The final statistics are in for America's last flu season, and the news is good: Record low rates of influenza were reported as cases plummeted during the early months of the coronavirus pandemic. Why? Researchers from the U.S. CDC believe the social distancing measures put into place across the country last spring kept more than the new coronavirus at bay. The 2019-2020 flu season ended weeks earlier than usual this year, with flu infections declining sharply within two weeks of the COVID-19 emergency declaration on March 1, the new study found. Influenza activity in the US plunged, from about 30% of samples testing positive for flu in early February down to only 2% the week of March 22, the researchers reported.