Flu-Free Quad Cities Helped Reduce Quad Cities Flu Activity During COVID-19 Outbreak
The outbreak of COVID-19 and the preventive measures recommended to slow spread of the virus had at least one unexpected result. Seasonal influenza cases disappeared in the United States.
The Genesis Flu-Free Quad Cities effort will be back this fall to hopefully continue the steep decrease of flu diagnoses in the region.
Genesis Flu-Free Quad Cities provides free seasonal influenza vaccinations in elementary schools throughout the region. Since the start of Flu-Free Quad Cities as a pilot project in 2003, more than 100,000 vaccinations have been provided at no cost to families.
“Health experts believe masking, social distancing, frequent hand washing, less interaction between school students and high flu vaccination rates were all factors in the huge drop in flu cases nationally. Fortunately, there were very few hospitalizations at Genesis because of flu. We hope we can make this a trend in our region with the impact of Flu-Free Quad Cities,” said Michele Cullen, RN, BSN, community health manager, Genesis Visiting Nurses.
Two family friendly vaccination events will be part of the Flu-Free Quad-Cities effort this year.
The TaxSlayer Center in Moline is on the schedule for Oct. 26 from 3-6 p.m.
There will also be drive-through clinics on October 27 from 3-6 p.m. at Brady Street Stadium, Davenport.
A feared viral convergence referred to as a “twindemic” didn’t materialize in 2020. Instead, it was an unusually mild flu season.
Positive influenza cases in the U.S. dropped from 38 million in the 2019-2020 flu season to 2,136 positive cases in the 2020-2021 season, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). There were 22,000 deaths related to flu in the 2019-2020 season. There were 748 flu-related deaths in the 2020-2021 season.
Flu-Free Quad Cities is made possible by financial support from the Quad Cities River Bandits and GreenState Credit Union. Other businesses and individuals can also help sponsor a healthy community. For more information, go to www.genesishealth.com/give.
