A lot of the COVID-19 mitigation efforts we have been living with for the last several months -- mask mandates, capacity limits, social distancing -- have been relaxed as new coronavirus infections keep falling. And a lot of other diseases that spread in ways similar to COVID have also plummeted -- the flu, for example.
"When we practice good public health measures to reduce COVID, we can reduce the transmission of other things as well," said LSU chief of infectious disease Dr. Julio Figueroa.
So does this pave the way for a comeback of these other airborne-spread diseases?
"Recently, a lot of the children's hospitals are reporting increases in something called respiratory syncytial virus, or RSV," said Dr. Figueroa. "It does emphasize the importance of all those measures in terms of the transmission of those other viruses."
Dr. Figueroa says we should to hang on to some of the habits we picked up during the pandemic -- frequent hand washing, for example. COVID mitigation also helped contain the flu last winter, so it could make a comeback too.
"Of course we have the vaccine, hopefully, by the time that we start seeing the flu again," Dr. Figueroa said.