The number of people in Indiana this year with influenza-like illness is represented by the blue line. The previous year (red) saw more than three times as many. All charts provided by the Indiana Department of Health.

By Dan Spalding
InkFreeNews

WARSAW – Did all that mask-wearing, social distancing and staying at home over the past year put a big dent in the number of people getting the flu?

Editor’s Note: The thoughts found in this weekly columnare an expression of opinion by the author andnot necessarily the opinion of InkFreeNews.

Sure seems like it.

Charts provided by the state (above) show that the number of suspected cases of influenza and related deaths is significantly down over the previous flu season and lower than in any recent year.

Teresa Reed, Kosciusko County’s communicable disease nurse, said she’s never seen anything like it in her 14 years with the health department.

The current trend, she said, is both shocking and fascinating, and she offered some insights everyone can appreciate.

Instead of grand assumptions, though, she offered what she terms two “attempted” explanations.

First, she agrees that all of the precautions we took “may have slowed the spread of influenza.”

“The second thing is really we’re not watching for it as much as usual,” she said.

COVID-19, she said, overshadowed and took attention away from the flu.

“I could also even say that a lot of the COVID cases may have also had the flu because if they had enough contact with people to catch COVID, that would also be potentially a time they could get the flu,” she said.

In those cases, she said, “unless they are severely ill and had testing in a facility, it’s just going to be rolled into the severity of Covid and nobody ever thinks about the possibility of flu being involved at the same time.”

“You find what you look for,” Reed said. “Some years ago, in Kosciusko County, we didn’t think we had Lyme Disease. First, we went looking for ticks and we found ticks … and then we found Lyme Disease and now we know that and our residents are likely to get better treatment for the illness sooner.”

Trying to predict human behavior is never easy. But one must wonder if this trend could lead some people to continue wearing masks in the future to minimize the chance of getting the flu.

One of my favorite relatives works in education with snotty little kids (she loves the job!) and routinely gets sick several times a year every year – until this year.

I’m guessing she may well continue wearing a mask next year. And more power to her if she does.

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GOP FISH FRY – The Kosciusko County Republican’s Spring Fish Fry will be 4-7 p.m. April 7 at the Kosciusko County Fairgrounds. Indoor dining and drive-thru service will be available.

Cost is $10 for adults and $6 for children ages 5 to 12.

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Dan Spalding is the editor at InkFreeNews.com.
He covers city government and politics and always welcomes your input.