5 ms·

What is also interesting is the period with zero flu cases reported, and the correlative spike in covid cases. On its own this does not prove they're related, h

by 0des 5y ago

What is also interesting is the period with zero flu cases reported, and the correlative spike in covid cases. On its own this does not prove they're related, however it is worth noting and does lead to some interesting hypotheses: were we isolating enough to curb the flu? If yes, why did isolation benefit flu numbers while increasing covid numbers. Also, were flu cases mislabeled as covid cases? If yes, why didn't these drop in relation to PCR, rapid, and other tests emerging? Allow me to twiddle the brim of my shiny aluminum hat here and ask objectively one more nagging question, was there any possible benefit to misreporting this data? What resources and opportunities did that afford at the time?

lp0_on_fire 5y ago
> Allow me to twiddle the brim of my shiny aluminum hat here and ask objectively one more nagging question, was there any possible benefit to misreporting this data? What resources and opportunities did that afford at the time? Hospitals were/still are getting subsidies for every covid patient treated. There is a financial incentive to inflating the covid numbers. Couple that with COVID resembling the regular old flu in many cases and you get inflated numbers. IMO the idea peddled around last year that the regular flu just took a year off while covid was emerging will go down as one of the more egregious examples of cherry picking data in the covid era.
tonymet 5y ago
the flu going to zero , without a significant task force or public initiative to determine root cause, was one of the major moments undermining public trust. it’s so outlandish and yet was embraced on face value as “see lockdowns work” . if an accountant has an account go to zero one day, he’ll get to the bottom of where the funds went even if the hypothesis was true , the lack of any meaningful evidence or due process itself should worry people . and the hypothesis is preposterous
- Izkata 5y ago
  Seems to me "the flu disappeared" is misinformation that confirms the "if we stop testing, the pandemic ends" conspiracy: > The State and Territorial Epidemiologists Report, a weekly estimate of the geographic spread of influenza activity in each jurisdiction, was suspended for the 2020-21 influenza season due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic which impacted the data systems used to generate the estimates. From near the bottom of https://www.cdc.gov/flu/weekly/overview.htm https://www.cdc.gov/flu/weekly/overview.htm
  - WalterGR 5y ago
    Are there no other sources for this data?
fsh 5y ago
The basic reproduction number of COVID-19 in an immunologically naive population is much higher than that of Influenza. Most countries stopped the first COVID wave using non-pharmaceutical interventions that should work against all respiratory diseases. I find it not at all surprising that this has completely crushed seasonal Influenza rates. As far as I know, in the beginning of the pandemic, western countries generally relied on rtPCR for confirming COVID-19 cases. This makes it extremely unlikely that Influenza cases were mislabeled.
WalterGR 5y ago
What is also interesting is the period with zero flu cases reported Wait, in the US or world-wide? When did that happen? No matches for flu on the submitted page… I can recall - it was reported in the news - flu cases in the US dropping dramatically. When did we have no flu at all?

by 0des 5y ago

lp0_on_fire 5y ago

> Allow me to twiddle the brim of my shiny aluminum hat here and ask objectively one more nagging question, was there any possible benefit to misreporting this data? What resources and opportunities did that afford at the time? Hospitals were/still are getting subsidies for every covid patient treated. There is a financial incentive to inflating the covid numbers. Couple that with COVID resembling the regular old flu in many cases and you get inflated numbers. IMO the idea peddled around last year that the regular flu just took a year off while covid was emerging will go down as one of the more egregious examples of cherry picking data in the covid era.

tonymet 5y ago

the flu going to zero , without a significant task force or public initiative to determine root cause, was one of the major moments undermining public trust. it’s so outlandish and yet was embraced on face value as “see lockdowns work” . if an accountant has an account go to zero one day, he’ll get to the bottom of where the funds went even if the hypothesis was true , the lack of any meaningful evidence or due process itself should worry people . and the hypothesis is preposterous

Izkata 5y ago
Seems to me "the flu disappeared" is misinformation that confirms the "if we stop testing, the pandemic ends" conspiracy: > The State and Territorial Epidemiologists Report, a weekly estimate of the geographic spread of influenza activity in each jurisdiction, was suspended for the 2020-21 influenza season due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic which impacted the data systems used to generate the estimates. From near the bottom of https://www.cdc.gov/flu/weekly/overview.htm https://www.cdc.gov/flu/weekly/overview.htm
- WalterGR 5y ago
  Are there no other sources for this data?

fsh 5y ago

The basic reproduction number of COVID-19 in an immunologically naive population is much higher than that of Influenza. Most countries stopped the first COVID wave using non-pharmaceutical interventions that should work against all respiratory diseases. I find it not at all surprising that this has completely crushed seasonal Influenza rates. As far as I know, in the beginning of the pandemic, western countries generally relied on rtPCR for confirming COVID-19 cases. This makes it extremely unlikely that Influenza cases were mislabeled.

WalterGR 5y ago

What is also interesting is the period with zero flu cases reported Wait, in the US or world-wide? When did that happen? No matches for flu on the submitted page… I can recall - it was reported in the news - flu cases in the US dropping dramatically. When did we have no flu at all?