U.S. flu numbers drop dramatically According to the CDC, flu numbers are down 98%. Possible explanations include fewer people traveling, adherence to mask-wearing and social distancing, and more Americans getting the flu shot. https://www.nbcnews.com/news/amp-video/mmvo98705477766 For people who say Covid is "just like the flu", ask them "what flu"?
Yeh, those are all factors but in addition a massive, massive number of people are already at home or have no workplace or school to go to. Before the epidemic, if you wanted to leave your workplace or school to recover from the flu for a few days you more less felt obligated to get a flu diagnosis to add an air of legitimacy to it, maybe you were even required to get a diagnosis. Now, if you wake up and feel like crap, many people are are able to just shrug and think "WTF, I am already basically home as though I am sick and who knows if my clinic is even open or not, and if I think I have covid, I will get a covid test at the drive-thru." Not a lot of calling in sick these days and telling the school or your boss that you need to stay home. Ahh..errrr......you are already at home, duh. You don't need a diagnosis for that. And you often don't need to worry about losing your job. That went a long time back. Also, the obvious, that many cities and towns are up to their arse in fighting covid and their health care workers are thusly engaged. Not sure that if you live in LA that that little local clinic that was hustling your flu business last year wants to see you or your kids with the flu or that that it is open or if there are any workers who have not been assigned to covid. One of the key metrics in assessinThat cuts down on flu reports considerably, eh. Your local medical care places, hospitals, nursing homes, included, were/are always great places to catch the flu too because their infectious disease control was/is so sloppy. Thank god that some are getting slapped around a bit for that of late. One may think that the CDC just looks at the number of flu diagnoses to determine flu season severity but they actually use a complex model that includes per cent of visits to doctors, clinics etc for "flu-like" illnesses, so on and so forth. All of those things have been dislocated by the focus on covid and shutting down of facilities.
That would then imply that any spikes in the Flu...should occur when people were traveling over the holidays such as Thanksgiving and Christmas. Yeah, my doctor stated that his office had a 450% jump in people getting the Flu vaccine and Prevnar vaccine for fear of getting sick and having to go to the same hospital / emergency waiting room as those that are Covid-19 positive. wrbtrader
Flu cases worldwide are down significantly, makes you think. Regardless of covid protocols in place (we’re told daily how bad the US has handled the pandemic) our flu cases have dropped just like all the other countries who “handled the pandemic properly”. Humm....... What’s the yearly average of flu related deaths?
Flu is significantly less infectious than COVID. Especially since may people are vaccinated against the flu. With the mitigation measures in place in most countries to reduce the spread of COVID, it is not surprising that flu has been reduced to near zero in many countries this season. Those claiming that flu cases, hospitalizations, and deaths are being mis-classified as COVID clearly have no grasp on reality. There are tests for Flu and COVID that identify if a person is infected with either. Certainly anyone hospitalized in western nations are tested for both now -- as are the deaths involving respiratory illness.
Some of these other countries such as the UK have this other game going now which is: "Yeh, our numbers are through the roof now but unlike the American barbarians who did nothing that is because we have a new strain that y'all did not have before." That convenient little song and dance is rapidly arriving in the U.S.