Posted on 02/25/2021 8:11:13 AM PST by SeekAndFind
Edited on 02/25/2021 8:48:36 AM PST by Sidebar Moderator. [history]
February is usually the peak of flu season, with doctors' offices and hospitals packed with suffering patients. But not this year. Flu has virtually disappeared from the U.S., with reports coming in at far lower levels than anything seen in decades.
(Excerpt) Read more at king5.com ...
Experts say that measures put in place to fend off the coronavirus — mask wearing, social distancing and virtual schooling — were a big factor in preventing a “twindemic” of flu and COVID-19. A push to get more people vaccinated against flu probably helped, too, as did fewer people traveling, they say.For months we were told that we weren't doing any of these things well enough. That we were killing grandparents and superspreading COVID.
So, which is it?
No, its because these people are not being tested for flu. They’re being tested for Covid.
As difficult as it is to differentiate between a human being and a snail. SARS-CoV-2 is nothing like Influenza virus. The genome is twice the size, the virions are different sizes, clinical symptoms differ, and the tests are radically different. There's zero chance of confusing the two. And the accusation of mass fraud if laughable considering hospitals are seeing ~2% of their revenue coming from extra COVID-19 payments and they'd be shut down if found to be committing fraud. To say nothing of the fact that to actually commit that fraud, every doctor, nurse, and lab tech would also need to be in on it, meaning you've got around 8 million people all risking prison time and loss of career so their employer can see a 2% bump.
It's absurd.
632,000 flu tests have been conducted this flu season. Only 1,387 have been positive. Influenza virus is not remotely related to SARS-CoV-2 (they're as similar as human beings and snails), and the testing is highly specific to each one.
So people ARE being tested for flu, they just aren't coming up positive. The people who are being tested for SARS-CoV-2 definitely have SARS-CoV-2 present at the point of collection (typically inside the nasal cavity) since the RT-PCR test used for laboratory confirmation triggers on the specific genetic sequences that distinguish SARS-CoV-2 from every other virus.
Agreed. Especially when they simply counted any respiratory illness death as covid / suspected covid.
And they counted any positive covid test as a covid death, even when the cause of death was clearly NOT the disease.
Fatal blood alcohol level
New COVID-19 Death Dispute: Colorado Coroner Says State Mischaracterized Death
https://denver.cbslocal.com/2020/05/14/coronavirus-montezuma-county-coroner-alcohol-poisoning-covid-death/
Rantz: Gun shot victims counted as Washington coronavirus deaths
https://mynorthwest.com/1889564/rantz-gun-shot-victims-washington-coronavirus-deaths/
Maybe it had something to do with the payout for covid as opposed to common flu?
While Trump was president they counted any death with a touch of COVID as a COVID death regardless of comorbidity factors. I believe they’ve started to record deaths by the comorbidiy factor regardless of whether there was COVID involved. Thay way they can show a decline in COVID deaths thanks to Biden’s robust plan.
Seasonal Influenza R0 is 0.9 - 1.2. COVID-19 R0 was 2.5 for the April variant and 4.3-5.7 for the UK/South Africa variants and other variants with similar mutations.
The disease control measures used to prevent the spread of ebola will not work to stop the spread of measles. While seasonal flu and COVID-19 spread in similar ways, COVID-19 has some level of aerosolized spread and it's highly effective at infecting people within enclosed spaces. Seasonal flu is actually pretty difficult to spread. We just normally pack people in a lot more than we ever realized.
“I think they did.”
Did what? Made the spread worse?
I’ve been fit tested for respirators to OSHA standards my whole career. Covid mask hygiene is absolutely horrible. There’s actually little doubt in my mind masks made covid spread worse. Everywhere you go in public everyone touches everything, then they touch their mask. Masks are on-off-on-off. Hand sanitation is what can make a difference. Here’s a study about how viruses spread through “bring your own bag”. Covid spread that same way with masks. https://www.neha.org/node/60021
Masks don’t cover your eyes. Anything covid particle that a mask might stop can get into your eyes and then you have covid in spite of wearing a mask.
Crappy masks areosolize particles so they can penetrate into your lungs better. There’s a scientific effort into areosolizing inhalers where lung penetration is desired.
Both my wife and I worked normally through the pandemic and never got covid. We wore masks where there was an official mandate, but only then.
And the dumbest thing ever is to wear a mask made in the same country the virus came from. I REFUSE to do that.
If that's the case, how is it that the number of deaths for all other causes are at or above their normal levels for 2020?
Read post 49.
If that’s the case, how is it that the number of deaths for all other causes are at or above their normal levels for 2020?
That may be. But were they counted separately? Every death the hospitals can get paid for is a Chirona death.
Except there’s zero evidence to support any spread through fomites with COVID-19.
And there’s zero evidence to support your theory about masks aerosolizing SARS-CoV-2 so it can penetrate into your lungs better.
And your anecdote about not getting infected thus far isn’t terribly useful without any context. Only 27% of the US has been infected so far, so your chances just blindly are 1 in 4. And that’s highly regional. Some states have seen as little as 5% of their population infected (Vermont, Hawaii, Alaska, etc.) Have you and your wife had regular serology tests done for SARS-CoV-2 antibodies? How do you know you haven’t had asymptomatic cases?
So none of this really adds up to anything substantive.
Most likely explanation.
I don't understand what that means. Every death requires that a US Standard Certificate of Death be filled out which includes the underlying cause of death in Section 32 Part I. There is only one underlying cause of death.
"Every death the hospitals can get paid for is a Chirona death."
Which, again, doesn't actually make sense in practice. In order to make that work - at scale - you need a million doctors in the US, about 4 million nurses in the US, millions of lab workers, and the families of the victims all engaged in a massive conspiracy to defraud the Federal government so that the hospitals can get ~2% extra income.
Hospitals don't fill out death certificates; doctors do. And if your employer came to you and asked you to commit fraud and medical malpractice, risk your career, risk your license, and risk prison time (to say nothing of the moral and ethical problems with all this) so they can get 2% extra revenue, would you seriously jump right on board?
Would you commit fraud so your employer can make ~2% extra? No? neither would a million US doctors. The numbers are what they are. Start asking WHY they're that high. That question leads to real answers like "well, governors such as Cuomo and Newsom forced nursing homes to accept known-infected patients, so mass infections wiped out a huge number of elderly folks".
I’ve never claimed that there is direct evidence masks impacted the spread of COVID-19.
You claimed it worsened it. That’s speculation. There is no data to support that.
I opposite shifts of two people who had covid, we shared a computer workstation, never wore masks. One was sick with covid the day after we had relieved each other for three days.
I worked in the same room as someone who’s wife had covid, he was going home and back to work. He didn’t quarantine, and didn’t wear a mask at work. I was exposed without a doubt.
Same with my wife.
We were careful, used a lot of clorox wipes and hand sanitizer.
I just posted a graph showing how cases exploded during the mask mandates. Masks made no difference. CDC did a study that showed that. Something like 80% of the people who got covid were mask wearers.
No 'maybe' about it. It's pretty obvious to anyone paying attention.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.