Could COVID-19 cleanliness be keeping us healthier?
As the end of summer draws near and the COVID-19 pandemic drags on, flu season is looming large. But there may be a glimmer of positive news on that front.
Thanks to diligent handwashing, disinfecting, hand-sanitizing and social distancing, flu numbers just may be lower this fall and winter. That’s what researchers say happened in locations across the southern hemisphere such as South America and Australia.
Australia’s flu season normally peaks during its winter months which run from June to August. Cases usually start to show up in January and they started off relatively high then.
Cases took a nose dive, however, once the COVID-19 lockdown started with 5,884 flu cases recorded in March and only 229 in April. Compare that with more than 18,000 flu cases in Australia in April of 2019.
Cutting flu cases?
Could that same reduction in flu cases happen here in the United States?
Dr. Anna-Binney McCague, who is double board certified in internal medicine and pediatrics and practices at Washington Health System’s Neighborhood Health on Leonard Avenue in Washington, treats adults and children. She also teaches in the residency program.
“It certainly could be helping,” McCague said. “Many of the most common respiratory illnesses are spread in similar ways to the novel coronavirus (droplets, airborne). Good hygiene like hand washing, avoiding touching others, coughing and sneezing into your arm or a tissue, more hand washing and staying home when sick can always prevent these.
“Masking during flu season is standard in some parts of the world already,” she added. “It will be interesting to see what effect it has on the flu season this year.”
McCague said strict attention to hygiene could be helping to reduce the spread of other illnesses such as the common cold or upper respiratory infections.
“It is really hard to know right now if we are seeing much of a decrease in things such as common viral illnesses,” she said.
On the flip side, fear of contracting COVID-19 may also be harmful in some aspects.
“I know in some hot spots during surges, there have been decreased emergency room visits for heart attacks and other emergencies,” McCague said. “We wouldn’t really expect these to be affected by hygiene, so the thought is that people are delaying care.”
She said she recently read about worsening diabetes complications after the COVID-19 surge in Italy last spring.
“In any case, any decrease for colds/viruses could be a real decrease or just people avoiding care as well,” McCague said. “Obviously, the exact role children play in the novel coronavirus transmission is still being determined, but they are huge players in the transmission of your average viral illnesses. So maybe we will have a better sense of this if, or when, schools open.”
Delaying doctor’s visits
As for delaying doctor’s visits and routine healthcare, McCague said that could be a bigger societal issue.
“We are definitely open and seeing patients,” she said. “When everything first shut down, we mostly went to phone and video visits for a while though we did stay open for certain visits such as the primary vaccination series for young kids.”
McCague’s office is currently doing a mix of in-person visits and telemedicine/video appointments and phone consultations. She said the majority of patients, though, are now opting for in-person appointments.
“Most of our patients do want to be seen in person at the practice I work at,” McCague said. “But for those who don’t and don’t have an issue that requires an in-person visit, we are happy to ‘see’ them over the phone or video.”
She said most patients seem to be eager to catch up on their missed visits, but that some are still a little hesitant to come in person.
“The addition of telemedicine and phone medicine have been really great,” McCague said. “I enjoy getting a chance to check up on my patients without always making them come into the office, which can be difficult for some of them.”
Cutting down on colds?
Could it be that added handwashing and distancing is keeping us healthier?
“This is a tough question to answer,” she said. “Summer is always a bit of a slow time for illnesses anyway – except for a few common summertime daycare infections. School is out, people are spending more time outside – visits are more about injuries, rashes, bug bites, swimmers ear and sunburns at this time of year.”
McCague said she typically starts to see strep throat cases once school starts and flu season won’t kick in for a few more weeks yet.
“While there may be a decrease in people getting summer colds,” McCague said, “we are getting a fair number of phone calls about people who are concerned they might have COVID or whose workplaces are worried they might have COVID.”
She said people who might normally have written symptoms off as a summer cold or allergies are seeking care because they have to prove to their employers that they don’t have COVID-19 before they are allowed to work.
“So even though people might be getting sick less, we are getting calls and visits about people who want tested for COVID so they can return to work,” McCague said.
Will good hygiene practices become routine when the pandemic eases?
“This would be great,” she McCague said. “I’d like to see a lot of these practices stick around, particularly increased focus on hygiene, staying home when ill, hand sanitizer in public, hand washing, etc. It takes a lot to change people’s habits permanently though.”
McCague said it’s difficult to know what the long-term impact of this will be in terms of the overall health of the population.
“A lot of our health burden in the U.S. comes from noninfectious chronic causes like diabetes, high blood pressure, obesity, tobacco and drug use,” McCague said. “To make a long term impact on the health of our population, we can’t forget about these other issues.”