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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

#171

Post by cratermoon »

teh_infallible wrote: post #145
jMyles wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's strange to call this an "alternative explanation", since it's the one that expert infectious disease researchers, nearly without exception, are pointing to. The (let's face it, silly) notion that masks and distancing suppressed all respiratory pathogens except one is a theory with very little traction, and which will almost certainly not stand up to serious scrutiny.

Blasphemy! Anyone paying attention can see that every person with the flu was labeled as having “Covid” but everyone who “follows the science” will perform all kinds of mental gymnastics to avoid seeing what is obvious.

Did you forget this: /s

Re: Flu has disappeared worldwide during the Covid pandemic

#172

Post by mindslight »

epmaybe wrote: post #142
brandon272 wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The likely explanation is that, because the flu is significantly less transmissible than COVID, even states with "no restrictions" were able to knock it out because enough people took enough measures to protect themselves from airborne/surface communicable disease in general. In other words, you can probably beat back the flu significantly by having enough of the population mask up, wash/sanitize their hands, etc.

I'm really hoping that the culture change in the US is to wear masks in public when feeling ill from a respiratory infection.

I'm really hoping that the culture change in the US is to wear masks in public to thwart facial recognition.

Re: Flu has disappeared worldwide during the Covid pandemic

#173

Post by tripletao »

silicon2401 wrote: post #126
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...

The inventor of the PCR test himself, Kary Mullis, was very critical of Fauci and the way that PCR is being used today [1]. Are there any rebuttals or counterpoints to his statements on PCR? 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X0aMow7FrZo

Kary Mullis also doubts that HIV causes AIDS, believes in astrology, and once saw a fluorescent talking raccoon. Clearly a brilliant guy, but not someone whose advice should directly determine clinical practice.

https://www.mcgill.ca/oss/article/technology-history/man-who...

See my other comment here for the reasons why I believe almost all SARS-CoV-2 PCR positives are true positives (as to whether the patient is or was very recently infected; the kernel of truth is that they don't necessarily indicate that the patient could infect others right now).

Re: Flu has disappeared worldwide during the Covid pandemic

#174

Post by DanBC »

rajin444 wrote: post #170
panarky wrote: post #89

Every community has a baseline mortality rate during "normal" times. During abnormal times like pandemic, famine and war, more people die than usual, but often the cause isn't known. If you subtract baseline mortality from actual mortality to get excess mortality, that's often a better estimate of the casualties from pandemic, famine and war than the death certificates for every person who died. Excess mortality in m…

> And if there are fewer deaths from flu, and fewer from suicide [1], then excess mortality itself is under-reported and Covid killed even more than we thought. The majority of covid deaths are those that on average had very few months left to live. There is a likely a high chance these people were going to die to the next "flu" that came around. How do you account for this? It seems like adding flu deaths on top of…

> The majority of covid deaths are those that on average had very few months left to live.

In England we know covid is killing people on average at least 10 years early.

Re: Flu has disappeared worldwide during the Covid pandemic

#175

Post by BurningFrog »

yosito wrote: post #13
al3xandre wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You realize those « deep cleans » are mostly comms operations for governments to look like they are doing stuff, right? Virus live (mostly) in people, not on sidewalks. One of the most ridiculous example: the Thai government went to the extent of spraying disinfectant in the forest next to the Burmese border, and got pictures published in newspaper to show their great work. Comical! [1] [1] https://twitter.com/thaine…

> You realize those « deep cleans » are mostly comms operations for governments to look like they are doing stuff, right? Yes, but it must have had some effect on fomite transmission of some viruses, right?

My guess is it had an effect for a few hours that day.

Re: Flu has disappeared worldwide during the Covid pandemic

#176

Post by pwg »

blueline wrote: post #135
BitwiseFool wrote: post #78

If I caught the flu, how would the government/scientists studying this stuff even know I got it? If you're anything like me you probably just take some time off and get over the illness without ever seeing a doctor or taking a flu-test. How do they measure such things? I suspect they use some elaborate statistical model to try and generalize the results to the whole population.

how do you think they measure (roughly) how many people got the flu in previous years?

