Due to Covid precautions, the flu this winter is almost non-existant

[Some Old Guy]

Experts say, massive reduction in the flu this winter is due to people wearing masks, washing hands, social distancing, and staying at home.

I guess a small silver lining is better than no lining at all.  

 

 

[Longjohn ★]

Ha

[Some Old Guy]

Also, most kids are home instead of being in those flu factories, otherwise known as schools.  

[Bikeguy]

11 minutes ago, Clark said:

Also, most kids are home instead of being in those flu factories, otherwise known as schools. 

Most here are in school.

The other possibility...  people who get the flu are self isolating for 14 days.  They don't get tested, and they assume they had a mild case of the virus.   

It seems nearly impossible that the flu was 'cured' by  masks and social distancing.    But it is gone...   https://www.cdc.gov/flu/weekly/index.htm    It must be a miracle...   

[MickinMD ★]

14 minutes ago, Clark said:

Also, most kids are home instead of being in those flu factories, otherwise known as schools.  

The first two years I was a teacher I didn't get a flu shot and caught the flu.  Back then I was running six miles a day, my resting pulse was in the 50's and I was in tremendous shape so each time I was sick for less than a week.

But every year since, I got the flu shot or shots and retired with 190 unused sick days in 22 years of teaching. Most teachers who get the flu shot every year retire with a lot more unused sick days than those who don't - and they determine severance pay and add to the time calculation for pensions).

Also, studies of remains and records indicate that less than half of the 1918-19 Spanish Flu deaths would have happened if the pneumonia vaccine existed then and everyone had the shot.  The CDC data shows that 45% of COVID deaths in the USA were COVID + Pneumonia.

I got my pneumonia shots - you only need 2 of them 5 years apart for virtually 100% protection for life from bacterial pneumonia.

I also got the shingles vaccine.

[Some Old Guy]

2 minutes ago, MickinMD said:

I got my pneumonia shots - you only need 2 of them 5 years apart for virtually 100% protection for life from bacterial pneumonia.

I also got the shingles vaccine.

Me too.

[dinneR ★]

29 minutes ago, Bikeguy said:

Most here are in school.

The other possibility...  people who get the flu are self isolating for 14 days.  They don't get tested, and they assume they had a mild case of the virus.   

It seems nearly impossible that the flu was 'cured' by  masks and social distancing.    But it is gone...   https://www.cdc.gov/flu/weekly/index.htm    It must be a miracle...   

 

I bet it's both.

Kids are in school here, but they wear masks, desks are six ft apart, and lots of hygiene. As soon as a kid has any symptom, they are tested and sent home to isolate so they are removing any potential sick kids from infecting others.

Same with my work. We are partially work from home, partially at the office so we are not on top of each other. Masked, apart, more hygiene. As soon as you sneeze or cough, you are off and get tested.

[Bikeguy]

2 minutes ago, dennis said:

I bet it's both.

As soon as you sneeze or cough, you are off

Yeah...   If someone coughs while you are shopping at the grocery store, everyone moves FAR away, rather fast. 

[dinneR ★]

1 minute ago, Bikeguy said:

Yeah...   If someone coughs while you are shopping at the grocery store, everyone moves FAR away, rather fast. 

Or they shit their pants which explains the run on TP.

A year ago parents sent kids to school sick because they didn't want to miss work and caused an outbreak of the flu at the school. 

Same with work, people showed up kind of sick and there was an outbreak at work. 

Not now.

[Bikeguy]

4 minutes ago, dennis said:

A year ago parents sent kids to school sick because they didn't want to miss work and caused an outbreak of the flu at the school. 

Same with work, people showed up kind of sick and there was an outbreak at work. 

Not now.

Yes, there is indeed a BIG change in how people go to work/school, etc..  compared to before the virus.  

[Prophet Zacharia]

4 hours ago, Bikeguy said:

Yes, there is indeed a BIG change in how people go to work/school, etc..  compared to before the virus.  

And 15 million more people got the flu vaccine this year than last, which also helps.

I can’t even remember the last time I had a cold symptom. People masking and using hand hygiene and socially distancing and staying home for the slightest symptom has worked when applied consistently.

[MickinMD ★]

Does that show that the flu is much less contagious than COVID?  I doubt it.

It more likely demonstrates that if you can reduce COVID cases to a small number, it will have a hard time growing to a large number if people are wearing masks and social distancing.  That has proven true in China, South Korea, Australia, and a few other countries.

Of course, as soon as the cases go low enough, states - like Coiorado has just done - will quickly reduce restrictions.

Unless there are enough vaccinations and they protect against the variants, we're likely to get a see-saw case rate.

[Razors Edge ★]

12 hours ago, Clark said:

I guess a small silver lining is better than no lining at all.

You might be listening to the "wrong" people as from what I hear, it shows that COVID is a lie! Or overblown! Or some other thing that proves something.

[MoseySusan]

3 hours ago, Razors Edge said:

You might be listening to the "wrong" people as from what I hear, it shows that COVID is a lie! Or overblown! Or some other thing that proves something.

[12string]

well, of course, protections against COVID are certainly going to protect us from other virus that spread the exact same way but just less effectively.

Another thing to keep in mind:  Those 70K flu deaths each year are extrapolations, not counts.  If the Flu each year were counted the way we have been counting COVID deaths, the total is actually 4-5K per year.

I do think we (at least some people) will learn to be like other countries, at least in densely populated areas.  They wear masks during flu season.  And stay away from people.  And it works.

[Forum Administrator]

It's weird...  I got my first COVID vaccine shot and I ended up with a bit of a runny nose afterward.  It was only then I realized I had not had a single day of feeling bad this winter. After a few hours, I was kind of irritated that I used to just put up with a runny nose.

Although finding substitute teachers has been terrible this year, there are almost no 5:30 a.m. calls from teachers telling me they are sick. (Except that one teacher who is always sick on Fridays before a long weekend.)