PLoS ONE (Jan 2022)

Reduced spread of influenza and other respiratory viral infections during the COVID-19 pandemic in southern Puerto Rico.

  • Talia M Quandelacy,
  • Laura E Adams,
  • Jorge Munoz,
  • Gilberto A Santiago,
  • Sarah Kada,
  • Michael A Johansson,
  • Luisa I Alvarado,
  • Vanessa Rivera-Amill,
  • Gabriela Paz-Bailey

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0266095
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 17, no. 4
p. e0266095

Abstract

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IntroductionImpacts of COVID-19 mitigation measures on seasonal respiratory viruses is unknown in sub-tropical climates.MethodsWe compared weekly testing and test-positivity of respiratory infections in the 2019-2020 respiratory season to the 2012-2018 seasons in southern Puerto Rico using Wilcoxon signed rank tests.ResultsCompared to the average for the 2012-2018 seasons, test-positivity was significantly lower for Influenza A (pConclusionsMitigation measures and behavioral social distancing choices may have reduced respiratory viral spread in southern Puerto Rico.