ROCKFORD (WREX) — According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the typical peak season for the flu comes between December and February.
According to data from the Winnebago County Health Department, during the last flu season 821 cases was highest total for a single week. This year, the highest total for a single week was just four cases. In the last update the WCHD provided on it's website, there was one case of flu reported in Week 7. During Week 7 of last year's flu season there were 692 cases.
"It shows us these mitigations do reduce the spread of disease dramatically," says Dr. Syed Zaidi, a family physician for OSF St. Anthony.
But doctors believe it's not just handwashing, social distancing and mask wearing that drove cases down. They say people took an extra precaution.
"We've had a historic number of flu vaccinations than ever before," says Zaidi. "I've had more people come asking for the vaccine than I've had to offer the vaccine."
"The number of patients at least anecdotally in my practice who were receptive to the flu shot this year was much higher than the year before," says SwedishAmerican family physician Dr. Phil Carlson-Dexter.
In addition to more flu vaccines, doctors believe all eyes were on COVID-19, which could have driven down the numbers in a different way.
"For some time we were not doing any testing except for Coronavirus for flu-like symptoms," says Dr. Carlson-Dexter. "We think there will truly be a number of people who had the flu this year that weren't identified as having the flu."
For any parents worried their kids weren't exposed to the flu or other bugs this year, doctors say there's no reason to be concerned.
"They're getting exposure to germs in many other ways," says Dr. Zaidi. "It could be the three year old that picks something off the floor. There is an exposure, it's not that we aren't connected to our ecosystem, we are."
These doctors hope this flu season serves as an example for the choices people can make to stay healthy, even when they're not living in a pandemic.
"I think a lot of people are now going to take the common sense things to heart," says Dr. Carlson-Dexter. "Hand sanitizing, staying home if you're sick, trying to limit your exposure to relatives who are a high exposure to the flu."
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March 12, 2021 at 11:40AM
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How this year's flu season peak compares to the year before - WREX-TV
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