Locking down to avoid spreading the highly contagious Covid-19 virus has been a dark cloud, but there's been at least a glimmering of a silver lining - influenza infections (so far) have almost vanished.
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This time last year the Cootamundra-Gundagai region, in common with most of Australia, was at the peak of its worst-ever flu season.
During July 2019, flu cases reported in NSW were averaging around 5,000 a week, out of 25,000 tests being conducted.
In the Murrumbidgee Local Health District, the worst week was the week ended July 14, in which 385 cases of influenza were reported.
This year July 14 has come and gone, but the number of flu cases is at an all-time low, despite a huge increase in testing due to Covid-19.
In NSW, only .01 of tests for Covid have given a positive result for influenza, a vanishingly small result about as close to zero as you can get.
An MLHD spokesperson said flu statistics this year are being included in the Covid-19 reporting, but as far as flu is concerned "there's next to nothing to report".
"There was an increase in rhinovirus (the common cold) as restrictions eased, indicating people were becoming complacent about social distancing and hand hygiene," the spokesperson said.
"Yet, despite the increase in rhinovirus we still have no flu!"
Australia last year experienced its worst flu season on record, with more than 310,000 people presenting to hospital and health services.
There were over 900 flu-related deaths, although in terms of fatalities the worst year on record was 2017, with over 1,100 people deaths.
A World Health Organisation researcher, Dr Ian Barr, said international travellers played a significant role.
"The whole business of influenza is a numbers game, so if you get enough people coming back to Australia with infections from overseas, that can happen," Dr Barr said.
"But we actually believe that a number of last year's cases originated from some of the large outbreaks in the Northern Territory, which led to small outbreaks in the southern states - Queensland included."