[fuzzylogic]

“the new variant is more readily transmitted”

Can you point me to scientific documentation that identifies this?

I have heard the same...this is the claim. I just don’t trust anything at this point. We still don’t have a clear understanding of how COVID-19 spreads the most. So it seems a little dubious that anyone has already done the science on this and can conclude such an assertion.

I just read that asymptomatic people have an incredibly low rate of transmitting to others. We’ve all worn masks for months, nothing got better - only worse. Where did the flu go? Do COVID tests result positively if you have the flu? Is this all just one huge deliberate scam?

There isn’t a government on the planet that I trust. All I know is that we’re being told that our rights are suspended until the government decides to ‘give them back’. We’re being programmed to accept it, otherwise you’re ‘selfish’. The ‘rights’ of the collective outweigh the rights of the individual.

...it’s all just very wrong - then you hear new claims like this, when I don’t believe they can possibly know.

[2aProtectsTheRest]

Here’s a fairly in-depth analysis of the mutations seen in the new variant: https://virological.org/t/preliminary-genomic-characterisation-of-an-emergent-sars-cov-2-lineage-in-the-uk-defined-by-a-novel-set-of-spike-mutations/563

[2aProtectsTheRest]

"Where did the flu go?"

Flu season peaks at different times each year, sometimes as early as October, sometimes as late as March:

What we've seen so far is low activity, but within the range of "normal". If we continue seeing activity this low through February, the discussion about why certainly becomes relevant.

"Do COVID tests result positively if you have the flu?"

Short answer: no. Long answer is that the Influenza virus is as closely related to SARS-CoV-2 (the virus that causes COVID-19) as humans are to snails. We're both in the animal kingdom, but that's where the similarities end. For the COVID-19 "gold standard" test (RT-PCR, sometimes just called PCR), the test triggers off of specific gene sequences only observed in SARS-CoV-2. In other words, the test will not show positive for any other virus in the world, including other coronaviruses. The sequences being looked for are exactly what distinguish SARS-CoV-2 from anything else.

"Is this all just one huge deliberate scam?"

The disease is real. The scam is how it's being used by Democrats as a tool of fear and a weapon against President Trump. Meanwhile, you have people like governors Cuomo and Newsom who have put policies in place requiring nursing homes to accept known-infected patients. This was still in place after we knew this was highly infectious and very dangerous to older folks.

"There isn’t a government on the planet that I trust."

Completely agree, though I have a little more confidence in the folks working under President Trump. But absolute trust? Not a chance. And don't get me started on the incompetent state and local governments. They're a disgrace.

"you hear new claims like this, when I don’t believe they can possibly know."

The doctors and researchers on the ground are doing good work and are working to save lives. Don't believe a word you hear from any politician or any media source. ANY media source. Go to the published scientific research for answers. For the people doing the work on the ground, finding right answers is money. Publishing wrong answers is very costly. Publishing outright lies is career suicide. For the media and politicians, publishing outright lies is a way of life.