This summer something weird happened in the southern hemisphere.

Well, technically it was summer here, which means it was winter down there.

Anyway, their flu season starts in May or June,

and because countries there were worried about the one-two punch of coronavirus and flu,

they stocked up on flu shots.

The countries took it very, very seriously.

They bought more vaccine and they vaccinated more people during the pre-flu season.

Silva Aldegary is the incident manager for COVID-19 with the Pan American Health Organization.

He told NPR despite all these flu shots, or as he says vaccines for the last few months.

Southern countries have been waiting for the flu to hit, but that never happened.

Now we are well advanced during the pre-season in the south, and we have not seen any spike,

any surge of flu.

The flu hasn't totally disappeared in the southern hemisphere, but it is way, way down.

For example, over a three-week period in the middle of winter and Chile,

more than 3,000 patients with flu-like symptoms protested.

And zero tests were positive for influenza.

Now, what might be happening is that the combination of the flu vaccine push plus the mask wearing,

the hand washing and the social distancing is limiting the spread of flu down there.

But there are also some key differences between there and here.

Winters in the south are generally milder than they are here.

In America, in places like the Midwest and Northeast, people will spend a lot more time indoors.

And the coronavirus is just more widespread here than almost anywhere else.

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