COVID-19 and Seasonal Influenza: No Room for Two

Abstract

Objective With the outbreak of COVID-19 in December 2019 fears were expressed for a possible twindemic in the coming flu seasons. Fortunately, this was not the case for the 2019-2020 and 2020-2021 flu seasons as flu showed very low historical rates during these periods. The objective of our study was to look at the existing flu data for the 2019-2021 period and analyze possible reasons for the near absence of seasonal flu. Methods We performed retrospective surveillance regarding seasonal influenza rates for the years 2019-2021, the years that the COVID-19 was present. Epidemiological data concerning seasonal influenza for the years 2019-2021 were collected and analyzed Results Extremely low numbers of flu cases were reported in FluNet, FluView, and TESSy influenza surveillance systems during the years 2019, 2020, and 2021 compared to previous years prior to COVID-19. Conclusions A twindemic outbreak during the 2019-2021 flu seasons did not occur despite expressed concerns. The worldwide implementation of mitigation measures for individuals and communities to control severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) transmission, the increased flu vaccination rate, the virus interference and the lower rate of testing for flu are the main reasons for the marked decrease in reported flu cases during 2019-2021 flu seasons.

Keywords: cdc; covid-19; ecdc; epidemiology; flunet; fluview; pandemic; sars-cov-2; seasonal influenza; twindemic.