I’m sure it’s a combination of a couple of things:
-Flu cases being reported as COVID to keep the numbers up.
-Flu deaths being reported as COVID to keep the numbers up.
-People with symptoms of the flu who refuse to be seen out of fear of being diagnosed with COVID and having to quarantine.
Also, maybe an attempt to downplay the flu compared to COVID since flu symptoms appear to be more common.
Well, https://www.reuters.com/article/uk-factcheck-swab/fact-check-a-swab-test-is-highly-unlikely-to-misdiagnose-flu-or-common-cold-as-covid-19-idUSKBN26R3DH states:
“The Covid PCR test has pretty good specificity and sensitivity so it’s not that much of a problem. The test is more likely to throw a false negative than it is a false positive,” Dr Joshua Moon, research fellow in the Science Policy Research Unit at the University of Sussex Business School, said.
However, the antibody tests, which determine if a person has had virus, can sometimes pick up other seasonal coronaviruses.
“People are seeing some cross-reactivity in antibody tests,” said Dr Mike Skinner, Reader in Virology in the Department of Infectious Disease, Imperial College London. He said only about 20% of colds are caused by the seasonal coronaviruses, and the rest by rhinoviruses.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention advises that antibody test results should not be used to diagnose someone with an active infection (here) .
-Flu deaths being reported as COVID to keep the numbers up.
Hospitals and doctors do get paid more for Medicare patients diagnosed with COVID-19 or if it's considered presumed they have COVID-19 absent a laboratory-confirmed test, and three times more if the patients are placed on a ventilator to cover the cost of care and loss of business resulting from a shift in focus to treat COVID-19 cases. https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/factcheck/2020/04/24/fact-check-medicare-hospitals-paid-more-covid-19-patients-coronavirus/3000638001/
-People with symptoms of the flu who refuse to be seen out of fear of being diagnosed with COVID and having to quarantine.
Very plausible.