What to Know About Covid-19 During Flu Season

Doctors are worried that a flu epidemic on top of the Covid-19 pandemic could stretch medical resources to the breaking point. Luckily, that’s not the case in New Zealand.

Dr Sue Huang is virologist in Wellington and the director of the WHO National Influenza Centre from New Zealand at the Institute of Environmental Science and Research.

Huang and her colleagues use a number of surveillance systems and research programs to keep track of flu and other respiratory infections across New Zealand. Seasonal influenza and the human respiratory syncytial virus, or RSV, are the two winter pathogens most likely to put people into the hospital, especially the very young and the elderly. Sue and her colleagues also monitor other bugs that can cause the common cold and influenza-like illnesses.

Weird thing is, all of these germs, with the exception of rhinovirus -- the predominant cause of common colds -- have been conspicuous by their absence so far this winter.

“It is so bizarre, so strange. We have never experienced anything like this before. I mean, I have been running this surveillance for the last 20 years. Every year we will see a winter outbreak. But this year we didn't see any of the flu outbreak. Just a few very, very odd, you know, single digit number around the whole country.”

Huang says that if the pandemic has a silver lining, this might be one.

“Well, maybe that is one of the silver lining you know, about the Covid, the impact of lockdown on other respiratory viruses.”

She adds, “I think the lockdown really, really had a major dramatic impact. You have to realize New Zealand's lockdown is around March, around April and it is our late autumn and not really reached our winter yet. And in New Zealand's lockdown you're living in your bubble with your family and you're just a few people. And in that environment, basically you really, really reduce the contact rates so the infected people could not really reach to uninfected people very well. That’s why we are seeing we have very little flu. We have very little RSV. We have very little of many different viruses in New Zealand.”

In New Zealand’s case, going hard and going early with a nationwide lockdown has beaten back two life-threatening viruses over winter. But it’s come at great economic cost.

“From the infectious disease perspective, it is really a big, dramatic effect, which is great. But the economic cost is too much. Perhaps we need to learn a bit more. Something like mask-wearing, better personal hygiene, you know, a better, you know, coughing type of etiquette, that kind of stuff potentially would help us in the future to reduce the viral transmission in the population.”

Coughing and sneezing into an elbow, frequent, thorough hand-washing, avoiding mixing with other people when you’re unwell, and wearing a face mask when physical distancing isn’t possible -- these aren’t expensive measures, and most people are capable of practising them.

"Actually, if everybody followed that kind of little things, good hygiene, you know, and good habits, that potentially would really help us for the future mitigating the flu infection year after year after year."

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