The United States has far fewer flu cases than normal, and experts say it’s probably due to measures people are taking to protect themselves from COVID-19. Flu season usually peaks between December and February. Influenza typically causes about 45 million illnesses, 810,000 hospitalizations and 61,000 deaths in the United States each year, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. But so far this flu season, there have been just 925 reported cases of the flu nationwide. “Though caused by a different virus from the one that causes COVID-19, the flu is also a respiratory viral disease, so everything we are doing to slow transmission of COVID-19, such as wearing face masks, frequent hand-washing and physical distancing, should also reduce transmission of flu,” Eili Klein said in a Johns Hopkins news release. He is an associate professor of emergency medicine at university’s School of Medicine. Other factors likely contributing to fewer flu cases include more people getting a flu shot; many schools and businesses meeting virtually instead of in-person; and fewer people traveling. “We commonly see flu spread in communities, schools, businesses and through travel each year, so these changes are likely keeping the flu away,” said Dr. Lisa Maragakis, senior director of infection prevention for the Johns Hopkins Health System. But a less severe flu season this year could increase severity next…  read on >  read on >

Now that federal guidelines have expanded COVID-19 vaccine eligibility to include people over 65 and those of all ages with underlying health conditions, drug stores say they are ready, willing and able to start giving the shots. There’s just one slight glitch: supply. But with two vaccines already available and others moving toward emergency use authorization, experts say supply will likely soon catch up with demand. As of Jan. 14, the Federal Retail Pharmacy Partnership Program has tapped two pharmacy chains per state to offer free COVID-19 vaccines. Pharmacies will be notified if they can take part in this initial rollout. Spearheaded by Operation Warp Speed, the government’s vaccine development program, this plan will ultimately allow more than 40,000 pharmacies across the nation to inject 100 million vaccines in a month’s time. Already signed on as partners are CVS, Walgreens, Duane Reade, Costco, Walmart, Rite Aid, Publix and more. Fully 250 million people in the United States are now eligible for COVID-19 vaccines, and pharmacies can help speed the slower-than-expected vaccine distribution process, said Kathleen Jaeger, senior vice president of pharmacy care and patient advocacy at the National Association of Chain Drug Stores (NACDS), an Alexandria, Virginia-based trade group representing chain pharmacies. “With 40,000 drug stores and one vaccinator per store, it would be very easy to deliver 100 million vaccine doses in one month,”…  read on >  read on >

The United States has far fewer flu cases than normal, and experts say it’s probably due to measures people are taking to protect themselves from COVID-19. Flu season usually peaks between December and February. Influenza typically causes about 45 million illnesses, 810,000 hospitalizations and 61,000 deaths in the United States each year, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. But so far this flu season, there have been just 925 reported cases of the flu nationwide. “Though caused by a different virus from the one that causes COVID-19, the flu is also a respiratory viral disease, so everything we are doing to slow transmission of COVID-19, such as wearing face masks, frequent hand-washing and physical distancing, should also reduce transmission of flu,” Eili Klein said in a Johns Hopkins news release. He is an associate professor of emergency medicine at university’s School of Medicine. Other factors likely contributing to fewer flu cases include more people getting a flu shot; many schools and businesses meeting virtually instead of in-person; and fewer people traveling. “We commonly see flu spread in communities, schools, businesses and through travel each year, so these changes are likely keeping the flu away,” said Dr. Lisa Maragakis, senior director of infection prevention for the Johns Hopkins Health System. But a less severe flu season this year could increase severity next…  read on >  read on >

The United States has far fewer flu cases than normal, and experts say it’s probably due to measures people are taking to protect themselves from COVID-19. Flu season usually peaks between December and February. Influenza typically causes about 45 million illnesses, 810,000 hospitalizations and 61,000 deaths in the United States each year, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. But so far this flu season, there have been just 925 reported cases of the flu nationwide. “Though caused by a different virus from the one that causes COVID-19, the flu is also a respiratory viral disease, so everything we are doing to slow transmission of COVID-19, such as wearing face masks, frequent hand-washing and physical distancing, should also reduce transmission of flu,” Eili Klein said in a Johns Hopkins news release. He is an associate professor of emergency medicine at university’s School of Medicine. Other factors likely contributing to fewer flu cases include more people getting a flu shot; many schools and businesses meeting virtually instead of in-person; and fewer people traveling. “We commonly see flu spread in communities, schools, businesses and through travel each year, so these changes are likely keeping the flu away,” said Dr. Lisa Maragakis, senior director of infection prevention for the Johns Hopkins Health System. But a less severe flu season this year could increase severity next…  read on >  read on >

