> 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, w

> 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 would be hard and maybe fail but the current approach has already failed. Doing difficult research that might not pan out is how they justify grant funding in the first place.