Northern California Flu Season Almost Nonexistent

(San Francisco, CA) — The regular flu season is almost nonexistent in Northern California. Doctors credit a higher rate of annual flu vaccinations along with wearing masks and social distancing to avoid the far more contagious coronavirus. Bay Area doctors tell the Chronicle they’ve only seen sporadic cases of influenza at the time of year when they typically peak. The flu was widespread last year, with almost 27-percent testing positive and 70 deaths. This year, the state health department reports the positive test rate is just three-tenths-percent and flu hospitalizations are zero-percent.