Seven cases identified in hospitals, including two people returning from a trip abroad, since October. At the same time, last year, we were at 246 cases, according to figures published this week by Public Health France. The seasonal flu epidemic seems to have completely disappeared from the landscape.
If it is still too early to draw definitive conclusions, the peak of the flu occurring rather at the end of December – beginning of January, the almost total absence of the virus at present can be explained by two main reasons. The first is obviously the use of barrier gestures against the spread of Covid-19, which are also effective in preventing influenza contagion.
The second is the flu shot rush. This year, thirteen million French people have been vaccinated. They were ten million last year. Currently. “In nursing homes, 50% to 60% of staff have been immunized against 20% to 30% usually”, specifies the newspaper Le Parisien.
It is also possible that the omnipresence of Covid-19 also prevents the classic influenza virus from being able to circulate massively, according to virologists.
A trend that remains to be confirmed in the coming weeks, however, while the flu, which kills on average 10,000 people per year in France and clogs the emergency services each winter, killed 3,700 people last year.
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