Earlier quoted context omitted.
The suggestion that SARS-CoV-2 spreads faster than influenza because two studies on different populations at different times found R0 of 2.5 vs. 1.7 respectively is indeed false--that difference is obviously within the expected spread from different environments. I thought the top reply to that comment (quoting Wikipedia) clearly implied that, so I didn't think any further effort there was required. You posted other…
> we know this because influenza cases went almost to zero during the pandemic, implying that the same behavior in the same population We don't know this no, what you said here is just an assumption. There's a competing hypothesis (viral interference) which seems to explain the data better. The way epidemiology currently works just cannot tell us which virus is more infectious. I agree that a rebase onto microbiology…
How would that explain why SARS-CoV-2 suppressed influenza, instead of influenza suppressing SARS-CoV-2? If viral interference occurs (which I agree it may), then the two simultaneous pandemics are coupled; but you'd still expect the virus with higher R0 to win.