# Flu numbers way down **URL:** \ **Category:** The Quarantine Zone\ **Tags:** covid-quarantine\ **Created:** [January 21, 2021, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flu-numbers-way-down/931040 "2021-01-21T01:26:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![MustangSal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mustangsal/32/6327_2.png) [@MustangSal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MustangSal)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2021, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flu-numbers-way-down/931040/1 "2021-01-21T01:26:29Z")
New here and can’t figure out linking articles. But several legit news sources report flu numbers are extremely low this season. My take on this…people are mostly adhering to social distancing/masks/etc. Hence the low flu numbers. COVID is much more contagious than the flu. And we need to do more than social distancing/masks/etc. ---
**Author:** ![FigNorton](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fignorton/32/5619_2.png) [@FigNorton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FigNorton)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2021, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flu-numbers-way-down/931040/2 "2021-01-21T01:39:40Z")
Welcome! Here’s an article from last month: [https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-020-03519-3](https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-020-03519-3) For all the pain, 2020 could yield a massive boon in disease knowledge. This part was interesting: > [@](#): > > In the Southern Hemisphere — now past its winter — seasonal influenza hardly struck at all. That looks as though it might happen in the north, too. Conversely, some common-cold viruses have thrived, and tantalizing evidence suggests that they might, in some cases, protect against COVID-19. ---
**Author:** ![SayTwo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e56c9b/32.png) [@SayTwo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SayTwo)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2021, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flu-numbers-way-down/931040/3 "2021-01-21T01:43:48Z")
> [@FigNorton](#): > > For all the pain, 2020 could yield a massive boon in disease knowledge. Another way to put it might be that 2020 brought with it a stark realization that we really didn’t know all that much to begin with. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2021, 1:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flu-numbers-way-down/931040/4 "2021-01-21T13:35:20Z")
> [@MustangSal](#): > > New here and can’t figure out linking articles. Just paste the url of your article into the body of your post. Sometimes it’ll appear as [http://blahblahblah.com](http://blahblahblah.com) and sometimes it’ll be a nice pretty boxed preview. Either way we’ll get the idea and can click the link to go read the article. ---
**Author:** ![USCDiver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/uscdiver/32/354_2.png) [@USCDiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/USCDiver)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2021, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flu-numbers-way-down/931040/5 "2021-01-21T13:50:51Z")
Here’s the only chart you need. This is from the WHO which monitors global influenza cases. This chart starts from a year ago (ie winter of 2020 when Flu season was still going strong in the Northern Hemisphere but before global spread of Covid). [https://apps.who.int/flumart/Default?ReportNo=6](https://apps.who.int/flumart/Default?ReportNo=6) ---
**Author:** ![Banksiaman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/banksiaman/32/3334_2.png) [@Banksiaman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Banksiaman)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2021, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flu-numbers-way-down/931040/6 "2021-01-21T21:07:17Z")
We had a negligible winter [Southern Hemisphere mid-year] flu season. There is a very comprehensive analysis of the numbers [here](https://www1.health.gov.au/internet/main/publishing.nsf/Content/cda-surveil-ozflu-flucurr.htm). Same drop down to almost ungraphably low numbers. Would be good for 2020’s mask wearing and social distancing becoming a community behaviour into the future. ---
**Author:** ![MustangSal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mustangsal/32/6327_2.png) [@MustangSal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MustangSal)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2021, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flu-numbers-way-down/931040/7 "2021-01-21T22:31:28Z")
> **[Covid-19 Has Nearly Wiped Out the Flu—How Do We Keep It From Coming Back?](https://www.wsj.com/articles/covid-19-has-nearly-wiped-out-the-fluhow-do-we-keep-it-from-coming-back-11611230410)** > > Coronavirus measures like mask-wearing and increased vaccination rates have contributed to historically low levels of seasonal influenza, leading some to explore what might help most after the pandemic ends.