Now that federal guidelines have expanded COVID-19 vaccine eligibility to include people over 65 and those of all ages with underlying health conditions, drug stores say they are ready, willing and able to start giving the shots. There’s just one slight glitch: supply. But with two vaccines already available and others moving toward emergency use authorization, experts say supply will likely soon catch up with demand. As of Jan. 14, the Federal Retail Pharmacy Partnership Program has tapped two pharmacy chains per state to offer free COVID-19 vaccines. Pharmacies will be notified if they can take part in this initial rollout. Spearheaded by Operation Warp Speed, the government’s vaccine development program, this plan will ultimately allow more than 40,000 pharmacies across the nation to inject 100 million vaccines in a month’s time. Already signed on as partners are CVS, Walgreens, Duane Reade, Costco, Walmart, Rite Aid, Publix and more. Fully 250 million people in the United States are now eligible for COVID-19 vaccines, and pharmacies can help speed the slower-than-expected vaccine distribution process, said Kathleen Jaeger, senior vice president of pharmacy care and patient advocacy at the National Association of Chain Drug Stores (NACDS), an Alexandria, Virginia-based trade group representing chain pharmacies. “With 40,000 drug stores and one vaccinator per store, it would be very easy to deliver 100 million vaccine doses in one month,”…  read on >  read on >

The United States has far fewer flu cases than normal, and experts say it’s probably due to measures people are taking to protect themselves from COVID-19. Flu season usually peaks between December and February. Influenza typically causes about 45 million illnesses, 810,000 hospitalizations and 61,000 deaths in the United States each year, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. But so far this flu season, there have been just 925 reported cases of the flu nationwide. “Though caused by a different virus from the one that causes COVID-19, the flu is also a respiratory viral disease, so everything we are doing to slow transmission of COVID-19, such as wearing face masks, frequent hand-washing and physical distancing, should also reduce transmission of flu,” Eili Klein said in a Johns Hopkins news release. He is an associate professor of emergency medicine at university’s School of Medicine. Other factors likely contributing to fewer flu cases include more people getting a flu shot; many schools and businesses meeting virtually instead of in-person; and fewer people traveling. “We commonly see flu spread in communities, schools, businesses and through travel each year, so these changes are likely keeping the flu away,” said Dr. Lisa Maragakis, senior director of infection prevention for the Johns Hopkins Health System. But a less severe flu season this year could increase severity next…  read on >  read on >

Folks who’ve gotten through a COVID-19 infection might naturally question whether they need to get a coronavirus vaccination when their turn comes. Experts say they really need the shot anyway, because even after having COVID they might be vulnerable to reinfection. “We’re encouraging people if they meet the other criteria to get immunized because we don’t know how long either natural immunity or vaccine immunity lasts,” said Dr. Chris Beyrer, a professor of public health and human rights at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore. All previously known coronaviruses are notorious for promoting short-lived immunity in humans, he said. “Unfortunately, with other coronaviruses typically the immunity you have — like if you get a common cold coronavirus — usually only lasts about a year and a half to two years and then you’re vulnerable again,” Beyrer said. This is because the body uses a relatively simple strategy to fight off common cold coronaviruses, and this strategy does not appear to make a lasting impression on immune system memory, said Dr. Greg Poland, director of the Vaccine Research Group at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn. As such, he said there’s a chance people who had asymptomatic or mild cases of COVID-19 did not build up any lasting immunity. “Particularly for people who have milder cases, it may be that they don’t have…  read on >  read on >

The bad news? COVID-19 may be around for a long, long time. The good news? Even if it does, new research suggests it could very well end up being just another mild illness, bringing with it inconvenience and discomfort, but rarely hospitalization or death. Why? The theory is rooted in the epidemiology patterns previously followed by four other coronaviruses. All have been in circulation for a very long time. In fact, they’re endemic, which means that most people get infected and develop immunity during childhood that protects against serious illness (although not reinfection) as adults. And that trajectory led a team of investigators to model what might ultimately happen in the future if most people were similarly exposed to the new coronavirus during childhood. “In the vast majority of cases, the endemic human coronaviruses [HCoVs] cause nothing more than a common cold, [meaning an] upper respiratory tract infection,” said study author Jennie Lavine, a postdoctoral researcher in the department of biology at Emory University in Atlanta. About 15% of adult common colds are believed to be attributable to HCoVs, she added. “They sometimes lead to lower respiratory tract infections, particularly in very young children and the elderly,” Lavine noted. Only in rare cases, among particularly vulnerable populations, do they trigger more serious illness. “It seems likely that COVID-19 will end up playing out this way,”…  read on >  read on >

The bad news? COVID-19 may be around for a long, long time. The good news? Even if it does, new research suggests it could very well end up being just another mild illness, bringing with it inconvenience and discomfort, but rarely hospitalization or death. Why? The theory is rooted in the epidemiology patterns previously followed by four other coronaviruses. All have been in circulation for a very long time. In fact, they’re endemic, which means that most people get infected and develop immunity during childhood that protects against serious illness (although not reinfection) as adults. And that trajectory led a team of investigators to model what might ultimately happen in the future if most people were similarly exposed to the new coronavirus during childhood. “In the vast majority of cases, the endemic human coronaviruses [HCoVs] cause nothing more than a common cold, [meaning an] upper respiratory tract infection,” said study author Jennie Lavine, a postdoctoral researcher in the department of biology at Emory University in Atlanta. About 15% of adult common colds are believed to be attributable to HCoVs, she added. “They sometimes lead to lower respiratory tract infections, particularly in very young children and the elderly,” Lavine noted. Only in rare cases, among particularly vulnerable populations, do they trigger more serious illness. “It seems likely that COVID-19 will end up playing out this way,”…  read on >  read on >