After two years of living with COVID-19, flu season seems like an afterthought. After all, in the last two years, our flu season has been remarkably light compared to previous years. Many experts reason that the preventative measures we enacted during the pandemic helped to mitigate a ‘twindemic’ of both the flu and COVID-19 the past two winters. But this year, experts are concerned that the flu might catch up to us, based on how it treated our neighbors in the Southern hemisphere.
In the southern hemisphere, their flu season alternates with ours. Their winter is during our summer months, so our experts use their flu season indicators to guess what kind of a season we may be in for when the colder weather hits. This year in Australia, for example, the flu season was one of the worst in years. According to Kanta Subbarao, director of the WHO Collaborating Center for Reference and Research on Influenza, Australia’s flu season was unusually early and a “very significant” season with flu viruses. She later claims that the flu in the Southern Hemisphere “is certainly back.”
After two years of lackluster flu seasons, we may no longer have sufficient immunity to resist the newest circulating flu virus, which means that it may hit harder and faster this year. Experts predict that our lower defensive baseline may put young children at risk because they’ve never experienced a true flu season. Australia’s flu season data shows that young adults and children were some of the hardest hit groups this year.
So what can your business do to help prevent the spread of influenza this year? We recommend getting a MicroShield 360 treatment now. This simple solution helps to protect the surfaces in your business by neutralizing germs and bacteria, including the influenza virus, 24 hours a day. The added protection from the Microshield 360 treatment and following other public health measures can help keep your business clean and germ-free, even during a rough flu season.
No one knows how rough this year’s flu season will be. Even some experts disagree on the method of using the southern hemisphere’s flu season to predict ours. But, it doesn’t hurt to be prepared. The good news is that we’ve learned better preventive measures such as increased disinfecting, frequent handwashing, masking, socially distancing, and staying home while sick. We know these tools are effective at reducing the spread of both COVID-19 and flu and cold viruses. A MicroShield 360 treatment is another tool in your arsenal to help keep your business safe and germ-free!
