Wearing masks and physical distancing—two key infection prevention strategies implemented to stop the spread of COVID-19—may have led to the dramatic decrease in rates of common respiratory viral infections, such as influenza. A study led by researchers at Boston Medical Center (BMC) showed an approximately 80 percent reduction in cases of influenza and other common viral respiratory infections when compared to similar time periods in previous years, before wearing masks, physical distancing, and school closures were implemented to help stop the spread of COVID-19. Published online in Open Forum Infectious Diseases, these results suggest that public health measures used to prevent COVID-19 transmission could be useful in helping prevent other respiratory viral infections.