Covid precautions credited with staving off flu cases in Borderland

EL PASO, Texas--Health experts are praising prevention efforts related to Covid-19 for a massive decline in Influenza cases this year.

This year, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported just 1,585 cases of influenza nationwide, compared to last year when there were more than 183,000 cases of the flu reported nationwide.

In El Paso, City/County Health Authority Dr. Hector Ocaranza credits facemasks and good hygiene for the drop in flu cases.

“With the hygiene, with the distancing and mainly the facemarks, we’ve been able to dodge a bullet and we don’t see that many flu cases. We’ve seen a very drastic reduction of flu in the city,” he observed.

Ocaranza also credits the heavy flu prevention campaigns locally and nationwide for the manageable number of flu cases.

“We were able to educate many people on the benefits of getting the shot and the benefits of practicing prevention and that is also one of the winning formulas, and a winning combinations against the flu,” Ocaranza said.

El Paso reported more than 15,000 cases of the flu last year, and while this year's flu report isn't readily available, health experts believe the flu in El Paso has largely been avoided. By doing so, health workers were able to focus primarily on treating Covid-19 patients.

“The influenza can kill and kills a lot of people every year in the United States. By not having the flu in combination with the covid, that is a perfect storm. We created a better cushion for the health care workers to focus on those that are sick with the Covid,” Ocaranza said.

As flu season comes to an end, Ocaranza's message for the community is prevention. He believes if people continue to practice good hygiene that the flu numbers will remain low and other outbreaks can be prevented.

“People continue to wear their face masks, that is extremely important; continue practicing hygiene good hygiene is good for a lot of things… we have not seen a lot of the food related illnesses that also some bacteria can cause and causes some outbreaks and we need to continue doing that,” Ocaranza said.