Hospitals Bracing for a Potentially Severe Influenza Season in a Post-COVID Era

By Kelly M. Pyrek

Following a mild flu season in 2021-2022, due in part to the COVID-19 pandemic, public health experts and hospital epidemiologists are cautioning against complacency regarding a potentially severe influenza season for 2022-23. Last month, the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases (NFID) warned that despite an aggressive respiratory season ahead, about half of all U.S. adults plan to get a flu vaccine during the upcoming flu season.

CDC director Rochelle P. Walensky, MD, MPH, is encouraging the public to prioritize vaccination. In a statement, Walensky noted, “Last flu season, 49 percent of adults received their flu vaccine—with adults aged 65 years and older leading in flu vaccine coverage,” she said, citing new CDC data. “With a potentially challenging flu season ahead, I urge everyone to protect themselves and their families from flu and its potentially serious complications. Schedule your flu vaccine today.”

According to the NFID survey, 69 percent of U.S. adults recognize that annual flu vaccination is the best preventive measure against flu-related hospitalization and deaths. Furthermore, 58 percent of U.S. adults surveyed report that they will wear a mask at least sometimes during flu season, a preventive behavior that represents a major change compared to pre-pandemic flu seasons.

“Based on what we have seen in parts of the Southern Hemisphere, flu has the potential to hit us hard this year,” says NFID’s medical director William Schaffner, MD.

David Cennimo, an infectious disease expert at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School, says there are lessons to be learned from last year’s flu season.

“According to the CDC, the 2021-2022 flu season was mild and driven by A(H3N2), a strain that was covered in last year’s vaccination and is being included in 2022-2023 vaccines. The CDC’s preliminary figures from last season show 8 million to 13 million flu illnesses, 82,000 to 170,000 flu hospitalizations and 5,000 to 14,000 flu deaths. However, as precautions loosen, we are seeing rates rise. Pediatric deaths, for example, rose from one death in the 2020-2021 season to 33 this past season. In comparison, 199 children died from influenza in the 2019-20 flu season.”

As we know, influenza activity in the Southern Hemisphere can be an indicator of what the Northern Hemisphere may experience relating to the severity of flu season in the U.S.  Australia is coming off a short but brutal influenza season, its worst of the COVID pandemic era, some experts are saying. This year, Australia’s flu season was shorter than normal, but cases peaked earlier and much higher, and more children and teens contracted the flu virus. Last year, public health experts predicted a “twin-demic” of sorts, due to influenza season’s overlap with COVID; however, it didn’t happen. Instead, while the U.S. flu season was worse than the season prior, it was mild compared to previous pre-pandemic flu seasons.

Read further from the November 2022 issue HERE