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Flu has disappeared worldwide during the Covid pandemic

scientificamerican.com

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Re: Flu has disappeared worldwide during the Covid pandemic

#41

Post by [deleted] »

georgeplusplus wrote: post #14
yosito wrote: post #3

While I think this is most likely due to masking, distancing and staying home when sick, which were all far more effective against the flu than against SARS-CoV-2, I wonder how much this was affected by some of the deep cleans that cities were doing at the beginning of the pandemic where they basically sprayed entire cities with disinfectant trucks. Does anyone with more expertise have any thoughts about that?

Flu - a coronavirus that has been wiped out because of social distance and masking and hygiene controls Covid - a coronavirus that is absolutely rampant because insufficient masking, distancing, and hygiene controls How you rationalize that hypocrisy so easily in your head is beyond me.

[deleted]

Re: Flu has disappeared worldwide during the Covid pandemic

#42

Post by khuey »

ibraheemdev wrote: post #5

Just speculating here, but maybe because of false positives where flu cases get labeled as Covid? I've heard that PCR tests were not meant to be used for large scale virus detection. EDIT: The PCR test quote was fact checked and deemed to be misleading, but it still sounds like they are not very accurate [0]. [0]: https://www.reuters.com/article/uk-factcheck-pcr-idUSKBN2442...

What in that link sounds "not very accurate"?

Re: Flu has disappeared worldwide during the Covid pandemic

#43

Post by Jabbles »

User23 wrote: post #4

Why did the flu also disappear in the states that had effectively no covid restrictions? This is a serious question and not an attempt at rhetoric. I really am curious. Was flu never a problem in Florida? Was voluntary compliance so widespread that heavy handed government policy had no marginal anti-flu effect? Something else?

Flu disappeared globally. With no incoming cases, it would have had to spread simply by internal transmission, which by definition would be less than usual.

Also, there were probably minor restrictions people took upon themselves, like staying home when they had flu-like symptoms, or shunning people that coughed.

Re: Flu has disappeared worldwide during the Covid pandemic

#45

Post by space_fountain »

jimbob45 wrote: post #18
ibraheemdev wrote: post #5

Just speculating here, but maybe because of false positives where flu cases get labeled as Covid? I've heard that PCR tests were not meant to be used for large scale virus detection. EDIT: The PCR test quote was fact checked and deemed to be misleading, but it still sounds like they are not very accurate [0]. [0]: https://www.reuters.com/article/uk-factcheck-pcr-idUSKBN2442...

You don’t deserve the downvotes. There’s long been speculation that flu cases may be getting reported as COVID and vice-versa because of the symptom overlap.

Hum, I think I've only heard of this speculation coming from people who deny covid is a big deal and not that that position should be dismissed out of hand, but the overwhelming evidence is that the strong version of it at least is wrong.

I'm also struggling to understand how symptom overlap would lead differences in the number of confirmed cases with PCR tests. These aren't cases confirmed by doctors talking to you and running through a checklist, these are tests that with a great degree of accuracy confirm if you have flu or covid in your system

Re: Flu has disappeared worldwide during the Covid pandemic

#46

Post by caturopath »

cblconfederate wrote: post #17
yosito wrote: post #3

While I think this is most likely due to masking, distancing and staying home when sick, which were all far more effective against the flu than against SARS-CoV-2, I wonder how much this was affected by some of the deep cleans that cities were doing at the beginning of the pandemic where they basically sprayed entire cities with disinfectant trucks. Does anyone with more expertise have any thoughts about that?

probably the school closings were the largest contributor

Since this has varied so much by region, I wonder if there's any good evidence.

This makes a lot of sense. Schools have been surprisingly rare causes of COVID outbreaks, but are constant epicenters for flu outbreaks.

Re: Flu has disappeared worldwide during the Covid pandemic

#47

Post by sputr »

nodesocket wrote: post #29
ibraheemdev wrote: post #5

Just speculating here, but maybe because of false positives where flu cases get labeled as Covid? I've heard that PCR tests were not meant to be used for large scale virus detection. EDIT: The PCR test quote was fact checked and deemed to be misleading, but it still sounds like they are not very accurate [0]. [0]: https://www.reuters.com/article/uk-factcheck-pcr-idUSKBN2442...

Absolutely agree that standard flu cases are surely being reported as covid.

Usually only positive PCR test leads to a covid diagnosis and reporting.

Re: Flu has disappeared worldwide during the Covid pandemic

#48

Post by tedunangst »

User23 wrote: post #4

Why did the flu also disappear in the states that had effectively no covid restrictions? This is a serious question and not an attempt at rhetoric. I really am curious. Was flu never a problem in Florida? Was voluntary compliance so widespread that heavy handed government policy had no marginal anti-flu effect? Something else?

Short answer is that photos of people on the beach are an incomplete representation of the situation in Florida.

Re: Flu has disappeared worldwide during the Covid pandemic

#49

Post by georgeplusplus »

CorrectHorseBat wrote: post #30
georgeplusplus wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Flu - a coronavirus that has been wiped out because of social distance and masking and hygiene controls Covid - a coronavirus that is absolutely rampant because insufficient masking, distancing, and hygiene controls How you rationalize that hypocrisy so easily in your head is beyond me.

Flu is not a coronavirus but a completely different one. Different viruses behave differently. How hard is that to rationalize?

You’re right. Who knew it was this easy to defeat the flu all along. Turns out you just have to pretend to distance and wear a mask occasionally.

Flu shots be damned.

The smugness of such stupidity..

Re: Flu has disappeared worldwide during the Covid pandemic

#50

Post by oxfordmale »

georgeplusplus wrote: post #14
yosito wrote: post #3

While I think this is most likely due to masking, distancing and staying home when sick, which were all far more effective against the flu than against SARS-CoV-2, I wonder how much this was affected by some of the deep cleans that cities were doing at the beginning of the pandemic where they basically sprayed entire cities with disinfectant trucks. Does anyone with more expertise have any thoughts about that?

Flu - a coronavirus that has been wiped out because of social distance and masking and hygiene controls Covid - a coronavirus that is absolutely rampant because insufficient masking, distancing, and hygiene controls How you rationalize that hypocrisy so easily in your head is beyond me.

The median R value for seasonal influenza(aka flu) was 1.28 (IQR: 1.19–1.37), whereas the R rate for COVID without any protection is much higher. It means people staying at home, reducing visits and social distancing might be enough to lower the R rate below one for influenza, however, not necessarily for COVID as the R rate is higher.

https://bmcinfectdis.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1471...

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