A Silver Lining? Fewer Non-Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 Respiratory Viruses During the Coronavirus Disease 2019 Pandemic

Zachary M Most; Michael Holcomb; Andrew R Jamieson; Trish M Perl

doi:10.1093/infdis/jiab191

A Silver Lining? Fewer Non-Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 Respiratory Viruses During the Coronavirus Disease 2019 Pandemic

J Infect Dis. 2021 Nov 22;224(10):1751-1755. doi: 10.1093/infdis/jiab191.

Authors

Zachary M Most¹, Michael Holcomb², Andrew R Jamieson², Trish M Perl³

Affiliations

¹ Division of Infectious Disease, Department of Pediatrics, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center Dallas, Texas, USA.
² Lyda Hill Department of Bioinformatics, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, Texas, USA.
³ Division of Infectious Disease and Geographic Medicine, Department of Internal Medicine, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, Texas, USA.

Abstract

Nonpharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) have "flattened the curve" of the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic; however the effect of these interventions on other respiratory viruses is unknown. We used aggregate level case count data for 8 respiratory viruses and compared the institutional and statewide case counts before and during the period that NPIs were active. We observed a 61% decrease (incidence rate ratio, 0.39; 95% confidence interval, .37-.41; P < .001) in non-severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 respiratory viral infections when NPIs were implemented. This finding, if further verified, should guide future public health initiatives to mitigate viral epidemics.

Keywords: COVID-19; nonpharmaceutical interventions; respiratory virus; seasonal respiratory viruses.

MeSH terms

COVID-19* / epidemiology
Humans
Incidence
Pandemics*
Public Health
SARS-CoV-2