James Veverka: Mitigation against COVID helps protect against other illnesses, too

To The Daily Sun,

COVID-19 vaccines are coming! United Airlines has started to transport Pfizer's vaccine. It's the mission of the century. Both Pfizer and Moderna vaccines' efficacy is considerably better than expected at around 95%. Experts hoped for at least 60% which presently is as good as Influenza vaccines get due to the virus's devilish mutating nature. So far, coronaviruses don't do that. Vaccinations mitigate both the rate of spread and the severity of an infection. The data so far for these two vaccines seems to indicate there are no serious side effects.

 

With any respiratory disease, masks, distancing and good hygiene mitigate spread. When we grew up, we learned to cover our mouths during coughs and sneezes because it's a no-brainer not to share THAT air! With the link connecting the initial viral load of the COVID-19 virus to the severity of the infection, masking and other simple measures can not only prevent sickness but reduce its severity. Check out the New York Times article, "It’s Not Whether You Were Exposed to the Virus. It’s How Much: The pathogen is proving a familiar adage: The dose makes the poison." Different viruses require different viral loads to trigger an illness. From hundreds to millions. Think of mitigation strategies as harm reduction, not a Silver Bullet, both for you and those around you.

 

Last year's influenza numbers dropped off abruptly mid-season in both China and the United because of strong Covid-19 measures.  A CDC article, "Abrupt Subsidence of Seasonal Influenza after COVID-19 Outbreak, Hong Kong, China" summarizes: "After widespread adoption of large-scale social distancing interventions in response to the impending coronavirus disease outbreak, the influenza season ended abruptly with a decrease to a low trough." Their flu season was effectively over by the end of February, four to eight months earlier than the six preceding years.

In the USA, which "failed to launch" early enough due to incompetence and denial, the flu season still abruptly subsided ten weeks earlier than the previous three seasons due to COVID-19 harm reduction measures. The same pattern repeated itself in the Southern Hemisphere this year. A CDC article, "Decreased Influenza Activity During The COVID-19 Pandemic - United States, Australia, Chile, and South Africa, strengthens the argument that masking and mitigation measures work, summarizing, "Following widespread adoption of community mitigation measures to reduce transmission of SARS-CoV-2, the percentage of U.S. respiratory specimens submitted for influenza testing that tested positive decreased from over 20% to 2.3% and has remained at historically low inter-seasonal levels (0.2% versus 1–2%). Data from Southern Hemisphere countries also indicate little influenza activity." Wow! What we can see from this evidence is that pandemic or no pandemic, simple mitigation strategies like distancing and masking could reduce your chance of contracting not only COVID-19 but yes, influenza or even a cold. Winter Is coming.

James Veverka
Tilton