5 ms·

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

• fecak 5y ago
  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.
  • fridif 5y ago
    And thus the flu hasn't disappeared.
    • pwinnski 5y ago
      Ah, you're reading the word "forever" at the end of that sentence, which notably does not actually include the word. Influenza will likely never be eradicated from the earth completely, but in the most recent flu season worldwide, it was essentially missing.
  • Mediterraneo10 5y ago
    This is why a tiny fringe of epidemologists has been calling for social distancing to continue for the next several years at least, even after COVID, because they see this as a chance to wipe out other common illnesses. If a person hyperspecializes in a field like epidemology, there is the risk of the person expecting all government policy to revolve around their specific concerns. Sometimes in interviews those epidemologists simply seem oblivious to the effect this will have on live music, theatre, cafes and restaurants, etc., other times they say that we simply cannot allow ourselves those things any more, because saving lives is more important.
    • fridif 5y ago
      So two weeks will turn into 5 years, and then still the viruses will come back because people are having backyard parties.
    • rorykoehler 5y ago
      No chance. I see enough people breaking social distancing rules to ensure that goal is a pipe dream.
  • aww_dang 5y ago
    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?
• ipaddr 5y ago
  You know they do covid tests if they think your flu is covid. I think you are mixing up half-facts. People were saying that deaths with co-factors were being lumped as covid related deaths and different countries were classifying things differently for political reasons. No one is mislabeling the flu as covid and not giving you a covid test to detect the strain.
  • fridif 5y ago
    "No one is mislabeing the flu as covid". There have been 33 million positive coronavirus cases and 444 million tests-- are you sure you want to assert the following is true 100% of the time: 1) all covid diagnoses are ONLY covid 2) all flu occurrences are diagnosed, and when they are diagnosed, they are always ONLY diagnosed as flu
    • ipaddr 5y ago
      A covid tests doesn't test if you have something else. A covid test would not detect the flu or a broken leg and label it as covid. Depending in the type of test 1/3 could be false positive. If your theory was false positives are because of flu I'm not sure there is any proof to that theory but I would like to hear more. All flu occurrences were not diagnosed before, this year or will be in our future lifetimes. Your doctor telling you its the flu and to get rest vs getting a positive for a influena A or B test and the percentage that a lab might make a mistake on those tests vs the % of time your doctor is wrong are two very different ways to think about your question. Usually the words 'AlWAYS' and 'ONLY' fail in a big population set.
• rsynnott 5y ago
  In most developed countries, some sort of flu surveillance is operated. In some countries, those surveillance operations are seeing _no positive cases at all_. They are, however, seeing some flu-like symptoms and picking up some rhinovirus (and covid).
• ipqk 5y ago
  #2 is true for all years, not just this year.