December 1, 2020

Rapid Disappearance of Influenza Following the Implementation of COVID-19 Mitigation Measures in Hamilton Ontario

Category: Article Summary

Topic: Public Health Policy and Practice

Keywords (Tags): public health

[Pre-print, not peer reviewed] Following population-wide implementation of COVID-19 interventions in Hamilton, Ontario, the proportion of samples that tested positive for influenza A and B dropped rapidly to 0% by the week of March 15-21. During the 2010-2019 influenza seasons, the proportion of positive tests reached 0% on a median of the week of May 30-June 6. Data were collected from all nasopharyngeal swab specimens (n=57,503) submitted for routine respiratory virus testing between January 2010 and June 2020.

Zhang et al. (Nov 30, 2020). Rapid Disappearance of Influenza Following the Implementation of COVID-19 Mitigation Measures in Hamilton Ontario. Pre-print downloaded Dec 1 from https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.11.27.20240036