Winter is coming…

We remember. 

High school gyms turned into temporary hospitals. Loved ones dying without family by their side. Life events canceled without notice. Fear, isolation, uncertainty.  

Together we have conquered so many emotional and physical feats in 2020. But this will be the first time the COVID-19  pandemic will meet another widespread, pernicious threat: influenza. 

The healthcare system will face a surge of both influenza and COVID-19 cases. And things could get much worse than they’ve been. 

The director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Robert Redfield, warns us about this upcoming flu season: “this could be the worst fall from a public health perspective,” and he continues, “I've said if there's one thing we all can do besides the importance of wearing a mask, social distancing, hand washing, and be smart about gatherings-- that basically ultimately prepare ourselves, for the fall, to get the flu vaccine.”

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), flu can result in serious illness, including pneumonia and respiratory failure. In 2018-2019, CDC estimated that vaccination prevented 4.4M flu cases and 58,000 hospitalizations in the US. 

Yet less than 50% of adults in the US received a flu vaccine during the 2018-2019 flu season. And more than 50% of Americans will get the COVID vaccine, once available. 

The common excuses for not getting a flu shot signifies an underlying orthodoxy that people believe “I am healthy, and it has been fine so far.” 

This season getting a flu vaccine is more important than ever to protect yourself and to mitigate the spread of flu to high-risk individuals:

• As COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations rise, healthcare systems could be overwhelmed, treating patients with flu and patients with COVID-19. A flu vaccine can help reduce the surge of patients and save medical resources for COVID-19 patients' care.
• Flu vaccination has been shown in several studies to reduce the severity of illness in people who get vaccinated but still get sick. It lessens your risk for hospitalization and serious health events.
• Co-infection with COVID-19 and Influenza carries a high risk of poor outcomes.

Join a team to share our unique experiences, ideas, and expertise to better equip each other for the Twindemic, practice design thinking, and explore "how might we increase flu vaccination rates during this critical time?"

Sources:

https://www.webmd.com/coronavirus-in-context/video/robert-redfield

https://www.cdc.gov/flu/fluvaxview/coverage-1819estimates.htm

https://www.cdc.gov/flu/season/protect-your-health.html 

https://www.cdc.gov/flu/vaccines-work/vaccineeffect.htm

https://www.cdc.gov/flu/prevent/vaccine-benefits.htm

https://asm.org/Articles/2020/July/COVID-19-and-the-Flu