COVID isolation: Are our immune systems out of practice?

A lot of us haven't had a common cold in ages. Masks and social distancing have played their part. But is it good — much less, possible — to block every single virus?

The 2020/2021 influenza season was remarkable — for its low number of infections. This is hardly surprising, given that the flu virus spreads via droplets, just like SARS-CoV-2, which we all know simply as "coronavirus" and which causes COVID-19.

And we've all learned to reduce that risk over the past year-and-a-half: We've been wearing face masks, keeping distance from people in public, washing our hands often, and sanitizing stuff. (Well, many people have, in any case.) That has helped slow the spread of COVID-19 — as well as that of the common cold.

This was all confirmed in a recent edition of the monthly influenza report by Germany's Robert Koch Institute, the country's center for disease control and prevention.

It said there had been no "measurable" wave of flu infections in Germany or in other European countries during the 2020/2021 flu season. 

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