more susceptible to it,” Richmond said.
“We just go from what we hear from other sources,” Richmond said. “Medical experts are saying that this can be a really bad season… So when people who are experts are saying those types of things in public, that’s kind of a heads up for local health departments that things could be getting bad.”
According to Baumgardner, since the flu shot changes each year that could provide challenges this year of predicting the flu strains in this flu season next year.
“The World Health Organization, the CDC and other agencies use predictive modeling to design the flu shot because the flu shot is usually a combination of different strains of the flu…” Baumgardner said. “With the strains that we use, because we had so few cases this year, that actually makes it more challenging for those agencies to accurately predict what next year’s flu season might look like.”
Although there’s uncertainty, continuing to get the annual flu shot each year is still a good preventative measure, according to Richmond.
“You’re better off getting [a flu shot] in October than getting it too early because it’ll keep you protected for peak flu season, which really doesn’t happen until after the new year. So, get your flu shot by the end of October. You should be protected from flu season,” Richmond said.