By estimation:

From the article:

"the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimated there were roughly 22,000 deaths in the prior season and 34,000 two seasons ago." -- emphasis added

Re: Flu has disappeared worldwide during the Covid pandemic

#177

Post by throwaway91211 »

silicon2401 wrote: post #126
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...

The inventor of the PCR test himself, Kary Mullis, was very critical of Fauci and the way that PCR is being used today [1]. Are there any rebuttals or counterpoints to his statements on PCR? 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X0aMow7FrZo

Wow, I was not aware of the real quotes. Here are the two full clips:

- On HIV and PCR: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V__Zx0qS7uI&t=101s - On Fauci and PCR: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5aISPlTLbJo

> Reporter: .... misuse PCR to estimate all these so supposedly free viral RNAs that may or may not be there?

> Kary Mullis: I think misused PCR is not quite ... I don't think you can misuse PCR. No, the results, the interpretation of it. See if you can say, if they wanted, if they could find this virus in you at all, and with PCR if you do it well you can find almost anything in anybody. It starts making you believe in the, sort of buddhist notion, that everything is contained in everything else. Right, I mean because if you can amplify one single molecule up to to something that you can really measure which PCR can do, then there's just very few molecules that you don't have at least one single one of them in your body. Okay, so that could be thought of as a misuse of it just to claim that it's meaningful. It is, there's very little of what they call HIV and what's been brought out here by Phil ... the measurement for it is not exact at all, it's not it's not as good as our measurement for things like apples. An apple is an apple. You know, you can get something that's kind of like, if you've got enough things that look kind of like an apple you stick them all together you might think it as an apple. And HIV is like that. Those tests are all based on things that are invisible, and they are the results are inferred in a sense. PCR is separate from that, it's just a process that's used to make a whole lot of something out of something that's why it's not, it doesn't tell you that you're sick and it doesn't tell you that the thing you ended up with really was going to hurt you or anything like that.

Re: Flu has disappeared worldwide during the Covid pandemic

#178

Post by deadbolt »

drcross wrote: post #147
willcipriano wrote: post #117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not OP but no, I work from home and only see the people I live with since this started. Knowing if its covid vs the flu wouldn't really matter much to me and either way my behavior would be the same. Frankly it would be worse for public health if I left the house while sick to satisfy my curiosity. I can imagine that many others in my situation would come to a similar conclusion.

Exactly. The only result from covid testing it delaying your own civil liberties. The vast vast majority of people wont ever get covid and a tiny remainder will have symptoms, an even smaller number will need to go to bed, a smaller number will need to go to hospital and people who were going to die this year may die from it. Dont take my word for it, this is the opinion of the UKs chief medical officer: https://www.…

> May 2020

Re: Flu has disappeared worldwide during the Covid pandemic

#179

Post by asdff »

steverb wrote: post #82
Flatcircle wrote: post #20

I keep wondering how Lice will be able to hang around much after last year's social distancing, especially among children.

I wonder if bed bug infestations also declined with less travel.

The seedy airbnbs by the drinking areas have been making money hand over fist this pandemic among the "refuse to subscribe to reality" crowd, which has been empowered over the last few years.

Re: Flu has disappeared worldwide during the Covid pandemic

#180

Post by aww_dang »

fecak wrote: post #68
fridif wrote: post #59

While I am sure that masks and no working from the office played a part in this, I believe: 1) most flu cases are being mislabeled as covid 2) most people who have a mild flu are not going to the doctor 3) the easiest way to test this will be when covid goes away and the flu suddenly reappears.

When Covid goes away, we can assume masking, distancing, and staying home will also go away. In that case, all communicable diseases are likely to increase, from the common cold to STDs.

I would like to believe that. It seems like the logical thing given the provided rationales. However, the cynical view is also worth examining.

When has government willingly relinquished emergency powers?

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