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Behavioral protocols intended to battle COVID-19 also should prevent transmission of other respiratory viral illness, but until now, no numerical data have confirmed this assumption. Researchers took advantage of a perfect natural experiment to compare patterns of non–SARS-CoV-2 respiratory infections diagnosed during the 2020 lockdown with those of previous years.
Between March 19 and July 31, 2020, California residents were mandated to shelter in place, avoid crowds, and mask and distance when not at home. From March 24 through the end of the 2019–2020 flu year on July 31, a single hospital reference lab in Northern California processed about 1700 tests for one or more components of a common viral respiratory panel. About 10% of these spec…