Heavy flu season mixed with COVID-19 may strain US health system: Time

WASHINGTON -- A heavy flu season colliding with the still circulating COVID-19 disease may strain the US health care system, a US medical expert has warned.

"If we have even a moderate-to-high influenza season that generates 300,000 or 400,000 hospitalizations and are also having to deal with a fall or winter COVID wave, that could put a strain on hospital systems around the country," an article published Friday in Time quoted Brandon Webb, an infectious disease specialist at Utah State's Intermountain Medical Center, as saying.

Flu season severity varies from year to year, depending on various factors, including immunity in the population and the circulating influenza strain.

"We're looking at globally, and especially in the US, record low community immunity levels to influenza," Webb said.