Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2020 Oct 23;7(11):ofaa511.
doi: 10.1093/ofid/ofaa511. eCollection 2020 Nov.

Precipitous Fall in Common Respiratory Viral Infections During COVID-19

Michael F Parry  1   2 , Asha K Shah  1   2 , Merima Sestovic  3 , Selma Salter  4
Affiliations

Precipitous Fall in Common Respiratory Viral Infections During COVID-19

Michael F Parry et al. Open Forum Infect Dis. .

Abstract

In the midst of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, we were surprised to find that all other respiratory viral infections fell precipitously. The difference in respiratory viral infections during the 16-week period of our peak COVID-19 activity in 2020 (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention weeks 14-29) was significantly lower than during the same period in the previous 4 years (a total of 4 infections vs an average of 138 infections; P < .0001). We attribute this to widespread use of public health interventions including wearing face masks, social distancing, hand hygiene, and stay-at-home orders. As these interventions are usually ignored by the community during most influenza seasons, we anticipate that their continued use during the upcoming winter season could substantially blunt the case load of influenza and other respiratory viral infections.

Keywords: COVID-19; public health response; respiratory infections.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Respiratory viral infections diagnosed in 2020 compared with historical totals during the 4-year period 2016–2019 showing a precipitous fall in all non-COVID-19 infections in 2020.↑ = Connecticut public health interventions cited in Table 1. Abbreviations: CDC, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; COVID-19, coronavirus disease 2019.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Influenza: past influenza seasons. Available at: https://www.cdc.gov/flu/season/past-flu-seasons.htm. Accessed 15 August 2020.
    1. Li Y, Wang X, Nair H. Global seasonality of human seasonal coronaviruses: a clue for post-pandemic circulating season of SARS-CoV-2 virus? J Infect Dis. In press. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Influenza like illness. Available at: https://www.cdc.gov/flu/weekly/weeklyarchives2019-2020/week22.htm. Accessed 7 June 2020.
    1. Hall CB. The spread of influenza and other respiratory viruses: complexities and conjectures. Clin Infect Dis 2007; 45:353–9. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Tellier R. Review of aerosol transmission of influenza A virus. Emerg Infect Dis 2006; 12:1657–62. - PMC - PubMed