The Pandemic During Flu Season

lowest level since the pandemic began. The city's mayor, Build a Black You said at a news briefing that after more than two months of experiencing positive tests rates of less than three percent, the city recorded a zero point to four test rate this week. De Blasio called New York City, once the global epicenter of the outbreak quote, one of the safest places in the country when it comes to the coronavirus end quote, but he also said

the city still has a long way to go. Hong Kong reported the lowest number of new coronavirus infections since a recent surge that turned into its worst outbreak yet. The numbers reinforced hopes that stringent citywide containment measures can be eased. The city has also seen a decline in the shareff cases with unknown origins over the past week, signaling that untraceable infections are dwindling. But in Greece, distancing rules have been tightened after the country we reported its

highest number of cases yet. People in two tourist regions will have to wear masks both indoors and outdoors, according to the government. The authorities also suspended all events and prohibited gatherings of more than nine people in the two tourist regions. And now for today's main story. Before the novel coronavirus, the world was focused on another killer respiratory virus, influenza. The flu kills hundreds of thousands of people globally each year.

The COVID nineteen pandemic hit the US after flu cases had peaked, but with the next flu season only a couple of months away, doctors are worried that a flu epidemic on top of a COVID pandemic could stretch medical resources to the breaking point. Bloomberg Senior editor Jason Gale reports that countries in the Southern Hemisphere like Australia and New Zealand can be a model for dealing with the flu.

It's late winter here in Australia and it's cold. Ordinarily this would be peak flu season, but this is no ordinary year. For one thing, there's been a lot less flu. Dr Mariam van Kirkoff, the World Whole Organization's technically on COVID nineteen, told reporters on Monday that we can thank the pandemic for reducing the circulation of seasonal influenza. There may be a number of reasons for this, particularly in the Southern Hemisphere where they're having their winter flu season.

Many of the physical distancing and public health and social measures that have been put in place which keeps people apart may have actually played a role in reducing circulation of influenza. Unlike COVID nineteen, vaccines for flu are widely available. We also have a number of anti viral drugs that can shorten the duration of illness, and so it's important that people get vaccinated against influenza when that vaccine becomes available.

That's really important because it will be quite difficult if somebody is infected with either covid or flu and they have a flu like illness or cold like symptoms. We won't be able to distinguish immediately between whether somebody has flu or whether somebody has COVID. We will need testing to be able to do that, so it could complicate

the clinical picture. But there are tools that are in place for influenza, and so it is really really important that when the vaccine becomes available for flu, that people do take that vaccine. People in New Zealand hated that advice. This year we have a record high number of flu vaccination, muchm to higher than other years. This is Dr Sue Huang. She's a virologist in Wellington. I'm a director of a richer National Influencer Center from New Zealand at the Institute

of Environmental Science and the Research. Sue says that if the pandemic has a silver lining, this might be one, but the covid the impact of lockdown on other respiratue viruses and that you can see it is so dramatic in temperate regions of the Northern and Southern hemisphere, winter is notorious for respiratory diseases. So he says there are a number of reasons for that. When it's cold, we're indoors more without sunlight and often sharing poorly ventilated space

with others. Cold, dry air seems to enable respiratory pathogens to persist longer. Outdoors is harder for them because the sun's ultra violet radiation deactivates pathogens, and fresh air and good ventilation dilute the concentration of germs lingering in the air. Also, in winter, we have less sun exposure, which reduces vitamin D levels and that can weaken our immune systems. On top of that, cold dry egg can make the nose

more hospitable environment for infections. Who says cold temperature, you know you you you have less blood supply around your nascauso area and then you don't have a good supply of those you know, immune cells. Temperature wise, it's been an average winter so far in New Zealand, which is why the absence of a flu season there is so remarkable.

You have to realize the New Zealand's a lockdown is around March around April, and it is our late autumn and to really reach to our winter years and in news, even as the lockdown is, you're living in your bubble with your family and just a few people you know, and in that environd it basically you really really reduced the contact of rates, so the infect that the people could not really reach to infect the people very well.

And that that's why we are seeing we have a very little for flu, we have very little of RSV, we have very little of for many different viruses. In New Zealand. The New Zealand government implemented a stringent countrywide lockdown on March that led to what was essentially a seven week national state at home order. A week before, on March nineteen, the South specific nation closed its border

to almost all travelers. Public life has since returned to near normal, with the exception of the Auckland region, where restrictions have been reinstated to control an outbreak that began late last month. So says. The measures aimed at eliminating COVID suppressed most respiratory infections, but not rhinavirus, which could turn out to be another reason there is a much flu arount. Rhino is a virus really circulated all year round. At the background, you see that even in summer we

can have a rhinovirus circulation. So he thinks rhinovirus spread at low levels among household members during the lockdown and then proliferated in toddlers once daycase and it's reopened, eventually spreading to older age groups. Rhinovirus causes a sore throat, running nose, nasal congestion, usual cold symptoms. It's pretty innocuous and healthy people. In fact, it may even provide some

benefit in fending off influenza. Sue says. It's hypothesized that when the immune system is fighting rhinovirus, the body's first line of defense, including signaling molecules called cyderkins, are already in the nose and throat, corralling foreign invaders. Those anti viral cytocoms somehow will reduce the success susceptibility for other

virus to establish in the population. You know, what we are observing is lots of a rhino going on in the country and the perhaps there's some interaction between the rhinovirus and the flu viruses, So there's some interplay between the rhino and the flu in relation the immune response. So that's another fascinating thing we want to observe. But the furtherest see what is really going on, So says France and Sweden observed a similar phenomenon during the two

thousand and nine one one influenza pandemic. I asked Dr Bruce Aylwood at w H, a senior advisor, whether someone who has COVID nineteen as well as another respiratory infection like flu or rhinovirus would have a better or worse prognosis than someone who has COVID alone. Bruce said the evidence is mixed, but the risk of co infection should be avoided, especially since both flu and COVID nineteen cause

worst disease and older people. Plus Berry says a coughing flu infected person may more easily spread a mild covid infection. In New Zealand's case, going hard and going early with the nationwide lockdown has beaten back to life threatening viruses over winter, but it's come a great economic cost. From the infectious disease perspective, it is really big or traumatically effect, which is a great but the economical cost is too much.

Perhaps we need to learn a bit the more, something like the mask wearing better personal hygien you know, a better you know, coughing type of you know ethics, that kind of stuff potentiative would help us in the future to reduce the transmission in the population. Coughing and sneezing into an elbow, frequent thorough handwashing, 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 practicing them. Actually, if everybody follow that kind of little things, good hygienes, you know, and a good habit, and and that the potential that would really help us for the future mitigating of the fluid infection year after year after year. The pandemic is shaping

society in many ways, not all of them bad. Perhaps one thing COVID nineteen will teach us is to be more hygienic, to be better at protecting others from the infections we might carry, and that might prevent the spread of many other diseases. That was Jason Gail, and that's it for our show today. For coverage of the outbreak from one and twenty bureaus around the world, visit Bloomberg dot com slash coronavirus, and if you like the show, please leave us a review and a rating. On Apple.

Podcasts are Spotify. It's the best way to help more listeners find our global reporting. The Prognosis Daly Edition is produced by Topher foreheads Jordan gas Pure, Magnus Hendrickson, and me Laura Carlson. Today's main story was reported by Jason Gale. Original music by Leo Sidrin. Our editors are Francesca Levi and Rick Shine. Francesco Levi is Bloomberg's head of podcasts. Thanks for listening to l