A report by the National Information and Knowledge Center warns of a flu outbreak in parallel with the spread of the corona • The document raises concerns about fighting two epidemics in parallel

• Vaccine for influenza

  Photo: 

  Photo: David Cohen - Ginny

The winter season is approaching in the northern hemisphere, which means the return of winter diseases, especially influenza. In this respect, there is a concern that in parallel with the continued outbreak of the corona virus, a seasonal flu epidemic will break out, the symptoms of which, at least in part, are similar to those of the corona.

In such a reality, it will be very difficult to stop the effort to cut off the transmission chains of the corona virus and the hospitals in Israel may collapse under thousands of flu and corona patients at the same time. This concern, common to many countries, is at the heart of a new report from the National Information and Knowledge Center dealing with the Corona virus.

A new document released by the center today states that despite fears of a double outbreak of influenza and corona, in countries that had significant adherence to social distance, hygiene and wearing masks, a relatively weak outbreak of influenza was recorded last winter which eased local health systems. Preventing its spread.

Furthermore, southern hemisphere countries have encouraged the public to get vaccinated against the flu and in some (e.g. Australia and New Zealand) the percentage of vaccinated has increased compared to last year. The main point that helped reduce the flu in the southern hemisphere was the fact that corona closures were announced with the onset of winter in this part of the world and in any case there was less public exposure to large encounters and thus the corona epidemic was stopped and on the way also the flu epidemic.

In fact a review of reports from Australia, Chile, Argentina, South Africa and New Zealand shows that the social distance and various actions taken have led to a dramatic decrease in those reporting the flu pandemic and even a decrease in the outbreak of the dangerous RSV virus for pregnant women. In addition, in the tropical countries, where there is influenza morbidity throughout the year, an unusual decrease in the influenza morbidity data was observed as early as the beginning of 2020. These countries are also

(Such as Singapore or Peru) were at the time under very severe restrictions of social distance and hygiene. However, the great concern in Israel and the northern hemisphere is that following the lowering of the closures it will be harder to deal with winter now and it will be more difficult to prevent widespread influenza infection. In parallel with the corona virus.

Preventing "war on two fronts"

To prevent a double outbreak, due to the lowering of social closures, the center's experts recommend "strict adherence to the public vaccine for influenza while increasing the number of vaccines and setting targets for vaccinating the population with an emphasis on at-risk groups and groups with high infection potential."

If necessary, it is recommended to establish "vaccinate and drive" complexes, expand the corona testing system and prepare for an increased load on the epidemiological investigation systems and the effort to cut the contagion chain, "extensive public information and broad health system practice for end scenarios.

 The summary of the document states that "for the time being, the decline in influenza morbidity in the southern hemisphere (March-July) cannot be relied upon as predicting morbidity in Israel this coming winter. At this stage, social distance measures in Israel are planned to be less stringent." Ease of limiting gatherings Furthermore, it is not possible to predict the extent to which the public will adhere to the wearing of masks and the rules of hygiene.