Mont. County: Dramatically different flu season than previous years

MONTGOMERY COUNY — As Covid keeps people away from friends and family, it is also keeping the flu away.

The most recent data from Public Health – Dayton and Montgomery County show the number of people hospitalized with the flu is down dramatically from previous years.

In the last week of 2020, there were no flu hospitalizations. During that same week in 2019, 111 people were hospitalized with the flu.

“Before flu season started, one of the things that we wanted to do is have this be a record low flu season, and it has been,” Dr. Roberto Colón, the associate chief medical officer for Miami Valley Hospital.

He explained the ways people are working to stop the spread of Covid are helping keep flu transmission down. That includes stopping travel and gatherings, washing hands, and wearing masks.

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“We want to make sure that we’re doing everything we can to keep influenza as low as possible,” Dr. Colón said.

While the Covid vaccines make headlines, Dr. Colón said the flu vaccine is making a difference.

“We had a very good acceptance of the influenza vaccine this year, so we had a lot of people that went out and got the vaccine, knowing that we had to make sure that we protected ourselves from both of these diseases around the same time,” Dr. Colón said.

He explained it is not too late to get the flu vaccine. He recommends getting the shot because fighting the flu and Covid can be a dangerous combination.

Cox Media Group